By Abubakarr Sesay
The memory of the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela lives on in the northern Sierra Leonean city of Makeni which is also home of President Ernest Bai Koroma.
News of the death of the antiapartheid icon was broken by President Jacob Zuma. The news sent shock waves all over the world prompting condolence messages coming from all over the world. Gone but not done.
Madiba, as he was also fondly called by his clan name, is also being mused in Sierra Leone. And Makeni is not far behind.
The newly-named Madiba Sport and Entertainment Centre is one of the popular hangout spots in Makeni City where people can easily grab a pint of cold beer or delicious goat soup because of its strategic location along the highway close to another popular hangout spot called “Mems Enterprises”.
Because of the explosion of mining companies in the area in recent years, such as African Minerals, Addax among others, workers always look out for nice places to chill out.
The pub, formerly called Hemmingway, was renamed on 29 November 2013; barely one week before Madiba passed away. The name change was never interesting until the death of Nelson Mandela, and customers and the public alike started asking questions about the change at the time. Not anymore.
The proprietress of the Madiba Entertainment Centre, Madam Hadiatu Fofanah said she changed the name of her centre followed two years of the old Hemmingway, named after the renowned American writer known for his Old Man And the Sea.
She said the reason for the change of name was that most of her customers and the general Makeni residents always found it difficult to pronounce the name “Hemingway”.
Hadiatu said the first name had been inspired by Hemingway's selflessness and modesty whom she admired when she was studying in Germany because she liked reading literature. When she returned home from studies she thought of having a place where people could go and read interest books. "When I found this place, we started sitting there reading and having drinks with friends when eventually it turned to an entertainment spot."
Hadiatu said she chose the name Madiba because it was the traditional name of Nelson Mandela, and Mandela was a freedom fighter who stood for freedom and justice for his people, the continent and the entire human race. "Madiba is somebody worth remembering" she said with a smile.
The day the news of Mandela’s death I visited Madiba Sport and Entertainment Centre and spoke to one of the customers who looked and sounded slightly inebriated, and he told me thus: "We are enjoying beer today more than ever before because this place is named after someone who has sacrificed his life and family for his compatriots. So we don’t mourn his death rather we celebrate his life and thank him for what he has done for us".
After spending 27 years in prison on Robben Island he was freed and later became the first black President in South Africa.
One of the customers at the Madiba Entertainment and Sports Centre said to me that their thoughts and prayers were with the Mandela family: "South Africa is very far away from Sierra Leone but their sufferings are our sufferings and their joy is our joy, especially for the huge sacrifice Mandela made to set not only South Africans free but the entire continent of Africa".
Nelson Mandela, the enduring icon who struggled against racial oppression, has left us with a huge vacuum that I am sure will take a considerable time to fill. But what I have personally learned from his death is the spirit of forgiveness and humility he exhibited as leader of a country deeply divided alongside race but also alongside faith.
Today we are witnessing the fruits of that sacrifice that he made long time ago. The entire world is watching South Africa. World leaders went in full attendance to the funeral ceremony of a man with a humble background even if born to royalty in a remote village in South Africa in 1918. Mandela made this statement during his struggle day which I am sure could serve a as a lesson for everyone, says the proprietress of the Centre:
"It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the master of my soul."
She is holding a vigil on Saturday 14 December for Nelson Mandela where tributes will be read out, speeches made, poems recited and video documentaries of Mandela screened.
(C) Politico Online 14/12/13
