The Alexandra Township

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This video was taken on a South African 'ghetto tour' of a township called Alexandra. The tours are marketed towards backpacking hostels, and they take foreigners into some of the poorest areas of South Africa. Some visitors are uncomfortable with the idea of putting poverty on display in this way. However, the tours devote a percentage of the profits to revitalizing the area. Whatever your opinion is, the video does give a glimpse into the physical life of these areas. The footage is a bit shaky and pixalated but still watchable -- and the guide provides some eyebrow raising facts, for example that the township's population of 500,000 people is packed into one square mile. Read about the efforts of Alexandra Renewal Project.

Director: Stephen Marshall
Producer: Sarah Aston/Paul McNulty
Production Company: Channel Zero/Psychedigital