Portia Stafford, a petite and usually soft-spoken 22-year-old, shouted through the razor wire at the burly men guarding the construction site in Soweto, a sprawling township in South Africa.
When a guard threatened to shoot, the group backed off and Ms. Stafford felt her resolve deflate.
Ms. Stafford, her sister and two cousins all have high school diplomas — historically a ticket to a decent job in South Africa.
“There’s no moving forward,” Ms. Stafford said.
She frets that only those with connections succeed, but she said, “I keep trying to get a job, and I go all out.”
Persons:
Portia Stafford, Stafford, “, Ms, ”
Locations:
Soweto, South Africa