[Book Review] Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Bryan Dyer

Long Walk to Freedom is the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. This work, told in his own words, is the life story of the first black President of South Africa. First published in 1995, just one year after becoming President, the book chronicles Mandela’s rise from a poor upbringing in the Transkei Region of South Africa to his 27 years in prison and his rise to a Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of a divided nation. Mandela attributes his transition from a poor “country boy” turned influential leader to the fact that a wealthy and powerful chief took him into his family as a favor to his deceased father, and gave him the opportunity to be formally educated and to attend college as a young man.
Mandela describes his changing perspectives on race as he grew up, first believing that white people were above questioning and unapproachable, and later being able to understand the natural flaws in the system of racial inequality in his country. He began to take a stand against racial inequality and joined the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC), just before the 1948 South African elections marked the rise of the Afrikaner’s infamous Nationalist Party; the party that introduced apartheid and the party which Mandela would spend the rest of his life, up to his ascension to the Presidency, fighting.

Through education, Mandela eventually became one of the few black lawyers in South Africa, enabling him to represent black people who were otherwise powerless against the system which favored whites in land ownership, business rights, and effectively every other issue imaginable. When the ANC became too complacent and unwilling to oppose the injustices against the people they were meant to represent; Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Thambo and Ashley Peter Mda created an ANC Youth League which was considered too radical by the original ANC, but eventually usurped power from the ANC old guard and made the African National Congress, once again, a thorn in the side of the white minority government. Eventually the Nationalist Party banned the ANC and forced them to operate underground.

Mandela believed that it was the oppressor who decides the nature of the battle, and when the oppressive Nationalist Party Government made it illegal to use any peaceful means of resistance against apartheid, Mandela founded Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), which became known as the military wing of the ANC (although Mandela originally made efforts to keep Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) separate from the ANC to protect ANC leadership). Eventually Mandela was arrested, along with Walter Sisulu and other ANC and MK leaders, and Oliver Thambo went into exile to become the leader of the ANC. Mandela spent 27 years in prison and eventually became the failing Apartheid Government’s only option as a leader with whom they could negotiate an end to the crisis they faced under pressure from the international community, and their own people to dismantle apartheid. Mandela eventually became the President of a new, free South Africa and will be forever be credited with turning his country into a “Rainbow Nation” which strives for racial and social equality.

What We're Working On

Kevin Warzala

Currently, we’re undergoing a large amount of restructuring within our organization, to maximize our efficiency and to best provide for our students. We’ve created three new departments – Projects, Sponsorship, and Awareness – to prevent any overlap between our members and to best utilize our skills. The Sponsorship Department is of course our flagship sponsorship program, presently headed by Beruk Amare. Our sponsorship program in Ethiopia will continue providing service and care to our students, with a few small differences. The largest of which is that our monthly sponsorship costs will increase from $40 to $50, a change that reflects providing new services for our students, which we consider essential. Not the least of which will be a dedicated social worker constantly checking in with the students, tracking their academic progress, and handling any problems at home and in school as they appear. We will also begin providing after-school lessons in the subjects of computers and technology, and English. Again, we feel that both of these things are essential for our students’ success, requiring the need for a modest price increase.

Second is our Projects Department, currently headed by our president Bryan Dyer. Projects will be in charge of our community development, research, and applying for and receiving grants. At this time, our Projects Department is only working on receiving grant money for our organization. However, once that task is completed, we have several new project ideas that we’re excited to work on.

Last is our Awareness Department, headed by yours truly. The Awareness Department will be handling all information within MCO and without. We’ll also be in charge of fundraiser events, managing our social networking sites (you’re following us on Facebook and Twitter, right?) and, of course, this newsletter. Facebook and Twitter will be constantly updating from now on, and Gasha will be now sent out once a month instead of once every three months. The newsletter will be getting a few new tweaks as well, including profiles on our students without sponsors and our newest sponsors, and a new section reviewing books we feel our members should be reading.

What We Accomplished

Kevin Warzala

This past January, I took a trip to Ethiopia to meet our students and take them to the National Museum in Addis Ababa. I could tell you about this trip, but I think the best way is to point you towards our Facebook page, where I'm posting one picture from my trip every day. It's here: http://www.facebook.com/MadibaChildrensOutreach. And if you're not already following us on Facebook, click "like" and you can be updated on MCO news, check out photo albums, and introduce yourselves to the MCO community.

New Facebook Page

Hey everyone, if you've been following this blog from the newsletter or found it through some other means, I wanted to announce that we are now "Facebook Official" which is the best kind of official. Check out our page and click the Thumbs Up Button to show the world how popular we are.

http://www.facebook.com/MadibaChildrensOutreach

-Kevin

What We're Doing Next - Fall 2012

Education is the core of MCO. We use education to empower students and bring stability to their communities. We use education to reach the public and get more people involved in this cause. Education is our cause and our method. However, we tend to feel that we’re not reaching enough people. We need to cast a wider net and get in touch with a larger audience that cares about education as much as we do.

   With this in mind, our plans for the last quarter of 2012 revolve around education in various forms. We’re going to prepare three things that we feel will spread our message further. The first will be a Powerpoint Presentation, highlighting Ethiopia’s current situation and the work needed to be done. The second will be an educational lesson designed to be taught in the classroom. This will focus entirely on explaining Ethiopia’s history and its people to a younger audience, and hopefully see a positive response from the students. The third will be a video showcasing MCO’s work and its sponsored students. We hope to go through the history of Ethiopia and tell the story of all our students – how they live and what they’ve gone through to make it this far. It’s a story that needs to be told and we’re excited to be able to tell it to as many people as we can.

   Most importantly, our focus now is gaining new sponsors for our students. We have too many students in our care without permanent sponsors, and we need to match these kids with someone who will help take care of them. In addition, there are still many more children not in our care that we can help, but we need the resources to do so. In short, our goals for the end of 2012 are to bring in more people into our community of caring individuals, and make a greater impact in Ethiopian society. To do that, we’ll need more sponsors.

    If you’re interested in sponsoring a child on a permanent basis or know someone who might be interested, all you have to do is respond to this email or email Bryan at bryandyer@madibachildrensoutreach.org.

Kevin Warzala

What We've Been Working On - Fall 2012

    On July 13th, MCO opened up its operations in Korea with a fundraiser on the Changwon University Campus. Guests of the fundraiser could purchase drinks and snacks at a café, with a portion of the proceeds (about two-and-a-half dollars after the exchange rate) going directly towards MCO’s programs benefiting students in Ethiopia. Partnering with the Mannam Volunteer Organization, the event featured many special programs such as a classical singer, a magic show and a dance performance. There was even a speech by yours truly, given in Korean, which was widely regarded as an embarrassing failure, but I had fun anyway.

    At MCO and especially in this newsletter, we believe that educating people about the situation in Ethiopia and the help that these students need to overcome the challenges they face to receiving an education is an important goal. With this fundraiser, we have started to introduce MCO and its work to the people of Korea and foreigners living within Korea. We hope this will open up a whole new world of opportunities for fundraisers, finding new sponsors, and meeting people who care about seeing Ethiopian children and communities strengthened further.

    This particular fundraiser saw great success. Despite the particular hot and humid rainy season going on in Korea at the time, roughly 75 guests arrived and donated money to our cause. In all, we raised about $200 just from sales of coffee and snacks alone, and more importantly, further spread the message of MCO’s work and why it’s necessary to others. Helping people learn more about Ethiopia is the first step to causing real change, and we hope to see big change coming out of Korea in the near future.

    You can see pictures and a video of the event here: http://mcogasha.blogspot.com/2012/10/713-charity-cafe-pictures-and-video.html

Kevin Warzala

What We've Accomplished - Fall 2012

Every one of our sponsored children has moved onto the next grade level! This is an amazing accomplishment as there have always been so many factors making it difficult to accomplish this. In spite of the great success of our kids this year, it has not been without the usual challenges. Two of our sponsored children experienced the death of a close family member and extensive time away from school attending the funeral ceremonies. One of them experienced health problems related to the human immunodeficiency virus he contracted from birth. Another of our students made the long trek back to Tigre region to see his parents for the first time in years. There are too many stories of challenges these incredible kids have overcome in their educational journeys. All of them have bravely faced and overcome obstacles this year, but these kids are not strangers to adversity.

In the past, we have seen our hardworking young scholars fall short of their goals. In fact most of our kids,before finding support through generous MCO sponsors, have failed to pass on to the next grade at least once in their academic careers. A lack of school supplies, transportation, hunger, shelter, supervision, money for school fees, mentorship, medical support, and so many other challenges are behind them. Their sponsors, through MCO, have transformed their lives and given them a chance to succeed. Now they are running with it! Dawit passed from KG to grade 1! Alena and Ebtisam passed from grade 1 to grade 2! Sabrina graduated from grade 2 to grade 3! Dereje has moved on from grade 8 to grade 9! Betselot and Alem have graduated from grade 9 to grade 10!

To say that we are “proud” is an understatement. We are so encouraged to see these young scholars fight onto their destinies -- to their rightful places as productive, successful and innovative contributors to their communities. We want to congratulate these wonderful kids and their families, and give them all of the credit for their amazing accomplishments. We are so proud of them all! We are energized by their success, and as determined as ever to continue our mission to help these kids, and the others, who so desperately crave a little help in their struggle to overcome the barriers to their education, their futures, a better life, and a more empowered community.

Bryan Dyer