Every so often one finds a home marked as a Tuck Shop
-- a place where an entrepreneur has bought some bulk product, selling smaller
quantities to the people. Five large white sacks of coal, with one poured out
over the ground, individual pieces for sale.
Three young kids are throwing rocks and tops wound
with string on the ground in front of me, and when a top starts spinning,
smiles and excited laughter follow. The settlement is filled with kids, in part
due to the large families, but also because many of their parents are now dead
from AIDS. No one is allowed to comment on how serious the problem is, but its
obvious that a good segment of the region's demographic is child-headed
households. With 200-250 funerals a weekend in Soweto, death is an accepted
part of life.
