Nelson Mandela's sacred home in Qunu

 Story by Anele Zikali

From the valleys and filled with grazing land, to small water dams and the dusty streets of Qunu village in Mthatha, on 18 July 1918, was born a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and history maker, Nelson Rolihlala Mandela. 

Today the world celebrates an international icon for his contribution to liberation, not only for his country, South Africa, Nelson Rolihlala Mandela, affectionately known as Madiba, taken from his clan name. The first black president of South Africa, who was democratically elected by the majority of South Africans in 1994. 

Qunu the village that shaped Madiba 

Surprisingly, many things have changed after so many decades of its existence, yet Qunu remains almost the same. The heritage, village life, cultural values and norms of humble beginnings define Qunu. 

Madiba hails from an area deeply rooted in traditional values and norms. These norms are embedded from a young age, respect, humility, forgiveness, caring, sharing and other similar traits. 

It is therefore not surprising that Nelson Mandela portrayed a human and resilient character. It is the grassroots of Qunu if carefully observed and naturally allowed to grow, leading to a warm, loving, caring and humble person that many in the world have come to know Madiba for. 

One of the most cherished values was and still is ubuntu 'humanity', which became one of his favorite norms to share with the world. He not only said ubuntu, but he also led and lived by his phenomenal value. Inspiring many with this humble yet brave personality, from young children to world icons like Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey. 

Which brings us into today's sixty-seven minutes, an hour of being a good Samaritan. Sharing, helping others, just taking one hour of your time to do it the good old way. The Nelson Mandela International Day is not only focusing on him being the first black president, or one of the most famous people on earth.  

Sixty-seven minutes to resemble Nelson Mandela's character

Nelson Mandela International Day was established since the year 2000 and is celebrated annually by remembering the poor and those who need help. This also serves as a reminder of his jail number where he was imprisoned for dedicating his life fighting for human rights and freedom for twenty-seven years. 

He was not too important and was impressed by the glitz and glamor of the world. Not lured by fame, instead, he strived to remain humble. Going back to his village, where life began as a herd boy for cattle, who played on the soil with his bare feet and lived in mud houses. 

Madiba was not ashamed to recall his past life; he shared his humble beginnings with the world not to seek sympathy but truly to shine a light on the fact that the world has been ripped off because of ignorance of such values. The sixty-seven minutes of Nelson Mandela International Day resemble the characters of Qunu. 

Qunu might not be one of the fanciest places to visit or to live in. However, people live by humility, respect, helping and sharing. That is what builds the community, what makes a person. This would lead to less cruelty in the world, where many crossed the sea just so that they could attain wealth by brutality to humankind. 

Villages like Qunu know humble beginnings, which help to shape a character. Not led by greed and inhumane activities to live in mansions and own yachts and travel the world at the expense of spilling blood and plotting to attack and destroy people's livelihoods. 

At the heart of Nelson Mandela lies children. The Nelson Mandela Christmas parties were hosted annually at his home. Children from all walks of life around Mthatha. Those who came without school uniforms and toys would be given such, and were entertained with world visitors coming down to share ubuntu with the children. 

Nelson Mandela is not popular for extravagant wealth, and achieving the highest levels of wealth instead he embodied humanity first and worked on developing our society through equality. For Mandela remembered the people of Qunu, the people of Soweto, Palestine, Africa and the world of the vulnerable. 

Culture and heritage preservation

There is more to life than just gold and diamonds. The preservation of cultural values explains why the area has a youth centre and the Nelson Mandela Museum. These entities mark the importance of heritage, cultural preservation of traditional songs and dances, wearing of umbhaco, beads and face painting with the white stone to prevent sun burn and also to tattoo cultural symbols. 

 

Display of Nelson Mandela's beaded face portrait from  Nelson Mandela Art Museum 

Holding on to the native language, songs, books, plays and poems are still written in isiXhosa when it comes to remembering Nelson Mandela, remembering Qunu. Although he was a world icon, each December he went home to recapture and reconnect. 

Today's present realities of Qunu 

Even though some of the practices have been outgrown with few mud houses left, which marks part of our heritage. The village still has its natural vegetation intact, with green pastures for grazing stock and plenty of room to breathe.

Locals suffer long-term unemployment, and with today's, world crime invasion becoming popular in the sacred villages is a worrying concern. Delay in infrastructure development is one of the challenges to date.

The latter seems to undermine the origins of our culture, values and norms. It begs the question of why the likes of Nelson Mandela stuck close to their grassroots for character because chasing wealth leads to the detriment of destroying, murdering and quieting the characters of good morals. 

Nelson Mandela was popular for many quotes, and he also said that he was not a saint. This then shows that it is not about how good he was, but more about being too ambitious in pursuit of wealth and ignorance of good moral, open high chances of turning into dark souls where evil activities prevail. 

Today, people are shot even in villages for money. It is money that runs the world, in most instances, by taking other people's possessions and lives, systematically disarming others for a minority to self-enrich. What is decried today is the absence of the very same things that Nelson Mandela stood for. 

Small villages, big cities, and countries are at times run by blood money.  Intentional bypassing and sabotage so that the cronies can benefit and continue to do so at the expense of living the majority struggling to survive. People live in fear because moral decay is rooted into institutions that used to be trusted. 

Even values that were embedded in humanity have been replaced by the opposite, they are ditched for money whether small or big. People kill their own families even children to sell them to human traffickers or insurance claim as these have become headline news. 

Without shame, extortion runs the small town of Mthatha, construction mafias, drug and human trafficking, robbery, bribes, and brutal murders are the norm. Respect and ubuntu have become strangers, almost as good as dead. They are merely deemed and linked to poverty, yet they are what would shape society. 

Thank you for taking your time to read this story, kindly share it and follow us on our social media platforms @SportednewsSA