While poverty persists, there is no freedom. I wish I had been there to hear this great man speak. Maybe I will meet Mandela one day.

Thanks to Judith (my grandmother) who sent this article to me a few weeks ago. I thought this would be a good occasion to "post" it on my site for your reading pleasure. Madiba really is an amazing person and I feel grateful to have lived in two countries that he calls home, South Africa and Mozambique. He will make/is a great ambassador for Amnesty International.

Millions remain enslaved and in chains at a time of breathtaking advances in technology and wealth

Nelson Mandela
Saturday November 4, 2006
The Guardian

In Johannesburg, this week, in the warm company of friends, like Nadine Gordimer, I became an Amnesty International ambassador of conscience. It was a joy for me to receive this honour from the members of the world's largest human rights movement. It was heartening too that the award was inspired by the great Irish writer Seamus Heaney's poem From the Republic of Conscience, which reminds us all of our duty. continued....