Pauline enjoyed time in Jo'burg

I must say that I am enjoying time spent in Johannesburg and was grateful to have gotten the chance to visit both the Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill and Nelson Mandela’s House in Soweto. I was at first shocked to find out that our group would be classified by race using an identity card and that we would enter into separate entrances as either White or Non-White using that card. I however, did think that our group would be separated for a longer period of time and not just through the entrance. As I was walking through the Apartheid Museum everything my mood seemed much suppressed as it seemed as if natives of South Africa still feel the burdens of Apartheid and that those feelings rubbed off on me. Watching videos of the cops chasing down blacks and dragging them, as well as seeing how Non-Whites are tormented and given the short end of the stick even in terms of laws is never settling. Constitution Hill also left me feeling suppressed. I thought it was interesting that our tour guide showed us how members of gangs would position themselves in their rooms and how different gangs would contribute to the functioning of bathroom use, intolerance and etcetera. We also learned that enforcement would make Non-White prisoners perform a dance while naked just to entertain themselves while tormenting the prisoners. I just can never understand how even when a white and black person are classified as prisoners they still get treated differently. There is a rich history on gang life that started in prisons (Constitution Hill) and made its way onto the streets of classified Coloured communities and this is something I want to learn more about. We also took a tour of Nelson Mandela House and that was definitely not just a site for tourists to see but also natives of Johannesburg and all across the nation of South Africa. We got to see how Mandela and his family lived and breathed in the limited space that they had and the tour guide showed us where gun holes were fired through the house. IT wasn’t the gun holes that made this visit special though. When everyone is idolizing and making Mandela out to be this heroic –like man, we were reminded that he was still very much an ordinary man living in an ordinary home. I am loving Johannesburg and my anticipation builds as we wait to enter into Kruger National Park. I definitely feel like I am getting a different taste of South Africa in Johannesburg and thankfully I have been able to purchase a new camera in Nelson Mandela Square.