Mandela Museum

In the upgraded houses of Orlando west in the South Western Townships (Soweto) in South Africa stands a humble little house that Nelson Mandela once called home.  The tiny match box house No. 8115, was Mandela’s first home.  He moved there with his first wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase in 1946.The couple broke up in 1957 after 13 years, divorcing under the multiple strains of his constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact she was a Jehovah's Witness, a religion which requires political neutrality. Evelyn Mase died in 2004.  Just around the corner from the Mandela family house is the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum named after a boy killed during the Soweto schools uprising of 1976 and which is constructed at the place where he actually fall.  A stone throw away along the vilakozi street, is where  is where the outspoken struggle icon and Nobel Laureate, Bishop Desmond Tutu, once lived.  Soweto is the only place in the world to produce two Nobel laureates.

‘If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.’

- Nelson Mandela

The brown painted Mandela Museum is full of authentic history evoking the untold private and public life of the Mandela family.  The focal point of the small sitting room is a huge painting called Tears of Freedom.  A boxing belt from sugar Ray Leonard also hangs on the wall of the sitting room next to a photo of Mandela.  The original carpet and sofa upholstery provide a suitable backdrop for the collection of honorary doctorates bestowed on Mandela.  In the bedroom, small in size a a large bed is covered with a brown jackal skin, a symbol of Mandela’s royal roots in Transkai 

Born 18 July 1918)  served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multi-racial democracy in 1994. As president from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation.

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as uTata Madiba, an honorary title adopted by elders of Mandela's clan.

Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the 1993 Nobel peace prize.