My Mandela: #RIPNelsonMandela

Nelson Mandela Statue outside Victor-Verster Prison

We have lost a hero.  When I read the news of Nelson Mandela’s passing, I was shocked. I knew that his health was failing for sometime, but the fact that this great man is no longer with us is still difficult for me to grasp.  Mandela was elected to the presidency of South Africa during my senior year in high school.  At that point in my life, I could not help but feel the sense of optimism and hope that the man personified.  Our first trip to his beloved land South Africa was in 2010.  During our stay in Johannesburg, we visited the Soweto.  Below are a few pictures from our visit with some of our favorite quotes from Nelson Mandela.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”–Long Walk to Freedom

Soweto, Johannesburg

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”–Mandela

“Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”–Mandela

A mural in the Soweto.

“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 to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” —Rivonia trial, 1964

 “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”–Mandela

Soweto family

“A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”-Long Walk to Freedom

God Speed Madiba.