Being an avid reader, I was interested in reading Long Walk to
Freedom when it first came out years ago, but I was quickly stopped inmy tracks when someone advised me
not to, saying they had found it quite boring, long-winded and a total waste of time.
Being an avid reader, I was interested in reading Long Walk to
Freedom when it first came out years ago, but I was quickly stopped inmy tracks when someone advised me
not to, saying they had found it quite boring, long-winded and a total waste of time.
For this reason, I did not read it. But the other day when I was at thepublic library I saw an Afrikaans translation of the book lying at the back of the counter where users take out and return books.
I then and there decided that I was not going to listen to other people, and, as the saying goes: don’t
judge a book by its cover, I thought I would try it out for myself.
I asked the librarian if they had the English version, but unfortunately it was out and they only had the Xhosa and Afrikaans translations, so I chose the Afrikaans version, because for me, reading Afrikaans is a challenge in itself.
I was however, pleasantly surprised when I started reading it, because the language was in fact quite accessible. I was completely absorbed from the very beginning. It was nice to read that as a boy, our former President was not much different from other youngsters his age.
Yes, he was a descendent of royal lineage in the Thembu tribe, but he was a typical boy, getting into trouble with his friends, trying to ride a wild donkey and getting thrown off and landing
up in a bush of thorns! It was also very interesting to note that a man who is an international icon
today was actually very poor growing up.
He did not have the basic necessities that we all have today and he only learned to eat with a knife and fork
when he was a lot older. He describes the rather comical experience of trying to eat chicken with a knife and fork while the piece of chicken was slipping around on the plate.
This was all happening at Winnie’s parents’ house. Reading this book provided me with new insights into the various traditions of the Xhosa, Zulu, and other peoples of my country.
It describes the traditional initiation process in great detail providing new perspectives on a part of the
Xhosa culture that remains unfamiliar to most white people.
I found that some parts of Mandela’s life have links with people here in Grahamstown.
For example, at one stage of his school career he was taught by Benjamin Mahlasela, a man whose name is proudly carried by one of Grahamstown’s township schools.
I was truly amazed that a man who started out with absolutely nothing could rise to such incredible heights.
