2 Feb 1990

Facebook just gave me this - the memory of something I wrote on 2 Feb 2015.

I'm reposting it here because I'd like to preserve it, and because I can still remember that hot, hot afternoon and the miraculous events which played out from then.

25 years ago today I was sitting in the school bus, in the sweltering heat of Napier on a February afternoon.

It was a Friday, and I was to spend the night at a friends house. The only reason I was in that school bus was that I, and the teacher who'd driven us there, were waiting for my friend and the rest of the school tennis team to finish an Inter-School match so that the weekend could begin.

The radio was on and suddenly programming was interrupted for a special announcement from Parliament.

Then-President FW de Klerk came on and addressed the nation, announced the imminent release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC.

I was privileged to have been brought up in a politically aware household and despite being a flighty 16 year old, I knew immediately what a massive, MASSIVE, moment this was for South Africa.

I had no one to share it with.

The teacher I was with - a total doos* - rested his head on the steering wheel and said nothing.

The small conservative village of Napier buzzed in the heat around us.

The tennis balls knocked back and forth on the courts.

I wanted nothing more than to speak to my Dad, and sat there with tears of excitement rolling down my cheeks as I pictured his face, his joy, and wished I was with him.

Dad said afterwards he'd never thought it would happen in his lifetime.

I will always be grateful for having witnessed a real life miracle, and will never forget that hot sweaty afternoon when the world changed forever.

*dickhead, but I think you got that.