"Mandela has always felt most at ease around children"

[sheshe2]

[url=http://postimage.org/][img][/img][/url]
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Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand. Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg — a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know — his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what sports they liked to play and what they'd had for breakfast. While we talked, he held my son Gabriel, whose complicated middle name is Rolihlahla, Nelson Mandela's real first name. He told Gabriel the story of that name, how in Xhosa it translates as "pulling down the branch of a tree" but that its real meaning is "troublemaker."

- Richard Stengel

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/12/mandela-has-always-felt-most-at-ease.html

Indeed and it reminds me of our President. They bonded with our future.

[ProSense]

1. Wonderful.

Kids know.

Thanks for posting.

[sheshe2]

2. They do indeed, ProSense~

thanks~

[Cha]

3. Another thing he has in common

with President Obama.. they love children and they love them back.

Mahalo for the post from smartypants, she~

I learned last night that his people call him "Madiba" which is his clan name..



http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4140522

We Call Him Madiba

snip//

The rest of the world knows him as Nelson Mandela. We, as South Africans, choose to call him Madiba, his Xhosa clan name. Since I was a young girl growing up in the Daveyton township in Johannesburg's East Rand, Madiba has always been my hero. He was a leader to all indigenous South Africans long before his story of resilience found its way into history books around the world. The Afrikaner colonial regime sentenced him to a lifetime imprisonment at Robben's Island - they thought it would curb our dreams, break our spirits. It was supposed to serve as a stern warning: Fighting the system would not be tolerated. Still, other brave men -- just like Madiba -- chose unrest over suppression and were rewarded with torture and incarceration. Countless others simply disappeared into our memories as their brothers and sisters fought on in their honor. I am a product of this rich legacy.

Apartheid was the law, a way of life. One of my earliest memories as a child is being trained how to not make direct eye contact with certain individuals. The beautiful protest music that shed light on the bitter reality of South Africa was banned and our news channels were filtered. There were many efforts to keep us ignorant and uninformed, but we refused to be silenced. We continued to sing songs for our Madiba and it was through these songs that the details of our harsh existence were preserved. These songs were the soundtrack to my childhood. Through lyrics of strength and pain, I began to understand the plight of native South Africans under a segregated system of oppression -- first with the British, then with the Dutch.

Much more..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lira/nelson-mandela-birthday_b_1682155.html

mahalo~she

[sheshe2]

4. I saw the name Madiba...I like his clan name too.

By whatever name he is called, he was an amazing soul~

[Cha]

5. A wonderful soul who made it through decades of

the most cruel adversity,, to the other side, forgiving his enemies.

Who after all Changed Our World~



Mahalo for your Madiba thread, she~

Btw, I found my !