So Where To? (Soweto) | Stitching the Threads Back Together

Inspired by a visit to Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, and later the Kigali Genocide Memorial, this song began with a simple question: How do we move forward after so much division and suffering? What started as a reflection on South Africa gradually expanded into a broader meditation on the ways human beings draw lines between one another—through race, nationality, religion, politics, class, and fear. The song follows those lines from apartheid to segregation, from redlining to polarization, from genocide to detention, asking what happens when we forget our shared humanity. Yet it also asks another question: How do we repair what has been torn? The visual imagery of weaving and fabric became a metaphor for the answer I kept encountering throughout my travels in Africa: healing begins when we choose to stitch the threads back together. We are all from here. From an ancient earth without lines. The work now is remembering how to weave ourselves back together. A note about the lyrics: This song was written as an interwoven call-and-response between multiple voices. The lyrics can be experienced in three ways: • Read across as a conversation between voices. • Read down the left column as one continuous narrative. • Read down the right column as a second narrative running alongside the first. Like the woven fabric featured throughout the video, the separate threads create a larger pattern when viewed together. (Verse 1) So where to? | Pick up the threads" Where do we go from here? | We are all from here" We are all Descendants of walkers | From an ancient earth without lines rocked in the same cradle | Before labels, only breath and bone So where to? | Soweto Walls do not keep out the world (Verse 2) Against a backdrop of tin houses | Inhabited, they still stand On the other side of the world | On every side of the world Youthful courage rose up | Resistance is met with violence Small shoes on a wall where no bodies were found | Lives lost for crossing the line (Verse 3) The classifications of colonialism | The poison of polarization Still turn neighbor against neighbor | For power and profit Theology conscripted | Leaves behind a trail of receipts To justify genocide | While power protects its wealth So where to? | Soweto We belong to each other (verse 4) Neatly shingled houses in a white-washed world | Separate and unequal Where safety comes wrapped in fear" | Roll up the car windows, keep the busses out They always find ways to redraw the lines | Tribalism dressed in suits and ties Against the notion of a common humanity | Now cage the ‘other’ in places made for products So where to? | Soweto Lines drawn to exclude can be redrawn (Bridge) Babies torn from mothers' arms | Can you hear the fear? Their sobbing drowned out by alarms | What becomes of broken children? How much sorrow can we bear? | Who will carry all this grief? Before something sacred disappears | While what's wounded learns to wound So where to? | Soweto We make the circle wider | Make the circle wider (Verse 5) So where to? Soweto We are all from here From an ancient earth without lines Before labels, only breath and bone (verse 6) Neatly shingled houses in a whitewashed world Where safety comes wrapped in fear They always find ways to redraw the lines Against the notion of a common humanity So where to? | Soweto, Soweto We dance with our differences | And notice common threads And finally see one another | We stitch the world together instead So where to? | Soweto, Soweto We dance with our differences Africa Song Cycle: Five Songs of Awakening This collection of original songs was inspired by a transformative journey through South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, and Victoria Falls. Each song explores a different form of consciousness awakened through travel: • Hush Now — Ecological Consciousness • Tuli Wamu — Kinship Consciousness • Obuntu — Relational Consciousness • The River Never Doubted — Flow Consciousness • Soweto — Historical Consciousness If this song speaks to you, share it with someone who still believes healing is possible. Composed and produced by Donnamarie Mazzola with the help of AI-assisted vocal production and artistic composition. Copyright 2026 All Rights Reserved Tags #SowetoSong #CommonHumanity #WeBelongToEachOther