By Anthony Ngare

That night I returned with Winnie to No 8115 in Orlando West. It was only then that I knew in my heart I had left prison. For me, No 8115 was the centre point of my world, the place marked with an X in my mental geography."

Nelson Mandela in his book, ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’.

House number 8115 is the famous address in South Africa — it is Mandela’s first abode. This humble house in Orlando West, Soweto, now called the Mandela Family Museum, is an interesting stopover for those keen to imbibe a slice of authentic history of the world’s most famous former prisoner.

As you walk towards the house, you encounter a famous phrase that undoubtedly resonates well with too many Kenyans — ‘a man is not a man until he has a house of his own.’

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The guide to take us through the house is a lovely young woman with dreadlocks. She enquires where I am from.

"Kenya" I answer.

She then breaks into a litany of Swahili words — sasa, habari yako, karibu. The words are all thrown together so I’m not sure whether she is trying to impress me or this is all she knows.

"Where did you learn Kiswahili?" I ask her.

Students walk outside the Mandela Family Museum. INSET: A peek inside the house. Photos: Anthony Ngare And Courtesy

She jerks her head, strokes her hair behind her ear and smiles generously. Soon after, other people join us for the tour of the tiny house and I don’t get to know where she learnt her Swahili.

House Of Memories

The Mandela museum comprises four inter-leading rooms and contains an assortment of memorabilia, including paintings and photographs of the Mandela family. There is also a collection of honorary doctorates bestowed on Mandela from universities and institutions around the world. At an interesting corner is a boxing belt from Sugar Ray Leonard, a multi-coloured cloak and a row of his old boots, all presented to the former president.

The ‘matchbox’ home, at 8115 Ngakane Street, was Mandela’s first house. He moved there with his first wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase in 1946. After their divorce in 1957, she moved out. When Mandela married Winnie Madikizela in 1958, she joined him at the Soweto home. However, in the ensuing years when his life as a freedom fighter was all consuming, Mandela seldom stayed here as he led life on the run, until his arrest and imprisonment in 1962.

Winnie continued to live in the tiny house — measuring no more than half the size of a volleyball court — with her two daughters, Zeni and Zinzi, while Mandela was in jail. She took up the fight against apartheid and the house was petrol bombed and set alight several times. The black marks are clearly visible.

When he was released, Mandela refused to move to the more opulent home (also in Orlando West) that Winnie had built during his incarceration. He wanted to return to the house of his memories. However, he only stayed there for a mere 11 days. He moved around from one location to the next until he settled in his current Houghton residence.

He handed the house to the Soweto Heritage Trust after separating from Winnie in 1992. "A lot of history was made here," said Winnie at the inauguration of the museum. "This is where the 1976 students’ uprising began when the youth leadership met to change the face of South Africa."

Certainly, the area is steeped in struggle history. Just around the corner from the Mandela Family Museum is the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Even closer to Mandela’s house is the spot where Pieterson actually fell. Hector was the 12 year-old boy who was shot in 1976 during the Soweto uprising. Today, that spot remains a symbol of resistance to the brutality perpetrated by the then apartheid government.