The time I met Mandela

Okay I admit, the title is a bit of a clickbait; I didn’t meet Nelson Mandela, but I did meet his grandson, Ndaba Mandela, who is one of the heads of the Mandela clan now. This is the story of how I randomly bumped into Ndaba.

So after I landed in Porto Alegre to volunteer at the FIFA World Cup in early May of 2014, I had a few days free after my orientation and a few of us volunteers decided to go and explore Rio. I had interacted with a volunteer who had got a role at Rio and we decided to explore the local sights together. We decided to go to Cristo Redentor on a Tuesday and took the tram up to the statue. We reached the statue and while it was very crowded, there was an area cordoned off right at the foot of the statue. Sofia and I decided to go ask the guards what this was about, and they told us that there was a few UN dignitaries meeting there.

Not knowing what to expect, we asked the guard if there was anyone we would know, and he pointed us to Ndaba Mandela. We asked the guard if we could go meet him, and while he was apprehensive, Ndaba waved us over and talked to us for a few minutes. He explained how they wanted to meet at an iconic place in Rio, while the eyes of the world were on them due to the World Cup, and discuss peaceful ways to protest.

I am not sure what came of the protest, but it was how I got to meet a Mandela, and the story became one of the highlights of my trip.