![]() As with many other countries around the world, the restrictions have enforced social distancing, isolation, and self-quarantining. That means there is a risk-adjusted approach to gradually easing the stricter lockdown measures that were put in place to restrict the spread of COVID-19 infections. “Coronavirus has hit South Africa’s mainly Black townships far harder than areas once exclusive to white people, highlighting the lasting impact of apartheid-era housing policies.”Īs I’m writing, South Africa is under an “alert level two” lockdown. While a handful of us sleep in this house, there are 11 of us on the premise throughout any given day, with my grandmother and mother sharing childcare as other family members go to work. Since graduating from journalism in the midst of the global pandemic, I’ve relocated back home and am living with my family in the urban settlement of Soweto, Johannesburg-a township known for its historic anti-apartheid demonstrations. I’m in the smaller bedroom, using foldable furniture to create my makeshift workspace. ![]() In other houses like these, roofs are oftentimes made of hazardous asbestos. From the window, I see the cars my uncle uses to transport school children, parked in the yard.Ī corrugated iron roof sits above me. The walls are made of burnt clay bricks, concrete, and cement, wrapped in textured plaster, with a small window in each room letting in a square of sunlight. Like most standarized four-roomed houses-often dubbed a “matchbox” in the Black townships of South Africa-the foundation of this bungalow includes a kitchen, a living/dining room, and two bedrooms. I’m sitting in my grandmother’s four-roomed house.
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