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We had another early start today. We had to be at Charlene’s place at 8am. She then travelled with us in our van out to Potchestroom where the sentencing on the rape case was to be handed down. Charlene thoroughly entertained us all the way there with outrageous and sometimes hilarious stories. She is such a compelling character and an amazing human being. I am in complete awe of her. When we arrived in town we found a crowd gathered outside the courthouse and plenty of police cars. There had been a bomb scare and everyone had evacuated the court. Charlene says this happens at least once a year here, usually in spring time. She calls it their “annual spring bomb scare”.

Moshodane then drove us to Alexandra to meet Bongani. He is the leader of the theatre trope made up of ex-convicts who are performing a play about rape. He is a big guy with a big story. He began by saying that he was wouldn’t let any more foreign film crews film the troupe as they were feeling exploited. He told us that several crews had come to them in recent months and promised them “exposure” in return for filming and nothing had ever come of it. They had not even seen the footage. When I told him why I was making the film, his hostility subsided and he softened considerably. I told him that the film would be called “Behind the Barbed Wire” and he said “I like that title. I see from that title that you understand.” He told me that we have something in common, that he knew what it was like to see someone you loved hurt in this way. And then he told me his story.