amazing that in some of my victories no words were even needed. What a lesson for someone
who loves to talk!
To learn more about South African languages, visit this link:
http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/language.htm#.U1on-TX8K1s
2. Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela, “Tata Madiba, Father of the Nation” epitomizes transcendence. His past
includes the practice of the non-violent resistance methods of Mahatma Gandhi. However,
Madiba eventually took to arms to combat the heavy restrictions placed upon blacks by the
Apartheid’s Nationalist Party. These violent measures resulted in the loss of many civilian lives
and ultimately led him to a fate of 27 years imprisonment. During that time, Mandela used his
isolation as a temple for spiritual and moral nourishment. He shed resentment and anger which
had limited him in his previous efforts for an equal South Africa. In 1990, Mandela was granted
freedom, and emerged from isolation not only as a free man, but a free spirit. Through peaceful
negotiations, Mandela would successfully advocate for the end of Apartheid. In 1994, he became
the first democratically elected president of the new nation.
“No one is born hating…People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to
love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
-Nelson Mandela
On December 5, 2013, Nelson Mandela ended his tour on planet Earth.
I
was in South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria on the
night of his death announcement. An hour after the announcement, I was in conversation with a
black South African man, aged 30. I will never forget my surprise as the man said to me:
“I am glad our father has passed now. Now we can move on from the reminder of Apartheid. We can quit
living back then in our minds. It is over. It is all over.”
The morning after Mandela’s death announcement, a group of my fellow volunteers walked to the
Union Building in Pretoria. When we arrived, we found a group of people marching, dancing, and
repeating the famous anti-Apartheid cry, “Amandla! Awethu!” (isiXhosa/isiZulu expression
meaning, “Power! To the People!”). The group was a unified mix of blacks and whites who had
gathered to celebrate the great works of the nation’s lost father.