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Having just finished reading what is perhaps the most inspirational book I have ever had the pleasure of reading, I felt that I should write a quick blog about it; primarily to capture one of the many wonderful ideas on offer in the book, one that particularly caught my eye. In this way I hope this blog will serve as a both a reminder and a source of hope and inner strength to me.

I often find myself in real despair at the behaviour of the human race. Our behaviour towards each other, our greed, racism, arrogance, stupidity, inability to think for ourselves, the way we are destroying our planet, the way we treat animals, exploitation, slavery, corruption … the list goes on. I have even found myself wondering if the universe would be an altogether better place without us parasites in it. I have to search hard to find reasons why the human race deserves its place … but thanks to ideas from great men like Nelson Mandela I’m able to reconcile my misgivings with the hope he offers through his ideas, his approach to living and his ability to take the hard path when it is the right path. The world needs many more Nelson Mandelas!

This post is not really intended as a review of the book which really needs to be read to be fully appreciated. I can’t put into words how important this man is as an example to the rest of the human race, and not just South Africans – if it were up to me I’d have this book as required reading on the learning syllabus of our schools all over the world.

If I may paraphrase a part of the book, it tells the story of the journey of Nelson Mandela through life as he battles to be free; this journey begins with the innocent freedom of a young child; goes on to recount to freedom of self discovery as a student; continues to the honourable freedom of a young man in his early achievement of his potential – earning his keep, marrying and having a family. As Nelson puts it – the freedom not to be obstructed in a lawful life.

But then it goes on to tell of his politicisation when he realises that not only was he not free, but nor were is brothers and sisters (he includes all fellow South African’s in this idea including Blacks, Coloureds, Asians and even the whites oppressors who imposed apartheid). In such circumstances a more selfish and less thoughtful person would have walked a path of total intolerance and even extreme violence against the people who were oppressing him. But not Nelson Mandela. In his words, in a society where a disgusting idea like apartheid is allowed to blossom - “the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred”.

“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others” … I believe in this idea, not just as it can be applied to the human race, but also to how we interact with the planet Earth and all the creatures that share it.

The human race is not yet free, it still has a long road to travel to get even close to freedom, but I am full of hope that one day it will. For me there is one idea in the book that reinforces this hope, that is this idea – “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can also be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”.

One cannot write about a great man like Nelson Mandela without giving him the last word, so here is an extract from his inauguration speech which we could use as a rallying cry for our freedom -

“Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another … The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement.

Let freedom reign. God bless Africa!”

I continue to be amazed at the complete lack of any consequences for the criminal element within the political, banking and property sectors of Ireland for the greatest crime in Irish history. We talk of the birth of a “terrible beauty” … well in this case it is the birth of a terrible injustice …

The greatest form of financial violence has been committed against the people of Ireland … someone (or more appropriately some people) is guilty of this crime … the punishment needs to be very severe … but instead nothing will happen … except perhaps a few more lawyers might get rich in another round of pointless tribunals …

It has been really good watching the Murdochs squirm as a result of thier activities for NOTW / News International … but such a shame we’ve been deprived of a similar experience for a much bigger story here in Ireland!

So my idea -

Why don’t we put our criminal bankers and greedy property speculators in front of a bunch of TD’s like in UK with Murdoch?

Is it because many of our major TD’s are complicit in this atrocious crime too? … or perhaps their Lawyer / Solicitor mates have put the kibosh on progress since they’ll be missing out on their cut in the form of exorbitant fees for pointless endless tribunals leading to no consequences for anyone…

We deserve what we get for being so passive!

During our recent trip to Kenya Philip and I visited two schools in Mombasa which are supported by Irish NGO Suas – Kongowea and Maweni.

The primary purpose of this visit was to evaluate the state of readiness of both schools to have computers … but as always, we saw so much more.

I was initially struck by the surrounding Kongowea slum which can be a violent assault on the senses. In many places it looks much the same as the Mukuru slum we regularly visit in Nairobi. But the added effect of the hotter climate of Mombasa seems to amplify some of the more negative aspects … not least the smell of what looks to be nothing more than a land fill in the centre of the slum. This is where the goats, chickens and other livestock graze.

But as with Gatoto, the gates of the school give way to a wonderful oasis. The schools, which are a little crumbling, look on the surface much as any other school in Ireland might look … there are classrooms, a library, a garden, play area etc. But when you scratch the surface you see the differences – the teachers are struggling with unbelievably limited resources. The infrastructure for these schools which both have over 1000 students is incredibly limited. There are classes with over 100 students to one teacher.

This all seems to be a direct consequence of the policy of the Kenyan government who force the schools to take every child that turns up at the gates. Their focus, it seems, it to be able to say that every child has access to education. The idea is a noble and correct one. But it ignores the important issue of quality in education. OK so government resources are very limited, but there is also much corruption diverting these precious resources away form where they are most needed. This forms a vicious cycle where lack of resource leads to poor education; which in turn leads to lack of growth, meaning lack of resources (perhaps an over simplification but the basic idea is still valid).

I’m sure education for everyone sounds good in the political speeches but on the ground the effectiveness of this policy seems to be questionable. I don’t know what the solution to the problem is, but one is definitely needed.