Nelson Mandela's 'first true home of my own,' from Yahoo Homes' Flickr group
South African leader Nelson Mandela died today at age 95.
The first home he ever owned was a very simple, humble house in Soweto It was built in 1945, and he moved in with his first wife the next year. It's now a museum. He wrote of it in "The Long Walk to Freedom":
"The house itself was identical to hundreds of others built on postage-stamp-size plots on dirt roads. It had the same standard tin roof, the same cement floor, a narrow kitchen, and a bucket toilet at the back. Although there were street lamps outside we used paraffin lamps as the homes were not yet electrified. The bedroom was so small that a double bed took up almost the entire floor space.
"It was the opposite of grand, but it was my first true home of my own and I was mightily proud. A man is not a man until he has a house of his own."
