Narrator: 

Just outside Johannesburg, South Africa, the day begins for 17-year-old Mamorena Chaane. 

She’s a student at St. Mary’s, a very expensive private school. Mamorena gets a great education here. 

In South Africa, many people leave school as teenagers. So Mamorena is a very lucky young woman. 

This is her mother, Tandi. She grew up in a poor area in Johannesburg. Today, she and her family live in the suburbs and she is a successful businesswoman. 

But every week, Tandi takes Mamorena to her old neighborhood in Johannesburg. Tandi grew up here, and her life was very difficult.  

Tandi: 

“This was a shantytown. This whole area was a shantytown.”

Narrator: 

Tandi shows Mamorena her childhood home. She wants Mamorena to learn about the past — and about the poor today. 

But Mamorena doesn’t really understand. Her life is so different. Her family has a beautiful home.

Mamorena: 

“We’re born on the same day.”

Narrator:

 And the house has a pool. It’s very different from her mother’s childhood. In many ways, Mamorena is a typical teenager. She loves to go shopping. Sometimes, she says, she feels more Western than South African. She listens to Western music; she eats Western fast food. 

And her mother worries about this.  

Tandi: 

“I want her to always remember who she is. Because I don’t think you become a person if you don’t know where you come from.”

Mamorena: 

“Now, this is the hero of South Africa. He’s ‘Dada’, meaning ‘our father’. ”

Narrator: 

Tandi’s generation worked hard to change South Africa. Now, Mamorena and her generation must work hard too, says Tandi.