“Real Nostalgia Right Here”: SA Goes Down Memory Lane After Old Container Goes Viral on TikTok

• South Africans got a little emotional after seeing an old shipping container making its rounds on the internet 
• The image made many travel down memory lane and helped them remember some of their most wonderful memories 
• Social media users shared their unique stories in a thread of comments on the now-viral TikTok post

In the early 2000s, South Africa had numerous shipping containers that were turned into shops.

A person would spot the containers at every street corner in the Mzansi townships; it was part of the culture.

SA emotional after shipping container goes viral 

South Africans were reminded of the good old days when they spotted a familiar shipping container on TikTok. The image brought back nostalgic memories to many who got emotional online.

In the early 2000s, shipping containers were turned into hair salons, fast food restaurants and even public telephone stations in the townships. South Africans went on a trip down memory lane as they looked at the viral image and remembered some of their most wonderful memories.

They went back to a time when they were at their happiest and shared their stories in a thread of over a thousand comments. A person from Midrand posted the famous Cell C container that was versatile enough to be a salon, restaurant or even a Spaza shop.

Before the rise of mobile phones, people would stand for hours on a calls with their loved ones in one of the containers and pay as little as 50c. Things started to change when mobile phones were introduced, fast food restaurants like McDonald’s in the townships killed the vetkoek businesses and the Somalians now run the Spaza shops.

The author of the post captioned it:

“Still, in this day and age, I don’t know what these red containers are for and what they do.”

This line sparked conversation and helped the post garner almost half a million views after it was posted two days ago and shared over 2000 times.

See TikTok post below:

Mzansi emotional over shipping container

Social media users shared their stories in a thread of comments:

@Tshegofatso sighed:

“When everyone was alive.”

@Harmione Granger shared:

“My mom was studying at UJ, and I would save my R1 and come to call her after school.”

@Sinethemba Dosini explained:

“The containers were public phones from each cell phone network, as you can see this one is from Cell C. Vodacom had its own too; I think it was blue or green if I'm not mistaken. MTN had its own, too. So in this container, there were public phones.”

@Nelspruit MUA remembered:

“My parents used to communicate using these containers.”

@🧍🏽‍♀️commented:

“Real nostalgia right there.”

@Skeezy Huncho suggested:

“These need to come back lowkey because imagine losing your phone and needing to make an emergency call because some people will think you’re a scammer even if you buy airtime so they can help you.”

3 Must-read nostalgic stories by Briefly News

• A South African lady threw herself a Barbie-themed birthday party for her 21st birthday and shared the footage online.
• A woman on TikTok took Mzansi down memory lane when she shared a collection of Gen X and millennial snacks.
• South Africans were stunned by the prices of cars in the late '90s after one TikTokker shared an old flyer.

Source: Briefly News