A Personal Tribute to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: Happy 92nd Birthday

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I was not yet born when Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. I did not hear his name during my early childhood growing up under the apartheid regime. I was not sure why he was imprisoned in that tiny cell on Robben Island. And I did not know then, that one day, he would unequivocally be my hero.

While I have not had the honor of meeting Nelson Mandela, he has been a powerful and real part of my life journey over the past 20 years. I am profoundly humbled by his capacity to forgive and deeply motivated by his spirit and strength.

At a very early age, in South Africa, I knew I was living a privileged life at the expense of an entire nation. I spoke out softly against the injustice and never felt proud of the country I lived in. I was witness from afar to the many atrocities, and one day personally experienced the insanity of apartheid, when the South African Police Force swarmed the campus at Wits University and beat innocent people with “shamboks” and batons. It was on this day that I knew I could no longer live in the country of my birth.

I left South Africa in 1987, three years before Mandela was granted his rightful freedom. On Feb 11, 1990, I watched with millions as the man called “Madiba” walked free through the streets of South Africa. I knew in that moment I was seeing the greatest man that I would “know” in my lifetime. In 1994, in San Diego, California, with tears streaming down my face, I voted for Nelson Mandela to be the president of a non-apartheid South Africa. It was the first time I ever felt proud to be from South Africa.

Tata Madiba: you taught us umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (we are people through other people). You embody the mantra of Ghandi’s most famous quote – “Be the change you want to see in this world”. You stand proud yet humble; forgiving yet firm; iconic yet human. You are a man who embraced your oppressors with the same vigor and sincerity that you embraced your struggle to bring freedom to the whole nation.

You, Madiba, are the eternal father of a free South Africa and an example of the triumph of the human spirit over the impossible. You have proved that "the common ground is greater and more enduring than the differences that divide." You stand in opposition to the naysayers who preach, “peace is just a dream” and reaffirm my belief that peace is a right for all, not a privilege for few. Your life is a symbol of the possibility that the world offers each of us. You challenge us as global citizens to pursue truth and reconciliation with our enemies, to have compassion for those who are in need and to make this world a better place for all.

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and see realized. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Today, we thank you for living up to your Xhosa name, Rolihlahla , which was given to you by your father and for “pulling the branch of a tree”. By shaking the tree of apartheid and never giving up, you transformed South Africa from a country filled with hate, ignorance and prejudice into a rainbow nation of tolerance, understanding and acceptance. You have given the world an irreplaceable and precious gift of what it means to be a true world leader.

NKOSI, SIKELELA TATA MADIBA!