Every year, Urban Saints takes youth groups to South Africa to build houses in a township. Part of this experience includes going into Soweto to the Hector Pieterson memorial, and to Nelson Mandela’s old house. The young people get to hear the inspiring stories of Pieterson and Mandela, and later they hear personal stories from both Zulu and Afrikaans’ pastors who were impacted by Mandela’s life. These are moments that the young people never forget as they see how people are willing to pay the highest price for what they believe in.
Huw Tyler, Tearfund
Mandela’s life is an inspiration - to a generation who want to change the world, to dream the impossible, and to choose a different way. We are inspired by his relentless, everyday pursuit of justice and inspired never to let an opportunity pass to allow our actions to change and shape us. We can be that generation.
Patrick Regan OBE , XLP
The year was 2005. XLP had been running for nine years and life was tough; some of the challenges the young people were facing seemed too huge and I didn’t know how to help. I had also recently returned from a trip to Ghana and was struggling to process what I had seen: after a meeting we held out there I had offered to pray for anyone there, and a mother pressed her son into my arms. He weighed almost nothing and I didn’t need a doctor to tell me how ill he was. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes glazed, his body so thin that his arms were only as thick as two of my fingers. Afterwards his image stayed with me. I felt overwhelmed by what I had seen in Ghana and what I was experiencing in London. I took myself off to Trafalgar Square for a Make Poverty History event and heard Nelson Mandela speak these words:
‘Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom. Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom. Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.’
Hearing these words from a man who hadn’t given up was inspiring. Even though at so many points he must have felt overwhelmed he kept going, and this inspired me to keep going a little longer. Almost nine years on and XLP is still running, now working with 1800 young people one-to-one every week. We have built a school in Ghana, in one of its poorest communities. And though I still feel overwhelmed at times, I will always remember that cold day in Trafalgar Square, the inspiration of Mandela and the image of a boy in Ghana to help me remember that ‘overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity but one of justice.’ Though the task is not easy we must keep going.
Gavin Calver, YFC
Nelson Mandela is simply the most significant global figure of my lifetime. The world is a far poorer place for his absence but his legacy lives on in the hearts of the millions of people who he has profoundly impacted. My favourite Mandela quote is this: ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.’ May we as youth workers be courageous people who dream big dreams for this generation, refusing to let fear cripple us.
Andy Burns, East to West
After visiting South Africa and going to Robben Island where Mandela was imprisoned, I did a series of assemblies about the visit, and about the guide who (like all guides on the island) was a former prisoner there himself. The theme of forgiveness and demonstration of grace was a really clear and direct illustration that impacted the different schools and year groups.
Alastair Jones, FYT
When someone lives out grace and love in abundance, it rewrites the world in ways that help us glimpse the kingdom of God. Invictus, the film of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, displayed reconciliation on a scale I couldn’t comprehend. Mandela inspired me to challenge injustice towards young people and attempt to show the same grace to all. As the BBC’s Dan Walker said on Twitter: ‘Some people inspire individuals. Some groups, tribes even nations. There are very few who inspire generations.’
