Robert Vallier writes:  

“In 1990 I went to South Africa.  During that (business) trip I was taken to what were then called townships... squatter camps, shanty towns.  With a car in front of mine and one behind, and a couple of black body guards and with permission - invitation really - I was taken to Soweto and Katlehong on the outskirts of Johannesburg, and driven around some of the worst areas of deprivation that I had then ever experienced.

Inside a 2-room shanty house.  A whole family lives here.

“I asked if I could go inside one of the houses. Arrangements were made swiftly. I was taken to a house and told that 11 family members lived in there.  The senior family member - a woman about 60 years old, wrinkled and tired looking, dressed in some bright coloured garments that had long ago seen far better days, 3 teeth missing, a tight scarf drawn over her head, yet smiling from ear to ear - said that she couldn’t possibly let me in as it was untidy... unless I waited. 

“Well of course we waited, and I was then privileged to be let into this woman’s home; all two rooms of it, smelly, three mattresses in one room on the floor and all meagre possessions bundled into a ridiculously small square footage; yet she showed me her humble home with pride and dignity, and having taken enough care to make me wait first until she could present it to me in the best possible way. 

“At that moment, I could not forgive a government that forced so many of its people to live in these types of conditions and then - worse - take actions so often against them so as to make them maintain that position. And so I made a promise, to myself: that at some time I would come back to South Africa and, if I could, I would do something to try to make a difference.  

“And now, Ufosa is."