Back in Hillbrow

When I was a teenager, Joburg's inner city suburb of Hillbrow was where it was all at: the bookshops, cult cinema, record shops and clubs, bohemian flat life, the tatoo parlors and that bit of grunge that came under the Apartheid state's radar. In the 1990's that bit of grunge rapidly grew into a no-go area as the cool shops closed and the drug dealers moved in to get their piece of the street action. I hadn't been there for a decade.

Today I returned with my friend Anna who, on her way back to Germany, went to say goodbye to friends at the German Lutheran Centre in Edith Cavell Street. Hillbrow was less scary looking than I'd imagined ... just very run down, although I still would not like to have had a break-down there. And the visit to the Lutheran centre was colourful and fun. They have a sewing project (the skirt shows the Hillbrow skyline) and a lot of other self-help projets. Saying goodbye was hard for Anna, especially because she had to do it over and over again.