Today was another special day for me.  I was cornered by the school principal the other day who asked me if Jeff (Son no 4) could attend a function today as he had been chosen to read a poem.  He gave a vague description of the function, but to be quite honest I wasn’t really listening and thought it was another one of those waste of school functions where they invite 100 kids to listen to some boring speeches in the name of education.

Anyway, I reluctantly agreed and had to re-arrange a whole bunch of meetings today in order to pick him up early from school and take him to this function.

We arrived on time at the Nelson Mandela Foundation Center of Memory in Houghton, Johannesburg.  I had never been here before so was eager to look around.  Again I’m going to share with pictures where I can.

Anyway, the event was actually for the launch of The official Nelson Mandela Opus.  Now I had no idea what an Opus was so I had to look it up.  I’m not going to go into too much detail here describing it to you so please click on the link and read up about it. In short, and I quote direct from the About section of the site: The Official Nelson Mandela Opus celebrates the life and legacy of one of the world’s greatest icons. Unprecedented access to archive material from family and friends, exclusive imagery and work from world renowned photographers and writers, allows Opus to truly honor Nelson Mandela the friend, the father, the husband, the activist, the President. The Opus tells this story in a depth and on a scale that has never been seen before, immortalizing Nelson Mandela’s life.

Invitation

We were welcomed by Matchworld Media and The Opus Media Group and shown into the auditorium.  They did a quick run through of the event with Jeff, a test read by Jeff and loads of pictures taken by various photographers and journalists.

We were then at our leisure until the function actually started and offered tea, juice and snacks.  So we took advantage of the time and browsed around.  I took a few photographs.  Hope I do them justice as I only had my phone with me to take them with.  Please click on the link and have a look at what The Nelson Mandela Foundation Centre of Memory is all about.  It is what holds the legacy of our past intact for every South African.

Yummy Snacks!

One of the artworks specially created for the Opus

One of the wall murals at the Centre

The F1 Opus

One of the wall murals at the Centre

As you can see the lighting was not great so it is difficult explaining the various murals and artworks.

Eventually the event started – just over an hour late.  Mr Cyril Rhamaphosa, the deputy president of the ANC was supposed to give a speech at the event but he was called away at the last minute and one of our ministers (Minister Lindiwe Sizulu) was asked to attend on his behalf.  We had a whole bunch of speeches by various members of Opus and Matchworld introducing the Nelson Mandela Opus.

Jeff was then called up to read out his portion of the poem.  The poem is titled “Radiant Khulu“.  It was specially written for the Opus and I would have liked to have included it here but as I cannot credit the poet, I would rather not.  He was one of 4 students chosen to be part of this historical event so I was very proud of him.

Jeff, fully composed as usual in front of an audience

We then had a few more speeches and then the unveiling of the actual Opus by Graca Machel (Nelson Mandela’s Wife) and Minister Lindiwe Sizula and various members of the Mandela family.

The unveiling of the Official Nelson Mandela Opus

If you have the time, please click on the various links provided in this post.  It provides some interesting insight into our history and the living memory thereof.

Here are some links to various news articles on today’s event:

• http://www.nelsonmandela.org/news/entry/madiba-honoured-with-official-opus
• http://www.iol.co.za/news/special-features/nelson-mandela/madiba-s-spirit-is-strong-says-daughter-1.1616102#.Up42fsSnrp4
• http://ewn.co.za/2013/12/03/Madiba-honoured-with-Opus-book
• http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/2c265800420d62109e46bf1c2eddf908/New-book-pays-tribute-to-Mandela–20131203
• http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Mandelas-spirit-still-strong-daughter-20131203

My son has made me extremely proud this week.