It’s taken me this long to talk about it. To really say what I feel. It’s a mere 40 days yet the trauma is still fresh in our minds, hearts and souls. Losing loved ones is never easy; losing them this way is the hardest.

Forty days ago, I watched as my family’s life was turned upside down. My cousin lost his wife and four kids in a dreadful fire that no one could comprehend least of all him and my dearest aunt and uncle. His siblings also suffer along with him and so does the rest of the family. In five short years that he has been married, he has fathered four children and watched his family perish before him.

The difficult part is attempting to put the family back together. The fact that he survived hasn’t been easy on him nor her family, but all we hope for is that Allah (God) makes it easier for each of us.

Helping him put back the pieces of his life has been a challenge. He along with his wife ran a home business in which they sold chicken to people. We’ve started getting his business back in order but some beg to ask, how can he so quickly recover, so quickly go back to running a business? It’s not easy but he has to. If he didn’t he would lose his mind thinking about his children and his wife. We all recall stories but nothing compares to a father’s memories.

I write this knowing that some person in my family or in his in-laws would read this and not approve. But sharing the hurt helps me, just a little.

I’ve been strong for my cousins – his siblings because when I moved up to Johannesburg they were my homes away from home. They cared for me every time I was sick or made sure I was ok after having an accident or whatever the situation may have been. Now I try to return the favour even if it means staying at their homes so they are never alone over the weekend, even if I am fast asleep in another room and they are having sleepless nights. The thought that there is someone around helps strengthen them.

I wish I could do more for my aunt, my dad’s eldest sister, but nothing can help ease the pain knowing your grandchildren have left this world before you.

I pray every day that it gets easier. Suraya, Mohammed Uzair, Fatima Zahra, Laeeqah and Mohammed Zubair – their names will be with us always. May Allah grant them Janaat-ul-Firdous and may he make it easier on the family.

A home they moved into only a month before

Disclaimer: These a long winded blog posts. Your choice how much you read but these are purely my take on my adventures in the Middle East

Land and sea. Onwards on our journey and the true adventures began. Heading from Sharm, we travelled the rest of the Sinai to Nuweiba, passing close to but not near enough Mount Mosa, or St Khaterina where Musa (A.S.) received the Ten Commandments.

In Nuweiba we hopped on a ‘ferry’, which was more like a huge speedboat that was to carry us across the Red Sea towards Aqabah. The first of many customs crossings began. First in Nuweiba and then in Aqabah. On the speedboat trip we saw the lights of Eilat in Palestine and then the coast of Saudi Arabia. Pretty cool if you think about it. On one side Egypt, on the other Palestine, and another Saudi, while in front was Jordan. That’s four countries bordering the Red Sea.

Ferry aka Speedboat

Aqabah was a quiet night. Well almost quiet. After supper Uncle Abie treated us to the first of two lectures. The lectures were held to help us understand the history of Palestine and the so-called State of Israel. Uncle Abie’s lectures are indeed something everyone should listen to, minus the wayward jokes in-between. Not only is it informative but also captivating to know that the stories we have been fed over the years are in fact lies. Something we all ‘kind of’ know but never fully understand. I would go into his lectures here but this is not the place to start writing about it. [May do it in a total separate post from this series especially with the recent Palestinian Papers released].

Early morning start led us on the road to Petra. One of the ancient wonders of the world, no one can fully understand how people, mere people with out the tools and equipment we have today, can build such structures that have withstood time. The feeling of seeing the pyramids for the first time was about to be relived through the amazing structures at Petra.

The bus ambled along towards Petra, moving through arid land, we climbed some of the highest points in Jordan, and our guide, an amazing awesome person named Na’eem, pointed into the distance saying: “Petra is there”. “Where?” “There between the hills.”

You can imagine how I looked at him like he was crazy. How can huge structures, I had seen in movies like Indiana Jones and even Transformers, be there amongst the hills with nothing showing or even hinting it lay in that area. Na’eem did explain that the people who built Petra originally moved to the area of Jordan to hijack and steal from caravans moving along the route, and that is why their buildings were hidden from site. But seriously, I did still not totally believe him.

The bus moved through the town of Petra, which is just the town that is on the doorstep of where Petra lies. I am sure he told me a specific name, but I can’t remember it. It was a little nerve wrecking to see a big bus move between tiny streets and down into a valley near the entrance of the ancient city.

Entering the main gate, is the usual security check and then you are set upon by the guys who have horses you can ride down into Petra with or take a horse and carriage. They do mention that your entrance fee covers the ride down but not the ride back, but be warned… they will not leave you alone till you pay them something. Walking was a better idea for most of us but there were a few including the brother who decided he must ride a horse down to at least the entrance into the canyon.

[Btw walking down into Petra is easy, it’s the walk back that you should be weary of.]

Follow the road into Petra

Following the road, between shear rock faces that rose from either side, the valley/canyon was incredible. You notice aqueducts built into the rock face, chiselled out to perfection, that could have still been in use today if need be. The tools and the way these people lived left me gobsmacked.

The walk down takes a while before you even see the main attraction, the Treasury of Petra but along the way, the moment wraps around me and somehow for a short while I am sent back into history. I can picture people on horse back riding down into the city and the image is enforced by the clip clop of horses and the rickety sounds of the many carriages taking tourists down to the city and back again. The horse’s smells are even helping with the imagery and they stink!

There comes a moment when Na’eem makes us all stop, to point out various ducts and tombs in the wall, then tells us to walk on the left and of the canyon and to look ahead for our first true glimpse of Petra.

First glimpse of the Treasury of Petra

Through the rock wall peeps the Treasury of Petra, and the first sight take your breath away. The ancient city is nothing like you’ve seen before and the movies don’t even come close. To stand in front of the Treasury and take a picture and when you look at it again you can’t even make out who you are, hits home the enormous size of the buildings. The pyramids are one thing but this is unreal as people built it to live in.

Treasury of Petra

The theatre is as magnificent and we all did a bit of Shakespeare role-playing. Julius Caeser to be more specific. Your voice resonates off the rock walls and seating area and you can imagine how it must have been thousands of years ago. It can seat some 7000 people and would make any stage in the world look like mini-town in comparison.

The Theatre of Petra - Can you be the next Broadway hit?

Onwards to Amman and the Cave of the Sleepers. The Cave is one in which the Qur’an speaks about the sleepers who were persecuted and Allah safe guarded them by putting them to sleep for over 300 years. It is called the Cave of the Seven Sleepers but that number is actually unknown. It can be 3 or 5 or 7 as the Qur’an mentions. The cave is also around the Roman burial areas and structures. A mosque is situated in the area as well. If we had visited in the day we would have seen the olive trees and apparently lavender fields. Not so sure on that as we arrived in the evening and it was pretty cold.

The entrance of the Cave of the Sleepers

Amman was our final stop for the evening and also made up the final part of Uncle Abies lecture. The following day was the start of the main part of the trip I was awaiting – Jerusalem!

Uncle Abie's last talk on Palestine

Travels 3 to follow… Jerusalem

*all the pics here

Citadel Salah Al-Din

Disclaimer: These a long winded blog posts. Your choice how much you read but these are purely my take on my adventures in the Middle East

I promised to blog about my travels so here goes. No words can explain the full experience that I had, the sights that I saw and the emotional and physical aspect of the entire Middle East Tour.

My parents decided that we should do Uncle Abie Dawjee’s Middle East Educational Tour for the mere reason that we would be seeing more places and in the hope that we all would learn the history or the Middle East better from someone who understands it and reads about it extensively. The blog posts that follow have nothing to do with what he said and I hope not to preach anything much about it but just to share my experiences completely.

So we set out on December 16, 2010, to do five countries, 7 cities in two weeks. No easy feat but think about it along the lines of Contiki Middle East style.

It was exactly that. Loads of traveling over land, in tour buses and sleeping one night in places, which you would never usually book at. Those were the little things to me. In all honesty it was more like ‘sleep when you dead’.

Landing in Cairo in the early part of the morning, we were all loaded into the various tour buses and taken out immediately to see the sites of Cairo.

The land of Kings and Queens, Pharaohs and Roman Emperors, the old and the new. That is Egypt. Mythical, mystic and one that you either love or hate in a heart beat.

Khan el-Khalili Bazaar

Yes, the pyramids, sphinx, perfume shops, and bazaars as well as the “Citadel of Salah Al-Din” were our calling card on the first day of travels. Not only that but we also managed to fit in Jumuah [Muslim Friday Prayer] into that day as well. This was a tour filled with Muslims, so lots of salaah [prayer] stopovers were required.

The citadel is one of the most beautiful places. Its called Salahudin’s citadel as he prepared his armies from this and various other locations to take back the land of Palestine from the Crusaders. He is also honoured for being a leader who did so without shedding unnecessary blood and for not killing innocent women and children. It also is a mosque whose architect was a Jew. Just goes to show that Muslims and Jews can live in peace and harmony. [We just don't like Zionists much]

That night for those who wanted to, there was the Nile cruise, which included food, belly dancers, and whirling dervish amongst other things. Our family decided to pass up on that as we had visited Cairo before and have been on the Nile cruise. From other who went, they immediately proclaimed that it was indeed awesome and definitely not to be missed.

The Great Pyramids of Giza

The following morning started out true adventure around the Middle East. Climbing onto the bus, we started out journey along the route the Prophet Musa (A.S.) [Prophet Moses] took on his flight out of Egypt and then on his escape from Firaun [Pharaoh]. Through the dusty, dessert of Egypt we went, till we reached the most important canal in the world today – the Suez Canal.

The Suez was actually built by French investors to shorten the trade routes. So instead of a trade route that went around the tip of Africa from India to Europe, it went through the Red Sea, Egypt and into the Mediterranean.

You can imagine how surreal it is to see a ship moving across the desert sands of Egypt. Almost floating on a magic carpet. My imagination was running a little wild when we happened to see what looked like a container ship floating over the sands. Blinding to the senses.

Container Ship on the Suez Canal

We crossed the Suez by actually going under the canal. The Suez is one of the most important canals and the importance can be seen in the various phases of its history. Firstly when Egypt decided that it belonged to them and it should be nationalized, the ‘Suez Crisis’ ensued. Thereafter during the 1967 war between the Arab nations and Israel, due to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, which to this day still continues.

Fact: The taxes on the Suez can finance one person in Egypt $300 per day according to a population of 60 million people as worked out a few years ago. Sadly this cannot be seen amongst the population today.

Under the Suez and continuing on Musa (A.S.)’s journey we came to the ‘Wells of Musa’. These were a number of wells of which we only say about three but which originally numbered close on 20. It was in this area that Allah [God] provided the Israelites water when they fled Firaun.

The sea from these wells is approximately 1km away and, according to the Qur’an, is where Musa (A.S.) fled from Firaun. Across the sea on a clear say you can see a mountain that looks like Firaun lying dead with his hands crossed against his chest and his head lying back.

Bedouins still inhabit this area and we were able to buy a few trinkets from them.

Bedouin Women Trading

Back on the buses and we headed to Sharm el-Sheik , passing by Mount Musa, where Musa (A.S.) was given the 10 commandments, which forms one of the holiest books in history, the Torah. A book all Muslims believe in as well.

Sharm el-Sheik: Best diving spot in the world, Red Sea

Sharm was completely full of beauty and I would have loved to dive there but sadly the shark attack a week or so before we arrived changed my original plans. Still swam in the Red Sea and saw the most beautiful fish swim around my feet. Also Sharm brought with it the entire beach resort experience with night life and so on. Joined the girls and headed to a shisha/hooka/hubbly setting. Brilliant watching the so dubbed ‘Boy Bands’ do boy band moves to entice people into their shisha houses. Yah group of guys doing the exact same dance steps to the loudest music. Hilarious but also an amazing site to see. Got to also do a little desert quad biking at sunset and boy was that an experience.

Sharm Boy Bands

Desert Quad Biking

Travels 2 to follow… Crossing the Red Sea and experiencing a little of Jordan.

*Pics of first leg here

People usually tell me my life is exciting but these last two days steal the cake for this month. Yesterday, 17 November 2010, was Eid ul Adha. One of the times I love most and I love going home, Durban and spending it with the family. This year was no different except that I had all of one day at home to celebrate it. Flew down early in the morning and flew back the next morning. Exciting times!

Eid was a little different this year. Headed out to Inchanga Islamic Centre as usual to cut my Qurbani [sheep] and ended up staying to help my uncle who was short staffed. He runs proceedings at the centre and helps facilitate the entire Qurbani process. Having stayed longer it was interesting to see my cousin who normally would never get involved stay and help as well. She is really a girly girl and even though six months my junior we are like toasted chalk and cheese. So different but so together, if you catch my drift.

Then it was loads of family time and that I love most in the world. I have this motto: “Family First” and so far I’ve always managed to stick with it. So much so that at times I miss out on some pretty exciting opportunities, but family is my life and that’s the way it should be. So happens that my extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins – are so close to me that not spending enough time with them, is sometimes actually bad for me and makes me moody. Go figure!

More excitement arrived today, 18 November 2010. I managed to get pick pocketed at OR Tambo International Airport on returning to miserable, coldish Johannesburg. Sigh. Running around like a frantic chicken with out a head is definitely a sight to see. I’ve been fortunate in the past that this has never happened to me and I am grateful that the incident this morning did not have anything to do with being held up or threatened or confronted in any way. Also I am grateful that the only thing they managed to take was my cellphone and not my wallet also lying in the same bag.

Today is Thankful Thursday and I am thankful, for family, friends and moments that even though bad have a silver lining in them.

My sisters amazing Eclairs - she caters for Durban

The Samsung Galaxy S Rocks!

It seems I’ve been loaded with reviews lately but seriously its not my fault that all the good things come at the end of the year in time for Christmas presents.

Hope you caught the hint!

I want this phone!

Yes I have a birthday coming up before Christmas so I have a few suggestions on my present list and this is one of them.

Why the Samsung Galaxy S? Well here are the reasons…let me count the ways…

The Galaxy is a a little bigger then other phone but it is slimmer and lighter. It easy to hold and has a slight bump at the base which fits nicely in my tiny hands and makes it easier to hold on to.

I love the screen which is bigger then any other phone out there but also clearer and not pixelated. With a 480 x 800 pixel screen images are awesome, brighter and better.

The 5-megapixel camera will suit anyone just fine – though I wish it was slightly higher. Even with that in mind, I have no issues snapping away with this camera.

Google is central to this phone and once signed in on your Gmail account, everything else is connected including your calendar and contact list with phone numbers. No need to sync with your computer if you have already synced to your Gmail account.

The best part about all of this is that the Galaxy is Android, which means countless ‘Free’ apps for download. I originally went a little crazy when I received the phone and managed to download tons of applications I may never use. The best applications though for download are Angry Birds – highly addictive, Tweetdeck, Mashable and Google Goggles.

Hours of entertainment in your hand!

Swype your fingers across to type a word

Another excellent feature on the Galaxy is Swype. Touch screens are generally difficult to use, but Swype makes having a touch screen worthwhile. Sliding over the keyboard, the Galaxy is able to pick up the word you want without you ever lifting your fingers. If it can’t find your word it will list the closest possible words to the letters you moved over.

Lastly, did I mention that with me going crazy over this phone, I only charged it after about 36 hours! Yes almost two full days with no charge.

This phone has an excellent battery that keeps going. Though for better performance, I suggest you download “Advanced Task Killer” to end all background applications that drain the battery.

Total Score: 9/10 [yes love the phone, if you have not caught on already!]

I have to be really honest here, Samsung was never my choice of phone, but things are changing. So will someone gift it to me please! [Yes I have to return the review phone - sigh]

Nokia N8

Happy clappy me got sent a Nokia N8 to review. Awesome!

I really got excited when it was delivered to my office and the first thing I did was as usual pull it out of the box and get my sim card in it. The phone on first looks is awesome, smooth, slick but a little heavy. Turn it around and your head does a tailspin and begs the question: “Now why would you have the camera jutting out?”. That little mistake for me kills the streamline beauty of the phone. But it’s a small thing and I can work with that.

Clever Nokia RSA guys sent me a cover with the phone. For future reference – I am not a pink girl and really not a lover of the colour, I’m more a red, blue, black, purple kind of person. But definitely a clever move by them as I do managed to scratch my phones faster then regular people.

So lets get going… Sim inserted on the side of phone, so no back cover and no battery to remove. Nifty if I didn’t bite my nails [should I have even said that urrr] and could open the flap, but that is no problem at all. It means sim is secure on the side. Good but weird move [I think].

I have to admit that this is the first proper Nokia I have played with since I owned the Nokia 7210 [fond memories I have of that phone]. So this for me is an all-new experience.

The phone is not as responsive to my touch as I would have liked and that makes a touch screen a bit tricky for me. The interface is a step away from Nokia’s easy to use. When you think Nokia you think: “Hey anyone can use this, that’s why people buy it”. I understand that with the way technology is moving forward phones are expected to change and develop but somehow I miss the easy functionality that can normally be found on a Nokia.

What I do love about the phone though is the amazing camera. I am such a camera happy clicker that this 12 megapixel phone is one awesome beauty! Also its HDMI ready, but not sure how much I would really use that. Happiness for intense geekers but not so much for me.

The regular apps like mail works awesome. Bit tricky with the Facebook and Twitter one. Battery life is reasonable but that’s mainly if I kill all open applications – which is true for any smart phone. It runs Symbian^3, which again not so sure on as I am no techy geek [well completely!]. Is not Android the way to go?

Plug and play with the N8 is not that easy. I’m also a Mac user so it becomes a whole lot more trickier. I still have not been able to download my pics but I will keep snapping away till Nokia takes the phone back.

[Just figured out how to get my images -- see below - image quality rocks even in bad ass lighting!!!]

I added a few apps from the Nokia OVI store and they run smooth, though the phone somehow manage to freeze on me twice and then crash thrice. A few times I pulled it out of my pocket it was off. Not sure maybe it was the battery or maybe it was unlocked and something was pressed in my pocket. Eitherway – freaky!

Overall this phone scored a 6.5 for me. Only because I love the camera.

*Disclaimer: Chances are that Nokia may not be happy with my review, but this is me being honest, and I am ok with them being unhappy and never sending me anything else to review. They are running a little review and keep competition. See Casey’s tweet: @NokiaRSA (client) has 60 N8s for folks like me and you to review.Top 8 reviews keep the unit. Just wanted to say unit http://bit.ly/d6DSDT

12 Megapixels Rock!

]]> http://zahira.co.za/blog/2010/10/28/review-nokia-n8/feed/ 1 http://zahira.co.za/blog/2010/10/12/how-do-i-deal/ http://zahira.co.za/blog/2010/10/12/how-do-i-deal/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:20:07 +0000 zk http://zahira.co.za/blog/?p=612

Nazar doing what he loves doing

Someone told me that the best way for me to heal is to write what someone means to me. I am a writer and a blogger but sometimes words are hard to put down. How do you say goodbye to a friend? How do you let go even though they’ve only been a part of your life a short few months?

Knowing that the friendship I had for such a short time impacted me greatly, so greatly that hearing of your death all I can do is cry. Writing this is as hard as saying bye knowing the rest of the team and I will never hear your laugh, your wisecrack comments. Knowing that I can’t IM you even though you a desk away. Knowing that I can’t turn to you in one of our insane moments looking for ‘sweeties’. These small things are what I will miss the most.

Knowing that I only knew a small part of your life and not the entire picture. Knowing that I will never have the chance to know the full picture. It hurts! It hurts so much not being able to say goodbye.

You joined the team so recently, as recent as mine, but your beautiful heart, kind smile and willingness to help all of us will never be forgotten.

On another note, your band mates will sorely miss your insane guitar skills and Warthane will never be the same after losing one as great as yourself. Your mates and your family will miss you the most, but knowing how you touched my life will never be forgotten. Dear Nazar, who will sit next to me at lunch and eat everything with tomato sauce. Small memories and small moments make me forever blessed in knowing you.

Love you always… RIP Nazar Berezovsky 8/10/10

It’s not easy losing someone as awesome as Nazar but is also not easy losing old campus mates like Nadeem. To lose two people in three days makes life unbearable. Nadeem, I know that the way you suffered at the end, losing you may be the best thing for you. It hurts knowing I lost touch with you recently but you will always be remembered. Moments on campus, moments at the flat will never be forgotten.

Love always – RIP Nadeem 10/10/10 [11/10/10] Innalillahi wa inna illayhi raaji’oon

To all those who lose people, I know how you feel. Sadly each of us need our own ways to cope and recover. This is mine. This also makes the people I lose forever a part of me.

*Disclaimer – I was not at the launch for either MTN or Vodacom. Neither did I get an iPhone or do I have one. This is purely with regards to marketing tactics and online reception of the launch.

MTN South Africa threw Vodacom a major curve ball yesterday [21 September 2010] with the launch of the iPhone 4 in South Africa. Heres what I mean:

Firstly MTN launched the phone to selective journalists and online media people, who in turn started tweeting about it and also using the hashtag that MTN created. The hashtag fell in line with MTN’s marketing strategy – Ayoba MTN and made finding information on the iPhone easier. #iYoba rocked the twitterverse in SA during the late afternoon.

Not only did MTN beat Vodacom on that point they also were able to then share information on the phone and its availability in South Africa to the audience who would most likely want the phone – the online community.

Secondly they made sure they targeted the ‘right’ people. In other words not every Tom, Dick and Harry were invited to the launch party and neither were every Tom, Dick and Harry given the phone. It was tech journalists, online media and people who understood the capability of the iPhone and what it meant to South African users addicted to being online.

Thirdly their campaign tied in across the board. They pulled Ayoba into it appropriately with the #iYoba, they gave phones with Sims and airtime loaded and they showed that with free wifi access the phones capabilities rocked. That’s a complete campaign in one. Its your networks, your providers and your facilities all rolled up into one.

This is something all of us can learn from and the campaign left its mark with people already tweeting they moving over to MTN due to information received and also the cheaper package prices.

See some screengrabs of tweets below:

Something to learn from!

Twitter #iYoba

So its been a while and the reason I never lived up to my promise of blogging at least once a week, was because for the most part I had no passion in me to blog. The other part I got swamped with work and took on more then I could handle with some freebie work I was doing. Yes say it, I know you thinking it anyway – Douche Bag I am!

So the passion to write is slowly returning and the freebie work that I was doing was actually all about writing. I was writing blog posts and reviews for some sites out there. [No I am not sharing it with you, if you find it you do, if not it doesn’t have anything to do with you.]

I’ve also been jamming up my weekends with the Football mania that is gripping my beautiful country South Africa.

Managed to make it to the opening game of Soccer City, Johannesburg. Thanks to my lovely friend Aasia for organising the tickets and making sure I got there. Was so unreal to hear about 80 000 plus [close on to 95 000 I hear] fans blowing vuvuzelas*, cheering their team and bottom line getting into the spirit of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, though it was a Nedbank Cup final between Wits University and AmaZulus.

Capacity crowds at the opening of Soccer City

Then Sunday was all about chilling but Monday brought on another bought of Football Fever. Headed to Soweto once again to see my country South Africa take on Bulgaria. I felt the stadium tremble under the feet of the supporters, I head shouts and screams and vuvuzelas from people of every colour and race. I felt a country united and I had goosebumps, not from the cold, the entire night.

I also learnt that my country will be behind the player 101% even when we know they could be doing better, much better.

I could criticize the players here but that’s for a different blog and a different audience.

Orlando Stadium, Soweto, behind Bafana Bafana 101%

Another exciting and interesting event in the last four days with regards to football was the Kia Street Soccer experience. I watched Under 13’s play with such skill that would make grown men feel ashamed. I heard the streets of Alexandra township come alive cheering for teams of 6 players which had to have 2 girls in their team play to win a trophy. Also I heard that Kia will be taking all 4000 kids who participated in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to a 2010 FIFA World Cup game, to be part of it and for these underprivileged kids to be able to say “I was there”.

Makes me realise that this world is such a beautiful place with so many great people who will always try to make a difference in peoples lives no matter what.

Winning team from the Kia Street Soccer - Soweto Young Ones

Thank you to the beautiful people out there with the biggest hearts.

PS: Did I mention I also watched GREASE at the theatro on Tuesday. Was amazing and once again Thank you to Aasia.

*Vuvuzelas: are horns or trumpets that are blown at almost every football game in South Africa. It increases the experience by 10 folds but can leave you hard of hearing or short of breath or even both . More info find it here and for pics you can find here.

Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom - 11 February 1990

On this day 20 years ago one of the greatest men walked out of prison to the welcoming arms of his people.

Many people in South Africa today are remembering this day, but like many I was one of those too young to realise the meaning of it all. Sure my parents had set me down countless times and told me why this day was important and who Nelson Mandela was, but a six-year old only knows the excitement that surrounds her and not what is happening. I remember running around the room waiting to see the first images of the man everyone kept talking about.

Not only was is a memorable day because of his release to me, but it was also a hot, sunny one in Durban, meaning pool time for sure. Yes, thats how I remember it.

One thing though that everyone today seems to be forgetting is the if it wasn’t for the push and the person FW de Klerk is, we really would not be having much to celebrate. Mandela is a great man especially for calling for peace and holding a country together which threatened to spill the blood of innocent people, but I personally also have to give credit to de Klerk. Yes, he was part of the Apartheid system, yes his morals and ethics need questioning but he did set free the man who brought this nation together.

Thank you to de Klerk and thank you very very much to Tata Madiba, for giving me the opportunity to grow up FREE and to let me finish school, go to campus and be the person I want to be – in – SOUTH AFRICA!!!

***YouTube vid of the events of that day…20 years ago!!!***
BBC News: Nelson Mandela released from prison