Blinded by expectations
We have a fixed idea of what to expect from a place, and we go looking for images that confirm this idea. Slums in Africa can be horrible to behold, but they're not all eyesores from end to end. And not everyone who lives in a slum or ghetto is poor.

Take Kibera in Nairobi, which because of it’s estimated 1 million inhabitants (debatable), has become the face of all slums in Nairobi. Almost all clips you’ll see of Kibera are of tin-roofed shacks, the crowded railway tracks, and rubbish. Kibera includes “regular” neighbourhoods with paved roads, brick houses and people with “normal” jobs, but you won’t see any of that in most available clips because people with camcorders go to Kibera looking for what they expect to see.  

The same with Soweto. Sure, a huge chunk of Johannesburg’s poverty is restricted to Soweto, but the place is huge!, and so accommodates a large population of regular working people, couples, families. As such, a surprising amount of Soweto looks like what you see in most of the above footage.

World Cup 2010 - Keep your eyes open
If you’re visiting South Africa for the World Cup this year and it’s your first time in the country, go with the idea of confounding your own expectations. You might end up with some interesting photos and video clips.

Vid posted by Dmitry Ivanov

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