From Johannesburg : 6th January 1982

Johannesburg

6.1.82

Dear Mum,

                To commemorate the silly season I took some photos. Tladi Clinic is the busiest and roughest clinic in the South West Townships (Soweto). Numerous extractions. The nurse, like most of the females,   is a lot older than she looks and has a 14 year old son.

                At all the gold mines there is tribal dancing on Sundays. Large numbers of young adult males enter a colosseum and dance for the tourists. The organizers say that this dancing is not done for an audience and that these men organize themselves into teams and practice on their own. Some of the dancing is traditional. Some are based on biblical stories told by missionaries.  There is one based on the gum boot. All the dancers wear gum boots. These blacks are the rural black. Most are illiterate and they work in the mines, live in dormitories. No females.

                At Tladi for a Christmas party all the cleaning ladies dressed up and danced. A few of us had to pick a winner. The main entertainment was various groups singing. They love to sing and they are very exuberate and very musical.

                Could you please see if you can find Graeme Robert’s address in London. It’s very cheap to fly there.    

                    

                            Regards Alan

PS 70 % of the world’s gold is mined in this area and it costs more to buy gold here than in London or New York. Mainly because of the large demand locally for gold as one method of exporting money. This is the national obsession after politics/race ie. How to get money out of the country??