Page 33 - ACTL Journal Fall24

Delene and Daniel took us to the Palace of Justice, the longstanding and still functioning courthouse in Pretoria that was commissioned in the late 1890s.
We saw the courtroom in which Nelson Mandela was tried in the Rivonia trial and from which Mandela delivered his “I am prepared to die” speech. We stood in the holding cell in the lower level with “The Freedom Charter” handwritten on one of the walls.
The South Africa workshop was, by any mea- sure, a successful undertaking. The advocates’ evaluations, using a scale of 1 to 5, gave us more 5’s than 4’s (some were all 5’s), with only a few 3’s. The participants also gave writ- ten, mostly glowing comments. Many advo- cates asked whether we will come back next year. If we do, there is little doubt that the program will fill up quickly. Some thought should be given to how the College can use this beginning to establish an ongoing rela- tionship with the South Africa bar and, per- haps, with other African countries as well.
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Teaching this program gave us the unique opportunity to impact lives, including our own. During and after the graduation ceremony, many participants embraced us, gave us small presents and personal handwritten notes, and thanked us profusely for coming to their country. Some who had expressed fear of the courtroom at the beginning of the week said they had newfound confidence and were looking forward to their upcoming trials.