Samantha Perry

I’m something of a history nerd. In following that passion, I’ve been attending Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF) tours as often as possible over the past few years, and have now signed up to do their tour guide training. The JHF is an activist, education and conservation organisation run by a formidable team of volunteers. It is independent and self-funded, largely from tours, and has been responsible for helping to protect and preserve diverse and important elements of Johannesburg’s heritage – and the fight continues. Recent wins include getting the City of Johannesburg to refurbish and partially re-open the Johannesburg City Library, in partnership with the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance. Every city should be lucky enough to have such a fierce ally in its corner.

As part of our tour guide training, we’ve been asked to think about what heritage means, why it’s important and what we should be doing about it. Which got me wondering about our digital heritage.