Memories of Mandela

As the world learns of the death of Nelson Mandela, Thinking Faith asks two South Africans to reflect on the life and legacy of a great leader. Frances Correia and Fr Peter-John Pearson tell us what Madiba means to them.

Frances Correia writes: I was 16 when the ANC was unbanned. We were sitting, appropriately, in our History class and suddenly over the school loudspeaker they began to play FW de Klerk’s speech from the radio. As a Catholic school we were, by South African standards in 1990, very unusually multi-racial. In fact, Sacred Heart College had a number of children and grandchildren of struggle activists who were in hiding, in exile or in prison. As we started to realise what we were listening to, some of us began to cry. The hoped-for, but undreamed-of, end was in sight.

To read on see: www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20131206_1.htm