Nelson Mandela

I grew up in the 70s and 80s. I remember watching the news and seeing the images of the violence that was taking place in South Africa. I heard the name ‘Mandela’ in the midst of all of this. As a kid I figured he was just a guy in jail for kicking up a fuss in a country where the colour of your skin determined the course of your life.
South Africa fascinated me. I would spend ages reading up on the place, watching any program that had anything to do with the country, speaking with families that had managed to leave. One of my best mates in high school was a coloured kid from Johannesburg.
But I never really understood the effect of Nelson Mandela until I finally got the opportunity to travel to South Africa. It was 1995, The Springboks had won the World Cup, Mandela was president and the place was buzzing. There was palpable sense of joy and hope throughout the entire country. It was a world away from the images that I had grown up with.
The world doesn’t get to see people like this very often, Nelson Mandela helped to save a country from chaos. That’s a legacy few people will own.