The Voice of Reason

Today was our first full day in Johannesburg, and we spent it at the Apartheid Museum. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The emotions provoked by words, pictures and stories of such a significant history to the country i now call home was more then slightly exhausting. One of the rules of the museum is no pictures when you get inside, which at first i was kinda bummed about. Anybody who knows me knows that my camera is almost always in my hand. Yet, by the time i got to the end nearly five hours later, i was so thankful i hadn't been allowed to hide behind my lens. It had given me the opportunity to fully be in that place and absorb the information put in front of me. Multiple times i had to stop and sit down and just write. Journal about everything going through my head at the time. Mom, please thank Robin again for the beautiful journal. It already has become a huge part of my year and this experience and i am so grateful for it.
I think the thing that struck me the most today though were the photographs. Being a photographer myself, i was able to feel like i could step inside the pictures and try to be in the space the photographer was when they took the picture. Every single picture in the museum was so incredibly intentional to the story of Apartheid, and to the individual that it captured. It sparked things inside of me that I have somewhat always felt, but through some realizations of self in Chicago and truly being immersed in the experience today, it allowed me to articulate them to myself in entirely new ways. That the feelings of something more for me in this life are actually real. That I do want to be the change I want to see in the world. To be the voice for the silenced, and to tell the world their story to the best of my ability.
I have been in country for roughly 40 hours now and already felt a change at work in me, I can't even begin to imagine who i'm going to be a year from now. For the first time in my life thinking about those changes excites me so much I can't put it into words. I'm so glad I found the strength and courage to take this leap, cause it has surely started to make all of the difference.

Peace