A Day in Pretoria!

We started off today by driving to Pretoria, which is about an hour away from Johannesburg. Our first stop was the Union Buildings in downtown Pretoria. This was where Mandela was sworn in and where the Apartheid government used to reside. In front of the building now stands a massive statue of a smiling Nelson Mandela. For us the state represented old South Africa and new South Africa with Mandela leading the country out of Apartheid.

Our next stop was to the Freedom Park. This park was created for the purpose of promoting freedom in South Africa while actively remembering their past. The architecture of the park and monuments was circular to symbolize unity and oneness, and promoted reflection. As we walked through the park we encountered the wall of names, names of people who have died for South Africa or at the hands of South African conflict. It was truly incredible for us to see the massive lists of names. We then went onto the hall of leaders, which honored great leaders from South Africa and around the world who helped to change their country and the world. We finished our visit to freedom park by going to the //hapo museum. //hapo was chosen as the museum name because it means dream. The museum was devoted to telling the cultural history of South Africa from the first indigenous peoples to the elections of 1994. The museum and memorial were very active in their education and rememberance. They made the history, culture and traditions really come alive for us. 

Our final stop in Pretoria was the Voortrekker   monument. This is a massive monument that was constructed in the 1930's. The monument was made to honor the Voortrekkers who made the Great Trek from the British cape colony to the interior of South Africa in the 1800s. We saw an intricate stone carving depicting the great trek. We then climbed to the top of the monument and got an amazing view of all of Pretoria. The monument really showed to use the diverse history of South Africa and it's many different origins, as well as the roles different groups of people played.