Nelson Mandela

nelson-mandela

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Quoted by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural address

http://www.biography.com/people/nelson-mandela-9397017/videos/nelson-mandela-early-life-25564739975

Click here to access the New York Times webpage and learn something about Nelson Mandela.  Watch the videos, read the timereferences and most of all make some notes.  In class we will work together on the key moments of his life.

The interactive timeline may appeal to you too.

Before we start investigating this great heroic figure, we need to understand what Apartheid was and see that racial segregation did not exist in South Africa only, in the United States there were the Jim Crow Laws.

Gary Younge remembers the ecstatic reaction of ordinary voters to Nelson Mandela in 1994 on the campaign trail in South Africa’s first democratic general election. He considers Mandela’s emblematic status in the anti-apartheid movement; his role in the foundation of post-apartheid South Africa; and his status as one of the most transformative politicians of the 20th century.

The Sharpeville Massacre

On 21 March 1960 at least 180 people were injured and 69 killed when South African police opened fire on approximately 300 demonstrators, who were protesting against the pass laws, at the township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging in the Transvaal. The Sharpeville Massacre, as the event has become known, signaled the start of armed resistance in South Africa, and prompted worldwide condemnation of South Africa’s Apartheid policies.
In 1996, on the 26th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the site to announce the signing of the new democratic constitution. The day is now commemorated as South Africa’s Human Rights Day.

Listening to his words of wisdom can teach us all so much, his words can definitely change us for the better!


Extracts from Nelson Mandela’s statement from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage at the supreme court of South Africa in Pretoria on 20 April 1964.

An ideal for which I am prepared to die

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Maya Angelou, who knew Mandela when she lived in Africa, was asked by the State Department to write a tribute to that country’s first black president and international civil rights leader as his health was failing.  The State Department unveiled the tribute poem, “His Day is Done,”  written by Angelou for Mandela “on behalf of the American people.”  They first met in 1962 before he was imprisoned. “Yes, Mandela’s day is done,” Angelou said. “Yet we, his inheritors, will open the gates wider for reconciliation. And we will respond generously to the cries of blacks and whites, Asians, Hispanics, the poor who live piteously on the floor of our planet.”

maya-angelou

Below is the video released by the State Department.

Click here to read the poem

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Now you write your own poem, inspired by the images, videos you watched, by the articles you read.

This is my poem:

Addressing Madiba

You appear to me as an iconic figure

The epitome of resilience

The symbol of hope

The embodiment of forgiveness, understanding and love

Your words made me, a white Italian woman

feel engrossed with new energy after having read your books

I owe you a lot

I am indebted to you as a teacher and as a human being

You taught how brutally crippling the boundaries of the mind are

They lead to the boundaries of the heart

You made me feel less lonely

You made me feel understood

You made me feel human and proud to be so

You made me realize how important it is

Not to take humanity for granted

Human Beings can achieve great things

You are a living proof of this

But they can regress in a state of terrifying beast-like brutality

Plunging humanity back into cultural and moral primitivism

M.ulling over my existence

A.ssessing the role I have played so far on this planet

D.etermined to fight back prejudice, compliance, shallowness to remain human

I.ndignant of the abuse of power

B.affled by sweeping selfish indifference

A.ching for the so many usurpations of human rights in our world

I kneel and in somber hope I pray for more Mandelas to come

Thank you MADIBA

Long live your memory

Long live your efforts

Long live all the South African people who suffered at the hands of a blind and brutish segregation system.

This is a video I found on the Economist webpage, a video whose poetic quality struck me. The way it pays tribute to Nelson Mandela is so powerful that I cannot possibly avoid posting it.

Listen and read Barack Obama’s memorial speech and take notes of the passages that “touch” your mind and your heart.  You can read the full speech if you wish to, should you find it difficult to follow Obama without.  I wish you all a “oneness to humanity”, I wish the word “ubuntu” can lead us all to a new moral rebirth.  Madiba the free could help us free ourselves with our own limits and contradictions.  I hope he will inspire you and change you as much as he did me.  He promped in me a time for selfreflection.  I am not proud with my own life at all, I ask myself this question as a woman and as a teacher.  I know I can do more and I should do more to promote a better way of living our globe, to live in understanding, sharing and friendship.  It is difficult because we are surrounded by greed and individualism that blind us to the point we are not aware we are enslaved to the scary “me, myself and I”.  Let your voices be heard, make a change for the better, be the male and female extention of Nelson Mandela.  We can choose to define a world defined by peace and opportunity.

You may want to listen to other words Barack Obama spoke in commemoration of Nelson Mandela.

You listened to Barack Obama’s words of tribute, you read Maya Angelou’s poem, you can read tons of words of gratitude addressed to Mandela on the web.  Write your letter to him in which you express your ideas as to the impact his ideas and actions may have had on you, the way his example may shape and influence who you are and will become as a man or a woman.

Nelson Mandela held his Nobel Lecture on 10 December 1993, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway.  The transcript will help you.

Writers, Journalists, Film Directors, Singers tried to do their part in their struggle against Apartheid and in their commemoration of Nelson Mandela.

Music can be a wondeful medium to raise people’s consciousness and bring to the forefront the contradictions and hypocrisy of a deplorable system of segregation.

Listen to the song dedicated to Biko and find out who he was.

Choose one of the following films and be prepared to present it to the rest of the class. Select interesting passages. You will have 15 minutes for your presentation. You could use an alternative way to the “traditional” powerpoint presentation. You could use prezi.com

“Invictus” is a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and published in 1888 in his first volume of poems, Book of Verses.  The title means “never defeated”.  The poem was used by Nelson Mandela in his prison years to soothe his imprisonment under the appalling laws of Apartheid.  This is the reason why the 2009 film directed by Clint Eastwood has this title.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever god may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced not cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

 

 

 

 

 
What do you expect the latest film based on Nelson Mandela’s biography “Long walk to freedom” to be like?

What about the film based on a true story: “The Butler”?  It covers the years from slavery, to racial segregation (the Jim Crow Laws) to Barack Obama’s election.  Really worth watching.

Alice Walker, an American author and activist, wrote the following comments about the film:

Lee Daniels’ The Butler was received in my neighborhood by a packed house, all colors and kinds […].  At the end, there was a rousing, heartfelt offering of applause.   The enthusiasm is well deserved because the acting, everyone’s acting, is superb.  Superb also is the courage to depict realities in our past that don’t often, if ever, make it to consciousness, not to mention to the screen.  For example, there is that haunting early scene in which the son of the plantation owner […] rapes his pale skinned sister, who happens to be the mother of Cecil Gaines, the butler-to-be.  When her husband, prodded to make a stand by his young son, utters a single sound about what has happened, the white man, clearly a sociopathic crazy person as many slave owners and over-seers of slaves and later of sharecroppers had to be, shoots him dead.

This reminded me of a story my mother told me very late in her life; late, because it was apparently an unspoken rule among many Southern black people not to talk about white people, at all, especially to their children.  It was about how she and her five sisters avoided being raped by white men on their way to or from church. It was understood that her six brothers, who walked beside them, could not protect them.  For the same reason young Cecil Gaines’ father was afraid to protest the abuse of his wife.  So what did my mother and her sisters do:  they peeled off in different directions and outran their would-be rapists, who were often on horseback. I’m sure neither you nor I wish to think of this.

A couple of years ago I was part of a Freedom Flotilla that attempted to bring aid and expressions of caring to the blockaded people of Gaza.  We were turned back by armed commandos of the Greek coast guard.  An artist on our boat had made caps for us to wear that had the words STAY HUMAN printed on them.  The ability of our parents and grandparents, our ancestors, to stay human in situations where it would have made more sense to go mad, strikes me often as miraculous.  But yes, they stayed human.  That is what the butler did. (source: http://alicewalkersgarden.com)

This is the reason why I decided to work on Apartheid and racial discrimination with you.  I want to stay human.  I would love you to stay human.  Surrounded by lots of students who simply do not care, surrounded by a few who when I uttered the word “Apartheid” looked at me as if I had mentioned a neologism, I realized that it is paramount for me as a teacher to withstand the new wave of cultural analphabetism and human indifference.  I will fight back this loathsome state  of apathy, this lack of empathy, and borrowing from Nelson Mandela’s words, I cry out: “this is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.

Look at Emanuele and Matteo’s prezi presentation on the film “Mandela and De Klerk”:

http://prezi.com/tui9gwbxvwl6/mandela/#

Another intersting prezi presentation done by some students of a colleague of mine, really worth looking at:

78 Replies to “Nelson Mandela”

  1. Martina Bravin: “A light called Madiba”

    It was the night,
    without stars,
    without a sunset,
    without dawn.
    It hasn’t got any light for forty-five years:
    just a glimmer lit up those days.
    A faint light behind the bars of a small cage, from the little eyes of a big, strong, rare, beautiful creature:
    as an African elephant.
    Someone thought it was dangerous, others he was precious.
    But he didn’t have any weapons, he didn’t have any enemies,
    some humans were his enemies instead.
    He was the strongest creature in Africa, he had no fears
    but human’s ignorance.
    He wasn’t alone, though!
    He was an elephant, he had a herd,
    He was an African creature, he had the spirit of Ubuntu.
    He was the invictus, he had an unconquerable soul.
    If “a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight ”
    “a winner is a dreamer who never gives up” . He dreamed.
    And the peace didn’t remain a dream.
    In this Darkness he brought light among human beings,
    Rationalism,
    Oneness,
    The sharing of ourselves with others:UBUNTU.
    He showed us we can choose a world defined by our common hopes.
    We can make his life’s work our own!
    We have to fight!
    We can become the new light!

    1. Martina your poem is proof of the fact that a desperate teacher like me (desperate because lots of students seem to give no heed to my words, seem to oversee my efforts) should never give up hope. You wrote a touching poem, you wrote it in beautiful English and I am so very proud of your “creature”. I am sure Mandela would have been pleased of reading it. I hope you will be the new light and I hope Mandela’s teachings will turn you into a “stronger creature”, the “strongest” creature in Italy (to quote from your poem). Thank you for working hard. I am looking forward to reading your letter to Madiba.

  2. Ode to Nelson Mandela

    Nelson Mandela was one of the best moral figures in our contemporary world
    A man that fought for his ideas
    Ideas that at the time were considered “impossible”
    He demonstrated that Everything is possible
    He demonstrated that all human beings are equal
    He demonstrated that war is useless to achieve what you want
    He demonstrated that you can do everything with peace
    He demonstrated that big changes in the world can be made
    He demonstrated that you can become “eternal” if you do important things
    Though discrimination is not ended, Black people are considered people
    With his brilliant mind Madiba was able to stop Apartheid
    In our society discrimination is a big problem
    Discrimination against the blacks, against the immigrants, against people of the same country: the North and the South!
    It’s difficult to stop racism and live in an equal world
    But people like Mandela can make the impossible possible
    He demonstrated the world that the blacks are human
    That every being has the same rights as YOU.
    Thank you for everything you did for our world

    We will never forget you: GOODBYE MADIBA!

    1. Dear Matteo, a heart-felt poem. It would be great if in class you could express the deep feelings that you disclose in your poem to Madiba.
      I made some corrections and I hope you approve of them. You wrote your poem more like a “narrative” piece than a “poetic” piece. However, as a first attempt to writing poetry, congratulations!

  3. Ode to Nelson Mandela:

    Madiba.
    A word, a man, a leader, the biggest leader.
    The leader of peace, of brotherhood.
    A sweet fire against the bad whites.
    A black man that loves us, OUR heart,
    NOT our skin colour.
    He is the star, the Moon, the Sun.
    He is the symbol of peace.
    No violence, only love.
    Madiba.
    A word, a man, mankind’s father.

    1. Next time try to reread the poem before you post it. There were lots of mistakes and it was a pity, since the poem is so powerful. I liked it truly. In this poem you express depth and understanding you rarely reveal in class. Why? Is it easier to write a poem than expressing your feelings and ideas in class? Perhaps so. Whatever the answer, I am happy of the results.

  4. My poem for Madiba

    MANDELA THE LION
     
    Listen to my words, wherever you are, words of a young girl far away from you
    But close to your heart.
    MANDELA – the lion,
    You are not alone,
    You are the Messiah
    Abolishing repression
    Not to establish another
    But to finally bring peace.
    You have abolished the eternal dualism between the whites and the blacks!
    You have deleted differences not only of color but also of ideals and mentality,
    Because “different” is not bad, it is not wrong, but part of the same entity: HUMANITY.
    To reunite it in its original rainbow,
    To bury sordid poverty, especially that of the mind
    In a land free
    For the love of the heart and the soul.
    When will the roar of your hope come to us all?
    Hope of a land without racism?
    Mandela – the lion
    Your kingdom will demand.
    One day, maybe, one day we will all have your qualities.
    This is not a dream, this is how it could be.

    Bye Madiba, thanks for having taught us what “Freedom” means.

    1. I love the title, it fits Mandela perfectly well “Madiba, the Lion”. He was certainly a fighter, who could be as fierce as a lion when he had to.

  5. The father of us all

    When I came here I was young,
    I was too busy to realize how much my parents suffered for me.
    They had left their Home to offer me a better future
    They had fought to give me everything I needed
    They never asked me for anything in exchange
    They love me and they never wanted anything more than love.
    And that was the same with you, Mandela,
    You are the father of us all
    You accompanied human beings during their hard times
    Your words will resonate for future generations too
    You sacrificed yourself for us
    You loved your ideals
    That is the nature of unconditional love
    You had never asked us for anything in exchange, if not respect for one another
    Thanks to your struggles today is a better day.
    It is not over yet.
    We will still have to fight,
    But you taught us the right path towards peace.
    We can still do it, we can realize the world you dreamed of
    So that you will be proud of your children

    1. Your parents did not ask you for anything because they knew you would give them whatever you could. You are a sensitive intelligent woman and this poem is evidence of this.

  6. Nelson Mandela
    One of the last heroes of our society

    You were an icon of hope

    You make me understand that nobody is inadequate and that impossible things may become possible if we are honest to human principles

    You never bowed before difficulties

    You were unafraid of your destiny

    You never gave up

    The power of your words defeated the most atrocious forms of violence

    And this is why you changed the world

    And even if your fight looks unreal to me, so far from your life and pain

    I acknowledge you like as a star that lit up our world and you will shine forever for everyone who loved and respected you

    1. I like it when you mention that though Nelson Mandela’s fight and pain do not touch you directly (you live in a different country and you are white, thus you have never been subjected to racial discrimination), yet they teach you a lot

  7. AN EXAMPLE

    You are

    A guide to me
    I want to follow you

    I get easily discouraged
    BUT

    You gave me proof

    That Life’s Obstacles

    Can be overcome when you really want to

    Your death is a big loss for

    humankind

    But your example will remain forever in our
    Hearts

    You had a dream

    You realized it

    After 27 years of prison, you found the
    Strenght to become the first South-african
    President
    elected after the battle against
    Apartheid

    We all have a dream

    It is up to us
    Realize it

    Nothing is impossible, As you proved me

    I will remember you with

    This your phrase: ” A winner is a dreamer who never gives up”

    1. Mandela will always be a great example of resilience, courage, capability of love, humanity, honesty, sensitivity, patience, faith in mankind. You are right.

  8. Ode to Mandela

    Oh Madiba, Where did you find the strength and the courage
    to lead your people?
    Where did you learn the long way that leads to freedom?
    Only very few people dared the impossible and became “invictus”
    both in life and death.
    You taught us to hold on in every situation, to trust our dreams.
    Madiba, you were the chief of your tribe
    and you became the moral leader of all mankind.
    You taught us a big lesson: we can see humanity in everybody, even in the worst of men.

    For future generations your example will be a guiding light.

    1. Hope Madiba will guide you through your life as your pen stated in the poem.
      Long live his example.
      Nice ode.

  9. A tribute to Nelson Mandela

    You were a fighter
    you were a boxer
    but all the things you did
    you achieved them with the power of language and you never used violence.
    You fought against apartheid,
    against black discrimination, against a legislation that preserved white supremacy,
    for these ideals you were prepared to die
    but you did something bigger
    you spent twenty seven year in prison
    proving that if you truly want something you get it through sacrifice.
    Only a few people are important like you,
    they can be counted on the fingers of one hand
    You had the ability to change the mindset of humanity
    Now the world is orphan of a great person
    the world has lost his black father
    No one will ever forget
    Your love, your ideals, your honesty, your respect of life
    thanks for having existed Madiba and for having helped humanity.

    1. Nice tribute. Hope he has changed your mindset too. Find your own way, the sooner the better. You can make a difference too. Everybody can make a difference. This is Mandela’s message, isn’t it?

  10. The change

    We can choose,
    We should choose,
    We must choose for our freedom.
    FREEDOM
    The freedom to be who we really are,
    who we want to be, creators of our destiny.
    Doubts and fears are in common, why criticize our neighbors?
    Differences divide those who are afraid.
    Differences unite those who are unbowed.
    Tears and death will not serve
    if we do not have the courage to react
    Get up
    Stand up
    and make a change
    that change which will make a man able to listen to his heart first
    Do good
    search for good in people around you
    Denounce violence.
    Live love.
    Mandela, great man and master, taught us this,
    the man who revolutionized the world with his voice and no weaponry

    1. Effective title and interesting way of developing the poem. Your reveal the addressee of your poem at the end. Nice.

  11. Scent of Peace

    Thanks Madiba.
    Saying thank you is never easy
    above all in my case.
    You have changed my perception of diversity,
    my belief of superiority.
    Even though I haven’t known the man,
    I grasped your message
    and I hope it is so for the whole world.
    You were able to transform
    hatred emanating from your country
    in the scent of peace.
    That is why I will not forget you.
    Thanks Madiba.

    1. Thank you for being so honest, Leonardo. Most people claim they are not racialist, they deny their sense of superiority. You, instead, admit your change. I am happy to see that the reason why I try to promote diversity in the classroom is worthwhile. The poem is genuine and for this reason original.

  12. OUR LIVES WITHOUT YOU

    My eyes are full of tears
    I wonder what our lives will be without you
    But then your image appears to me
    You’re like a desert rose
    It’s there for ages without fear
    It struggles the coldest nights and the hottest days
    But like you, it survives
    And you will always be there in my heart
    You made me understand how important life is
    How important it is to have faith in our beliefs
    To never let go
    To keep on fighting for what is right
    We must not allow the few to abandon the ones who
    aren’t as lucky to have a dignified life
    Who are we to decide what is right or wrong?
    Who are we to judge?
    No one should live in misery or poverty
    Everyone should be free and equal
    Determination and fighting against discrimination will lead us to a better world
    The journey to succeed in this is still long
    You have left us alone
    Without you we’re like sheep without their shepherd
    But then when I look deeply into my heart I feel your strength
    The power of a simple man which changed the world
    So I wipe away my tears and I smile to a better world

    1. So happy to read the kind of impact Mandela has had on you, young man. Smile to a better world and do something to make it better. There is not Mandela now, but his words can all infuse us with the convinction that if we all do something, if we all fight for a just cause, our eyes will be filled with the joy of success!

  13. To Nelson Mandela

    Where there was once fear, you brought strength
    Where there were once predjudices, you brought tolerance
    Where there was once resignation, you brought hope
    When nobody thought it possible, you did
    When nobody dared, you acted
    You overcame difficulties and human limits
    You swept away difficulties
    You smashed cultural, economical, political bounds
    You chased away the darkness of violence to welcome the light of love
    And we welcome your light as the way out of all woe
    We will never be grateful to you enough
    This is not the end
    You marked the way
    You gave us the means
    You gave us the opportunity to grow up together
    You gave us the possibility to reach our aims
    To understand before judging
    To reflect before acting
    To try before giving up
    This is what you passed on us
    To believe in myself as a human being
    To believe in love
    “I” without “you” doesn’t exist
    The length of the path I’ve to face doesnt’ frighten me any more
    I’ve so much to learn
    But I’m not alone because I believe in the power of education, in the importance of history
    And I do believe in an imminent “ubuntu life”
    A grateful thought to you, Nelson Mandela.
    Your light will never stop shining

    1. These two lines moved me deeply:
      “I” without “you” doesn’t exist
      And I do believe in an imminent “ubuntu life”
      You have grown under my eyes and I am so proud of the very special woman you have turned into.
      Your poem is the mirror of your blooming soul.

  14. Ode to Mandela

    Only black people can change our soul
    One, in particulary, did: Nelson Mandela.
    Mandela’s story can seem incredible to our eyes
    He is the symbol of freedom
    He fought for equal laws
    His body was imprisoned for 27 years,
    but his identity didn’t alte,
    His soul stayed healthy and hearty.
    Mandela wanted all people to have the same rights,
    Mandela didn’t want the supremacy of anybody,
    Mandela wanted equality for all people
    He didn’t care about people’s colour of skin
    He cared for people
    He persued justice all his life
    and he obtained freedom with his intelligence
    and without violence.
    Right now we have a great opportunity:
    we can study and remeber Mandela’s story.
    He was a beautifull person.
    Thanks Mandela for what you did to make our world a better place to live in.

    1. I would not say that just black people can change the world (Nelson Mandela would not agree with this since this would exclude other peoples). His creed is the creed of a man for the benefit of all human beings.
      I enjoyed reading your poem, I appreciate the efforts you put into writing it.

  15. The Man who made the world change
    The Man who changed the world

    The Man
    The winner of a great award
    The award of putting aside Racism
    The one who believed in what a single man can do
    Nelson Mandela is this man
    A man who spent 27 years waiting for his victory to come
    27 years marked his existence
    27 years of suffering
    In spite of everything he wanted no revenge
    He wanted to persue his beliefs
    His ideals
    His battle
    He talked to white people in a new language to them
    He showed we can act without resorting to violence
    A great man inspired people all over the world
    A great man dedicated all his life to defeat Apartheid
    Thank you, Mandela.

    1. I find it effective the way you mark 27. It sticks out in the text.
      The title is effective too ( I had to make some changes, but I think the essence has not changed). Let me know whether you agree with the “suggestions” or not.

  16. Humanity Will Rise Again

    My greatest wish is to live in a world of Freedom and Peace,
    where our Souls and Minds are set free.
    Sometimes Inadeguate I feel, Scared
    of Prejudices against those who are considered “different”
    Nelson Mandela smiled at the stigmatization of diversity
    He guided us with his own feelings and soul,
    He gave us the chance to witness the change of the whole world
    with the help of God.
    Many tears have been shed for this Day,
    many sacrifices have been made and shared for this Day.

    The day of Freedom, of Glory. Cried Glory.
    And now, Unafraid I feel, with You by my side.
    Saving the word from the hypocrisy of Racism, Ignorance and Injustice,
    it is our mission today. Our turn, today.
    Because we are the Masters of our destiny, we are in charge of our life and soul.
    Humanity will rise again, We will rise again.

    1. Humany will rise again to keep fighting against prejudice and to continue Mandela’s example. Right? Is this the meaning of your title?

  17. THE LODESTAR

    I’m in the dark about past truths,
    but one thing is sure,
    Mandela, a man of integrity
    is a symbol of peaceful uprising.

    His power consisted of education and composure.
    He aroused pride,
    admiration and courage.

    His struggle gave assourance and faith
    to those who fought for equality.
    He laid a significant milestone
    on human cognition.

    Every person shall inherit his skills.
    This is my dream, my BIG dream!
    Thank you Mandela for teaching me that
    “I am the captain of my soul.”

  18. Madiba: an eternal flame

    Thrown into mysterious South Africa,
    In a silent search,
    Warm colors,
    Infinite skies and spaces,
    We look for you.

    The one who joined and collected
    Infinite stories,
    Testimony of many lives.

    The earthquakes and winds of life
    Never brought you down,
    You fell and got back on your feet.

    You exposed the tricks,
    You distinguished true ideals from fake ones,
    You fought political wars,
    You denounced social emergencies.

    Holding hands
    You took us far away,
    Where light, joy, unrealistic dreams
    Are fulfilled wishes
    And fear and pain
    Are just memories.

    Now you are not here anymore.
    An invisible veil
    On what will happen,
    On what will be.

    But in the wind there is still hope
    And strength
    For a journey towards immortality.

    1. The journey towards immortality is the journey that will commemorate Nelson Mandela for ever? Is this what you mean? I am curious to know! I loved reading your poem.

  19. -Letter to Nelson Mandela-

    “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”,this speech was yet
    given in 1997.
    And here we are in 2014, since 1948 still fighting with war, between
    the Palestinian and the Israelian. Wars,fears and tears,pain,Palestine is the Apartheid of Today.

    Children and poors are killed everyday; the Palestinians are segregated in their own state, and they are divided by a big wall from the others. And I really hope;that one day it will be find an accord to peace.

    I’m writing to You today,to tell you that we need;someone like you in palestine or Israel, that could be able to stop this legalized genocide ,without violence or any form of terrorism. A peaceful warrior.
    Someone that will stop terrorism;an wars attacs;and deal with this mondial issue,with intelligence and rationality.

    And I respect you,for having considered this question;a mondial issue that many autorities ignore,and took a firm stand of boycott,against the “state” of Israel.
    And I respect you more;when I know that you was able to obtain Peace;without using even a gun. But where we could find someone like you? Able to find peace just with the power of words?
    In Southafrica;1990 you were able to defeat the Apartheid;just with non-violent strikes and boycotts. And Thank you for all the values that you taught to the hole humanity; countless generations will learn about You,and your magnanimity.

    With You in our hearts;we will continue the peaceful struggle against the segregation in Palestine,favoring the establishment of a secular state, and peaceful coexistence between the two populations. But we learned from Your story;and your twenty seven years of imprisonment;that victories are always obtained, with a great effort and commitment.

    Just such a big heart and mind,could say such an important and profound speech;about Palestine. Just who lived in a place of fear and horror,suffering; is able to know and praise the real value of Freedom. Just people;who has lived segregation in South Africa,could exactly know how palestinians live and feel day by day.
    Im sure,on day,with the help of God;someone could learn from your example,and could save us From the terrible situation of Palestine.

    You will always remain the most courageous Fighter.

    Pray for us. Rest in Peace.

    1. Dear Basma,
      A very personal letter indeed and a letter that casts light on a deep wound in your heart. I mourn with you, I sympathise with you the pain Palestinians are experiencing and living. You wonder who could be the leaders in Palestine and Israel that put an end to sufferings, that pull down that wall of shame. One of those leaders could be YOU. You could be the female version of Mandela’s hopes and dreams, you could be the female version of Mandela’s great achievement in South Africa: freedom without bloodshed, freedom in peace!

  20. My letter for Nelson Mandela:

    Pordenone, 17th January 2014
    Dear Madiba,
    I think it is a shame to write to you only now that you’re not here with us anymore, but anyway I wanted to thank you for making me think. I thought on many things in these days.
    The first question that I’ve made ​to myself on ​my way home the day when for the first time we talked about you at school was: “But why there is racism?”
    I like to give answers to questions, I don’t bear unanswered questions.
    And the answer was just like that: “Because when we do not know the “different”, we have fear (xenophobia), we have fear of other customs and manners which are different from ours, we can not understand them and then we criticize or hate them. The only weapons against racism (which starts from ignorance) are the information and the desire to understand the difference, that in fact does not exist.”
    But unfortunately only a person of great courage like you managed to at least partially overcome this bad habit . Yes, because there is still racism, but you surely already know this.
    I have a lot of respect towards you, because I could not do such a thing, I feel too small in this world. But you have succeeded as a great figure, like a father to all of us!
    I really hope that one day someone will literally take you as an example, it should be the majority of people to be like you and not viceversa..
    Thank you for everything you’ve done, now I can say I have grown a little more and this topic helped me a lot, not only at school for my English but mainly to grow personally, as a person.
    You will remain indelible in the story, do remind it, bye Madiba.
    Elisa

    1. Dear Elisa,
      Through Mandela I learnt that courage lies in living our values the fullest, that courage lies in admitting fear in our lives but not being slaves to them.
      Racism does not breed just where there is ignorance. If it were so, there should be no racism among intellectuals or widely-read people. Racism derives from the fear of losing one’s power, racism derives from a deviated and deviating cultural hegemony. There seems to be an invisible hierarchy among humans, a hierarchy founded on power. Those who are in power do not want to give it up and thus they pass down on their kids the sense of superiority that breeds racism (which, by the way, is not linked to the colour of the skin only. There is racism among people of the same nation, of the same skin colour, of the same religion, but of a different social class).
      You can make a change, Elisa. Go back to Mandela’s speech and reread it. He says we can all make a change. Perhaps you will become a mother, a wife: you will breed values. You will work: you will breed and spread values. Thus, if those values are in tune with Mandela’s, then you will be Mandela’s spokeswoman! See, you are not “little” at all. Many drops together can fill an ocean!

  21. A spark in the night
    The sun rises in flight
    Even if HE had been locked behind iron bars
    His dream was not overlooked.

    He hoped for a better future
    they called him terrorist
    He was a victim of rapture
    He was an idealist.

    Many years he waited in silence
    studying hard, learning a lot
    because he was different
    He had to follow his plot.

    A spark in the night
    The sun rises in flight
    Even if HE had been locked behind iron bars
    His dream was not overlooked.

    1. I appreciated the layout, the division in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. I assume this is no coincidence. I cannot quite grasp what you mean by “he was a victim of raputure”.

  22. ODE TO MADIBA

    In a far away land
    In the south of the world
    Where injustice and fear reigned
    A man arised from the haunted
    He fought for justice and dignity
    Even if he suffered twenty-seven years in prison
    In the end he won his battle
    His name was Nelson Mandela
    Called from his commons Madiba
    He defeated the oppression of the white in South Africa
    And he made the black people free
    Free from Apartheid
    Your teachings are an example for everyone
    Thank you Madiba
    For your strength
    For your humilty
    For your sense of justice
    Anyone must follow your example
    Your death is a very big loss in our lives
    South African people lost their beacon
    We will never forget you Madiba
    You will live in our hearts forever
    Your teachings will be preserved in our hearts and minds
    And your words will resonate in our ears forever
    We will miss you
    Rest in peace
    Forever
    THANK YOU

    1. Really nice Ode. You wrote it as a sort of summary of Nelson Mandela’s life and you emphasised his striking qualities.

  23. I’m writing to congratulate on the teacher and the students for this post that shows loads of commitment, effort and sensitivity. Well done!
    Laura

    1. Thanks for your heart-felt and much-cherished support. You were the one who prompted me. I know so little about the use of technology, but you are a great example for me. Thank you.

  24. Letter to Mandela
    Ciao Madiba,
    I just wanted to say a few words to you and. Even if we never met before it’s like I’ve known you my entire life. I personally admire you for all the things you have done and how you managed to fight for your beliefs without giving up. I think that if we want a better world , we need to start asking ourselves if we are doing enough to change it. As teens we can’t change what is going on in the rest of the world, such as wars, discriminations, poverty , it’s too difficult. What we can do though, is change ourselves and what is happening near us. We have to stop racism within our cities. It’s not a matter of the color of our skin, it’s a matter of being equal. I personally don’t care how a person looks on the outside for me it’s important how a person is on the inside, that is what makes the difference. Each of us is equal and equal means the same. If we understand this starting from our childhood racism will have no reason to exist. Once we have achieved this goal, which by the way, Madiba, as you personally know, takes ages, we can think of changing the rest of the world. But then it won’t be necessary because if all young people around the world start fighting against racism where they live at the end it will be defeated and the world will be a better place.
    Oh, Madiba, what a wonderful dream. I hope that many will follow your footsteps, well I certainly will.
    Ciao again my dear friend, rest in peace
    A hug from your friend
    Tommaso

    1. You can certainly make a great change around you Tommaso and this contribution would be admired by Mandela!

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