As the world's most famous prisoner (held in captivity for 27 years) and, then becoming South Africa's president, Nelson Mandela exemplifies a moral integrity that shines far beyond South Africa. Much of what occurred in his political history took place in a sprawling township just outside of Johannesburg... called Soweto, which has over 3,000,000 inhabitants.
In the revolution led by Mandela to transform a country based on cruel and unfair apartheid laws and division, into an open democracy, he alone has achieved a miracle. A miracle of human nature ~ more often that not people go to war in cases like this, but he opted for the peaceful and forgiving route. He did this together with the then President, F.W de Klerk. Both are good men in my opinion.
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I came here a few times a child, on a church visit, plus on school outings.
As a white girl, growing up in the suburbs, I had no knowledge of what went on in Soweto whilst growing up.
The Nursery School staff that came into work from Soweto everyday (some staff stayed on the property), didnt say much about what went on, only that they needed their passes with them at all times.
I didn't, as a young girl, understand the implications of all this...
The government kept things quiet, and, as they had control over the media at the time, nothing was broadcast.
I first visited Soweto when I went with my family to a church meeting. We knew the pastor and he had specially invited us to a service.
We stood in the front of the church and sang a song… the only white people out of hundreds of people.
I didn’t feel at all scared or nervous, the love and acceptance I felt from the people in Soweto was immense. They are a community in the true sense of the word.
There are also a lot of people doing a lot of good who are trying to make better lives for themselves and others in Soweto.
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on Jun 12, 2007
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