I was fortunate enough to be in South Africa for Nelson Mandela's birthday on a Saga Holidays press trip. Capetown, Kwazulu Natal, Pretoria, Johannesburg, like most visitors I was a little anxious about my visit, mainly due to my preconceived ideas about the people and the country, most of it from the News and my knowledge of the country's racial segregation history. The irony of blogging about my trip on 121 (a website set up to provide alternative takes on countries to challenge negative perceptions) was not lost on me. As the trip drew closer I became very uneasy about my anxiety, mainly due to the fact that I moan more than anyone I know about the image of Africa in the West and people's lack of willingness to challenge the negative perceptions they have of our beautiful continent.

My fears were laid to rest on arrival in the country, the warmth, hospitality and humour of South Africans I met everywhere added to a luxury trip that ended up exceeding all my expectations. The country and the people felt like home and family. I now know how the negative images we see repeatedly of a country and it's people form our opinions even when we ought to know better.

South Africa on Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday can only be described as 'an African dream realised'. Mandela's dream.
The world cup in 2010, a thriving tourist and hospitality industry, economic and political stability, integrated schools where children only learn of their segregated past in history books, a free press that encourages political debate and one of the most progressive Constitutions, one which contains more guarantees of equality than any other in the world. The Constitution is proudly handed out in booklet form to visitors at most tourist attractions. Anyone with even a brief knowledge of their history could never begrudge them that pride. Theirs is a testament to the impossible possibility, and achievement of a country that only less than a decade and a half ago suffered from one of the worst forms of racial segregation.
The last country in Africa to gain independence, South Africa has come a long way in the 14 years it's been a democracy.
It now plays a father role in Africa, acting as mediator in conflicts throughout the last decade and offering refuge to brethren from troubled regions around the continent.
The beautiful weather, glorious sunsets, world class cuisine, adventure sports, breathtaking natural attractions are all fantastic reasons why visitors should make South Africa a destination of choice, but most importantly South Africa is witness to an Africa that works because 'Ubuntu'- the profound African sense that we are human only through the humanity of others, dictates the way the nation lives. For an increasingly cynical world it provides proof that a peoples will can triumph over any political adversity, to bring about desired change.

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people, 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 it needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.'
Nelson Mandela

Today a grateful people reflect as they celebrate the 90th birthday of a simple man who brought them a hope higher than hope, jubilant that he lives to witness his dreams for their country realised, aware that many other loved political activists did not live to see the free South Africa their struggle brought.

South African children refer to Madiba as 'Tata' Madiba or Father Madiba, a title which comes as no surprise when you consider that he formed the Nelson Mandela Charity Fund an organisation campaigning for Children from age 0 - 22 with a third of his presidential salary knowing he only planned to serve one term.
His words, wisdom, sacrifice and love shape the minds of young South Africans, inspiring hope that South Africa's future will birth Madiba's ultimate dream, a rainbow nation at peace with itself.


Children at Nokhanyo Educare project supported by the Saga Charitable Trust celebrate Madiba's 90th.

Nelson Mandela is famous for his love of all children. For his 90th South African Broadcasting Corporation televised children's messages to him. One child's birthday wish touched the nation when he said 'my wish would be to give back the 27 years you spent in jail'.




This how you do the 'Madiba Jive' ! Hilda from Nokhanyo supported by Saga Charitable Trust does it for the Childrens Tata!

Robben Island

'I always knew that one day I would feel once again the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man'. Mandela



Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in Robben Island prison. His eldest son Thembi was killed in a car accident while he was in prison but authorities denied his request to attend the funeral. He later said that ‘it left a hole in my heart that can never be filled.'


Nelson Mandela's cell in Robben Island

In The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.

Nothing prepares you for the emotions evoked by a tour of the Apartheid museum. You can't help but flinch when you are handed a racial classification pass that labels you White or Non- White to begin your tour through separate revolving doors based on your assigned race.




The Non- White door leads you to a gallery containing caged blown up 'Dom passes' Stupid passes, the ID cards that black South Africans were forced to carry during Apartheid.
The museum painfully chronicles the rise and fall of Apartheid from the start in 1948 when the White National Party government began implementing a policy that turned 20 million people into second class citizens in the country of their birth, damning them to a life of servitude and abuse, through to liberation in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela. The vivid photographs and video footage bring to life the turmoil and humiliation suffered by blacks during the long years of oppression.
Other exhibitions pay tribute to the triumph of several political leaders, including Black Conciousness leader Steve Biko, who died as a result of injuries sustained when security police brutally beat him for refusing to stand up during interrogation.
Just before you exit the museum you come to a big glass case containing pebbles, where you are requested to place a pebble in a pile and say silent prayer in remembrance of the victims of Apartheid.



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
Nelson Mandela quote on wall outside the museum.