A drag, not a curse

摘要

THE LAMP POSTS in Kliptown, South Africa, do not all stand up straight. One lists awkwardly, laden with cables carrying stolen electricity to a squatters' settlement nearby. Many families in this suburb of Soweto, a formerly black township in greater Johannesburg, are still crammed into makeshift housing. When it is hot outside, the temperature inside is "times two", says one resident, who shares six rooms with 20 others. And when it turns cold, the chill inside is also "times two".