Nelson Mandela’s Story - Power Of Belief
Life will always have positive and negative experiences and these experiences always have a hidden lesson. When life tries to discourage leaders, they withstand with a positive attitude and continue to help those around them.
A young boy was born in Mvezo, South Africa, near the coast of the Mbashe River in July of 1918. He was named Rolihlahla, meaning “troublemaker” in Xhosa. When the local government fired his father after serving as a conseulor for many years, the family was forced to move to Qunu, a tiny village that is a 6-hour walk north of Mvezo. Rolihlahla’s family lived in a hut and he grew up eating pumpkins and maize, as well as playing with branches and clay along with some other boys. Rolihlahla’s father decided that he would be baptized at the Methodist Church and when Rolihlahla became old enough to attend school, his teacher renamed him Nelson. Lung disease killed Nelson’s father when he was only 9 years old, and Chief Jongintaba of the Thembu people adopted Nelson as compensation to his father. This forces Nelson to move to the royal capital, 7. 3 miles away from Qunu. Chief Jongintaba treats Nelson like his other two children and sends him to school. Nelson discovers his passion for African history, where he learned how imperialism destroyed African peace. At 16 years old, Nelson joins 25 other boys in a traditional African ceremony that transitions the boys to be able to marry, to officiate tribal rituals, and to inherit wealth. Chief Meligqili interrupted the ceremony to warn the young boys of European reign over their government and how they will not be able to truly enjoy life.
Although Nelson does not fully understand this at the time, it will influence him for the rest of his life. Nelson goes on to attend the Harvard of South Africa, University College of Fort Hare. He studied Roman Dutch law during his first year, setting him on the path to become work in civil service. After joining the Student Representative Council his following year, student disputes caused him to resign. Fort Hare viewed this as disobedience and expelled Nelson unless he agrees to return to the Student Council. While at home, Chief Jongintaba announces that he will have an arranged marriage for Nelson, since he is his son. Nelson runs away feeling overwhelmed to Johannesburg, eventually enrolling in Witwatersrand University to further study law. A leader obtains a positive outlook on life when enduring hardships in order to achieve their goals.
At 24 years old, Nelson Mandela joins the African National Congress, taking part in the anti-apartheid movement. For years, Mandela holds peaceful protests in the African National Congress Youth League and eventually the ANC adopts their ideas such as boycotting, mandatory child education, and trade union rights. Over the course of 20 years, Mandela directs the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People against South Africa’s racist government. Mandela also cofounds a law firm with an old classmate from Fort Hare to provide free support for unrepresented blacks.
In 1956 Mandela is charged with treason along with over 100 others, but they are all eventually aquitted of the charge. In 1961, Mandela ran a 3-day national workers strike and cofounded a committee dedicated to sabotage in order to end the apartheid. A year later, Mandela is arrested for causing the strike and is charged for 5 years. A year into his sentence, Mandela is trialed again and this time is charged for life for political offenses. During this time, Mandela stayed positive and even earned his Bachelor’s in law through a British correspondance program. 22 years later, President P. W. Botha offers Nelson to exchange the rest of his sentence for Nelson’s formal refusal to support the resistance against the apartheid. Mandela remains true to himself and declines the offer. After Botha dies of a stroke and is replaced by President Frederik Willem de Klerk, Mandela is let free.
In 1993, both Mandela and de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for destroying the South African apartheid. Nelson continued to fight for voting rights for African Americans and in 1994, Mandela is sworn in as South Africa’s first black president and de Klerk was his first deputy. During his time in office, Mandela focused on ensuring minority rights and restored relations between all races in South Africa by reestablishing support for South Africa’s national rugby team. In 1995, South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup and Nelson Mandela is awarded the Order of Merit award. Before leaving office, Mandela made sure to reestablish the South African government to be based off of majority rule and to infinitely bannish the apartheid.
Mandela showed a positive attitude throughout his life when faced with losing his father and being imprisioned for supporting a justified cause, as well as when he refused to sell out his hardwork to be freed from jail. Nelson Mandela is a strong leader and with his positive attitude, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and strongly influenced the end of the apartheid movement in South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s leadership skills are shown through his positive attitude. Despite all of the hardships he faced when he was young in relations to his father and ultimately his father’s death, he never stopped fighting. Even when Mandela was arrested and imprisoned for life, he continued to have a positive attitude and he never forgot about his goal. Mandela not only represents equity among all races, he also demonstrates the power of believing. Mandela believed that the apartheid was wrong and he believed that he was strong enough to end it.
Although my achievements will not be on as large of a scale as Mandela’s, I can apply his skills to my own daily life. With school, I can focus on achieving my goals although to me, they might seem impossible to obtain. This year I am challenging myself by taking 4 AP courses, and one of my largest goals is to maintain an average of an A- or higher, since I have never received a grade below an A- in a class before. Since two of the courses I am enrolled in are deemed to be the hardest APs, in the back of my mind I know that if I do recieve a B in one of those classes I will not be as dissapointed. In volleyball, 2 out of the 3 captains on my team also play my position, and they are both seniors. Thus, in practice, I try my best to demonstrate a positive attitude and prove to my coach that I can play at their level, and I have started a few games this season. At my job, I deal with cranky customers and it requires a problem-solving attitude every shift. I try my best to change these customers’ attitudes and leave a positive atmosphere behind when I leave the store. Nelson Mandela proves that it is okay to fail, shown when he gets arrested for protesting.
Mandela also shows that despite failure, a positive attitude can lead to even larger success. The most similar example in my life would be getting a lower grade than I would like in an AP class, but still doing well on the AP exams or still getting into my dream college. Furthermore, another example could be not getting into my dream college, but still growing up to find my dream job and live a healthy and happy life. Nelson Mandela struggled through some hardships in order to achieve his goal. Growing up in Santo Antonio, a tiny town atop of the mountains on São Jorge, one of the Azores islands, my mother always dreamed of America. At 18 years old, two days before her 19th birthday, my mother arrived in America. Coming from a town of merely 1, 000 people to the large city of Boston, it took my mom some time to adjust. She assimilated into American culture while maintaining her roots with a positive attitude. To this day, her strong Portuguese accent will never let her forget her home. Nelson Mandela reminds me of my mother because despite losing her father, her godmother, and two siblings she still maintains to have a positive attitude and take of both my sister and I who are not easy to deal with. I can confidently say that my mom will always be here for her family despite what life throws her way, and she will always fight for what’s right.
If I could meet Nelson Mandela, I would first take him to South Africa so I could experience his story first-hand. I would take him to as many high schools and shelters that time would allow for so everyone could hear Mandela’s first-person account. I would also just love to spend a day with him in his daily life to see how he is inspiring others now and to ask him questions about the world today. I think that Mandela’s strength paired with his constant positive attitude teaches a lesson that can be learned by everyone: “a winner is a dreamer who never gives up” - Nelson Mandela.
