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| Hamba kahle, Madiba |
My Morning with Madiba
A close friend of the family (Beryl) was one of his personal
assistants and asked if I wanted to assist in helping President Mandela sign
copies of his newly released autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom”. These
copies were specifically going to be sold at the Rugby World Cup final to raise
money for the Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund. As I recall, this was the first
fundraiser for the fund.
I woke up early that morning, as we had to be at President
Mandela’s house by 6:30 am (he was apparently an early riser!). I was a little nervous during the drive as I
was not sure what to expect when meeting the president of the country. Do I
call him Mr. Mandela, President Mandela, Madiba; do I shake his hand? These
were just a few of the thoughts that ran through my head.
At around 7 am we were ushered into the dining room where all
the books were piled. The next moment President Mandela walked in, tall, commanding
and in his pyjamas. I will never forget them: light blue flannel pyjamas. He
immediately put me at ease coming over, thanking me for helping and excusing
himself for still being in his pyjamas. It was early he explained, he hadn't
had breakfast yet, and they were quite comfortable.
There was another boy around my age there to help too and
the three of us came up with a strategy to make the process efficient. I would
put the book in front of President Mandela, open on the page he had to sign,
and the other boy would take it away and stack it once is was signed. We worked
like this for about an hour and a half until all the books were complete. In
this time President Mandela chatted to us about our lives, family and school.
Thinking back it was amazing how calm and relaxed he made us feel around him.
Once we had finished signing all the books he looked at both
of us and suggested we join him for breakfast. This will forever be one of the
most surreal experiences of my life. There I was eating bacon and eggs with
Nelson Mandela in blue flannel pyjamas. He was at the head of the table, I was
on his right, and the other boy on his left: just the three of us. I recall
quite vividly trying to keep up my best manners, answering his questions, making
conversation, all while his 2-year-old grandson was playing with my feet under
the table.
Being a Saturday, I guess all the fun presidential decisions
needed to be made. The reason the date is so clear is that during breakfast
there were a number of people coming and going trying to figure out who of the
family was going to join the President at the soccer that day. Bafana-Bafana, the South African national soccer team, were
playing Argentina at Ellis Park. I recall thinking “ask me, ask me!!”. I never
did get the invite J.
At the end of breakfast President Mandela got up and went to
the phone in the corner of the room. There he had a little red phone book.
Picking it up he asked us for our telephone numbers. “I always want to keep in
contact with my friends”, he said while writing the numbers down.
At this point it was time to head out and with a quick
goodbye my morning with Madiba was over. It is a morning I will cherish and forever
be privileged to have had.
Madiba, I consider you a friend too. You are humble and have
no prejudices. South Africa and the
world are a better place because of you and you will be sorely missed. In your
passing I am brought back to these memories and want them to inspire me in how
I live my life.
Madiba, hamba kahle, go well, keep on dancing and hopefully,
one day, the whole world will be dancing with you.
Mark McCann
5 December 2013
