Johannesburg, South Africa!!

/ Ed Armstrong
These excited guys created our group with enthusiastic dancing and singing.

We started our day by going to the Apartheid Museum. We spent four hours going through the exhibits and learned a great deal about different people groups, the development of history of Apartheid, and how the country worked through a series of very complicated and sensitive issues. It is an excellent museum and I enjoyed learning about the history.

Our group was randomly divided into whites and non-whites and we went through different entrances. I was placed into the non-whites group.

All kinds of laws were created to keep the two groups apart within the society.

Nelson Mandela had a massive impact in working through the apartheid system.

This was a very interesting sculpture. If you stood in one spot, you could see Mandela’s profile image, but it you moves slightly to the right or left, you could only see random pieces of metal.

No photographs were allowed within the Apartheid Museum, but we could photograph displays on the outside. Desmond Tutu was prominently involved in working against the apartheid system.
In the afternoon, we went to the Soweto district of Johannesburg and enjoyed seeing many of the crafts for sale. We also learned about important history of the struggle against apartheid that occurred in Soweto.

At one point, Nelson Mandela lived in a house in the Soweto district.

I loved the bright clothing that was for sale!

I was drawn to the rich orange colors!!

I really liked this necklace!

This was an embroidered image on a t-shirt. It was my favorite!!

I enjoyed seeing all the drawings of African animals!

The wildlife in Africa is unique, wild, and powerful! It was fascinating to see all the artwork that was created!