The following text was written for my son Joseph to read in front of his school community next week.
When asked to talk about Nelson Mandela, I find myself having to choose bits and pieces of an infinite subject. We can Google all the information we want about him, read all of his quotes, read all of the books written about him, watch movies based on his life; but what really matters is the way we will take him as an example to follow. What are we going to do with what we know about him?
Madiba was born in 1918 on the banks of the Mbashe River and from a small humble beginning; the tiny village of Mzevo, gave the world a great man. Great, not only because of what he accomplished, but because of the way in which he set the bar for all of us.
Mandela believed that to be able to make change happen, we have to start from within. With this in mind, he supported education as a tool of change. He knew that through education, we can change the future of a country. He once said “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.”
Mandela wanted a united South Africa, but did not expect it to happen by force. He wanted to be the President of all the peoples that make the country he lovingly dubbed “Rainbow Nation”, and that is why he learned the ten Languages that are spoken there. To know somebody, you need to speak the way they speak, he used to say. We have to take this to heart and see Language learning the same way he did, as an opportunity to get to know others.
Before becoming President, Mandela fought for the changing of unjust laws. Tireless crusader for Human Rights and Equality, he spent twenty years fighting peacefully for the abolition of Apartheid before realizing that armed rebellion was the only way the racist South African government would yield. International pressure and economic sanctions had to do the trick.
During his twenty-seven years’ incarceration, Mandela became a symbol; a beacon for many seeking freedom from oppression; a terrorist for those wanting to keep the status quo all around the world.
What is most true about this man’s life is that he made a difference. His legacy will live beyond all of us. His shoes will be left vacant until someone, maybe one of us sitting here, decides to try and fill them up.
Nkosi sikelel' Rolihlahla, Ons gaan mis jou!
God Bless you “troublemaker”, we will miss you!
