It's Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday! I haven't left the house today but I'm sure there are celebrations occurring in various places. The other day I went to the ATM and the screen had a happy birthday message on it for him. I'm almost finished with his book, 60 pages to go. So I have to finish it before I come home, which I don't think will be a problem.
So, just a few things I've learned when reading the book that I thought were interesting, well, downright crappy. So I wrote before about the different standards for colored prisoners compared to blacks on Robben Island, and how overall it was really horrible conditions. Well, I also learned in the book that the prisoners were only allowed to write/receive one letter every 6 months! Isn't that crazy? I can't imagine. And they were only allowed 1 visitation every 6 months, and sometimes those would just be cancelled without warning. It could only be immediate family and they couldn't talk about anything but family. And the visit was only a half hour, and they couldn't touch. So, Nelson Mandela couldn't even touch his wife's hand or anything, for 21 years! Can you believe that? And even when Winnie was planning a visit, sometimes she was banned because she too was a political activist. There was a time when he didn't see her for 2 years.
Obviously there is a lot more to the book but you know I like my communication so those little tid bits really stood out to me. I totally recommend the book, it's a long one, but it reads easily and is very very interesting.
(By the way, Madiba is his clan name, which is just like a tribal name and is used as a term of respect...)
