Happy 92nd, Madiba!

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, turned ninety-two today. To celebrate his birthday, Mr. Mandela requested that everyone perform sixty-seven minutes of service, symbolic of the twenty-seven years he spent in prison after he turned forty.

I observed no public national celebrations today in Durban. Sixty-seven minutes will, for me, take place later in the week. Instead, I visited Ohlange High School, where Mr. Mandela cast his vote in South Africa’s first fair and free election, the election that created his presidency. Just up the hill from the high school lies the grave of Dr. John Langalibalele Dube, the first president of the African National Congress. Upon casting his vote, Mr. Mandela walked up to the grave and declared, “Mr. President, I have come to report to you that South Africa is free today.”