Day 5: Langa Township

Today we visited Langa, a Township not far from our hotel. Our guide, Sugar, showed us round and took us to a house where the family didn't mind us having a look around and conversing with them. I took this opportunity to sit and draw the children who lived there and to photograph them.

We went to a nursery where we were greeted by class of children who sang to us. I was disturbed when I listened to the lyrics they were singing. One line that stuck out to me was 'Don't touch me, go away.' We were informed that they had been taught this because there are constant cases of children being abused in the area.

The most deprived part of Langa was the last place we visited. We arrived at the same times the toilets were being changed. This is when I began to realise how different my reality is to theirs. The children were great, I showed them how to capture a photo on my camera and they revelled in pictures of themselves. This has been one of the best experiences for me, it put a lot of things into perspective. The children had no running water or clean clothes and no technology and we take all of that for granted.