Earlier this month, I had the privilege of visiting South Africa with
my daughter-in-law Maggie, my P&G associates, Lindsay and Steffen Schmauss,
Lindsay’s dad Daryl (who lives in Durban) and Matthew Willman, a young man who
served as Nelson Mandela’s professional and closest photographer for ten years
starting about 2003.
It was the experience of a lifetime. In a period of 72 hours, we visited a succession of sites
and were informed by testimony from Matthew that brought to life the courage,
the fortitude and the values of Nelson Mandela’s life as we could have never
otherwise experienced. Our visits
took us to:
·
The Nelson Mandela Center of Memory, where we
met its founder Vern Harris.
·
Robben Island. Matthew had spent 18 months coming to and from the island as
part of his work with Mandela.
·
The Victor Verster Prison, the final
imprisonment site for Nelson Mandela.
It was here that the negotiations were conducted with DeKlerk after 27
years of imprisonment and Mandela’s release finalized. We had the special privilege there of
talking with one of his wardens, Jack Swart.
·
The Nelson Mandela Capture Site outside Durban. It features a remarkable exhibit
profiling Mandela’s life.
This experience was informing, inspiring and humbling. The bravery and determination of
Mandela and his associates were palpable.
It brought to life for me in a far deeper way what I had learned from
his magnificent biography, “Long Road to Freedom.”
No words of mine will do justice to this experience. I’d urge all who can to make this
visit. I only hope it can be in
the company of someone who can convey close to the insight we gained from Matthew
Willman, Vern Harris and Jack Swart.
*****
I took a number of deep impressions from this visit; many uplifting,
other presenting me with a personal challenge as I, together with so many
others, work to pursue the mission of the Freedom Center. Here I will present two of these
impressions:
1.
The first is to say how glad I am that we were
able to honor Nelson Mandela at our last International Freedom Conductor Award
event and that his great-great-grandson, Luvuyo Mandela, joined us.
I’m delighted that
we have acquired Matthew Willman’s photographs as a foundation for sharing
Nelson Mandela’s story at the Freedom Center, and beyond through a traveling
exhibit. I’m excited about other
ideas that emerged from the trip which might enable us to become even more a
repository for Nelson Mandela’s memory and values.
2.
I was deeply impressed by the similar progress
that has been made in South Africa and the United States in overcoming some of
the worst aspects of apartheid in South Africa and segregation in our country. Yet, at the same time, I was impressed
by the similar and enormous challenges our nations continue to face in overcoming
the legacy of apartheid and slavery and on accepting each other as one.
While I am no expert on apartheid and how far it has been overcome, I
was encouraged by some of what I saw.
To observe the inter-racial beaches at Durban, which not long ago were
segregated into four separate blocks—White, Black, Colored and Indian—was
encouraging. I was moved by the
congregation at Lindsay Schmauss’ father’s parish—The Anglican Parish of St.
John the Baptist in Durban. Its
racially mixed congregation and group of ministers would be the envy of most
churches in our nation.
Still, the history of apartheid rests heavily on South African today,
just as the legacy of slavery rests on our country. The history of South Africa is, in many regards, like our
own. I was reminded how the Whites
legislated the Black Africans into “Homelands,” not surprisingly the most arid
and least desirable lands in South Africa. How alike in essence was this to what has happened in our
country, as prejudice and the flawed execution of federal “fair housing” policy
led to segregated neighborhoods and ghettos.
And within these shockingly disparate residential communities come the
disparate schools, those for the poor, being dramatically inferior to those in
the wealthiest suburbs, resulting in another cycle of increasing inequality.
On the positive side, I found it reinforcing to learn from Lindsay
Schmauss’ sister-in-law, who is working in urban planning, that she is working
with groups in major cities to bring together in a coordinated way government
services in health, child development and education, recognizing that holistic
improvement in neighborhood infrastructure is the only credible way to make
significant and sustained progress.
How similar that is to the growing conviction in Cincinnati (and
elsewhere) that we need integrated neighborhood-by-neighborhood support for
individual families to break the back of poverty and the lack of opportunity
which so many of our young people face.
My visit to South Africa and ever deepening awareness of the ravages of
poverty in our own nation add great weight to my commitment to do all I can to
overcome our failure to give every child the opportunity to develop his or her
abilities.
We must garner our energy and determination to address this
challenge. The future of our
nation depends on it. There will
be no total solution; we know that.
But the opportunity and need for major progress rests with us.
In closing, I share this challenge laid down by Nelson Mandela himself
which I happened to read while I was on this visit:
“Overcoming poverty
is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome
and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
“There is nothing I
fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little
happiness to those with no resources; those who are poor, illiterate and ridden
with terminal disease.”
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