Factors to consider when working abroad are how you will be received by that country. For my part working on this project in South Africa I had an advantage, I could blend in. I grew up in South Africa, therefor if I needed to, I could speak English, Afrikaans and basic greetings in Sotho. It is easy to become a target in a foreign country, especially if they know you are there to take images, then you could be seen as an eyewitness. There are those that do not want anyone to bear witness to certain things going on in their country (Addario, 2014 cited in McVeigh, 2014). 

When completing a project such as this, it is important to be mindful of the ethical implication. ‘Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do’ (Stewart, (un) cited in Collins, 2010, p.82). For this research project I have chosen to photograph families living in a squatter camp. Documenting the nature of this project has fundamental meaning to me, I have deep concerns for the residents in the camp which leads me to want to offer this community of neglected and excluded people hope. 

There is an enormity of contentious debates that surround legality, ethics and morals in photography, namely photojournalism questioning whether or not an image can change the issue at hand (Santos Silver and Eldridge, 2020). 

The question that this research project sought to answer was, Did Nelson Mandela’s dream for a just society become a reality? In answer to this question, the research findings based on a squatter camp in Krugersdorp would suggest that Mandela’s dream for a just society has not been realised for these people because, the previously existing black slum camps are joined by white camps which are continuously expanding, whereby inequality and injustice continue to prevail. This suggests that the hopes and dreams that Mandela fought so hard for appear as yet to not been fulfilled in modern day South Africa.