Soweto, South Africa. We were not supposed to be there. By definition of the apartheid regime in South Africa, whites were not to go to the black townships. Why should they? Well, to visit friends, for example, or watch a football match. On very few occasions we went, and I can still remember these trips to Soweto, because I felt awkwardly displaced there with the neighbours of our friends staring at us children like aliens.
He was not supposed to be there. By definition of the apartheid regime in South Africa, a black person was not permitted to stay for more than 72 hours in a white suburb. During one of the riots our gardener did not feel safe going back to his hostel in Soweto, and asked whether he could stay at our place. No issue, we thought. A big issue, thought our neighbour, and reported to the police.
Well, she herself was once not supposed to be where she was. That is why our neighbour in Johannesburg went to exile to South Africa during the thirties – from Germany. But that seemed to play no role anymore in the endless game of excluding people form places.