Faith, hope, love, dignity, respect, integrity. A miracle of a man. My personal tribute as one of his humble interpreters, with photos of his visit to Japan, quotes, and tributes.

1. Nelson Mandela
A Personal Tribute
This world lost a great man on December 5,
2013:
Nelson Mandela.
Having been active in the anti-apartheid
movement in the eighties, having served as his
interpreter when he visited Japan in the nineties,
and having continued since to be involved in
grassroots activities to support the new South
Africa, I am filled with a bittersweet sense of
loss and gratitude, and have devoted my time
this Christmas season to honoring his memory.
Here is just a tiny sampler of treasures from my
memory trove.

2. Left: “Freedom.” Campaigning for his release from prison in the eighties.
Right: Celebrating his release in Osaka, Japan in February 1990.
Center: Welcoming him to Osaka, Japan in October 1990.

3. “Resentment is like drinking
poison and then hoping it will
kill your enemies.”
The words themselves are not uncommon.
The miracle is that they come from a man
who was unjustly imprisoned for over 27
years, who yet emerged with a heart full of
love, free of bitterness, free of hatred, with
the spiritual power to lead his people to
aspire for something greater than revenge:
reconciliation.

4. “It is never my custom
to use words lightly. If
twenty-seven years in
prison
have
done
anything to us, it was to
use the silence of
solitude to make us
understand how precious
words are and how real
speech is in its impact
on the way people live
and die.”
–Closing Address,
13th International
AIDS Conference,
Durban, 2000.7.14

5. Listen to the new national anthem in a
harmonious blend of five languages
(Xhosa, Zulu, Sesoto, Afrikaans and
English) as sung by the Soweto Gospel
Choir in this YouTube music video.
In this YouTube video, see a flash mob
(the Soweto Gospel Choir in disguise as
grocery store employees) move shoppers
to tears singing “Asimbonanga” (We Have
Not Seen Him).
And marvel at how much their world has
changed since the atrocious days of the
Soweto Uprising of 1976, when hundreds of
children were killed for asking to be educated
in their majority native language and English
instead of Afrikaans.

6. Mandela loved singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” with children–
even though he couldn‟t carry a tune. (But oh, how he could dance!)

7. “Mandela‟s human and spiritual
qualities lit the path to genuine
liberation. He was steadfast in his
refusal to accept a lesser status for
black people, steadfast in his
refusal to hate white people,
steadfast in his determination to
bring about freedom and equality
– liberating all of us, black and
white. He was a man of rare
magnanimity – of „great spirit‟,
responding with forgiveness and
reconciliation to provocation and
suffering.”
–Central and South African Yearly Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers),
December 6, 2013

8. On Dec. 23, we honored him with a humble
memorial tribute at Osaka Johnan Christ Church.