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Worksheet: From A Desire to Serve the People, by Mary Benson
When a son was born to Chief Henry Gadla Mandela and his wife,
Nonqaphi, on 18th July 1918, they gave him the Xhosa name of Rolihlahla
and, because it was the fashion to have a European name, preferably
a heroic one, they also called him Nelson.
The boy and his three sisters lived in the family kraal of whitewashed
huts not far from Umtata in the Transkei. Although the Mandelas
were members of the royal family of the Thembu people, Nelson, like
most African pupils, herded sheep and cattle and helped with the
ploughing.
As a young boy he was tall for his age, and was a fast runner.
He hunted buck and, when hungry, stole mealie cobs from the maize
fields. He loved the countryside with its grassy rolling hills and
the stream which flowed eastward to the Indian Ocean.
At night, under Africa's brilliant stars, everyone used to gather
around a big open fire to listen to the elders of the tribe. The
boy was fascinated by the tales told by these bearded old men. Tales
about the 'good old days before the coming of the white man', and
tales about the brave acts performed by their ancestors, in defending
their country against the European invaders.
Those tales, said Mandela many years later when he was on trial
for his life, stirred in him a desire to serve his people in their
struggle to be free. A desire which eventually led to his becoming
the most famous political prisoner of our time - a prisoner with
songs written about him and streets named after him. How appropriate
that Nelson Mandela's Xhosa name, Rolihlahla, means 'stirring up
trouble'.
When Nelson first went to school - a school for African pupils
- it was a shock to find the history books described only white
heroes, and referred to his people as savages and cattle thieves.
All the same he was eager for Western education, and proud that
his great-grandfather had given land on which to build a mission
school. Even when fellow-pupils teased him about his clothes, cast-offs
from his father, he pretended not to mind.
Lesson plan: Biography and autobiography
information exercise
From the Nelson Mandela online resource
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