Desmond Tutu and the Rainbow Nation
Members of Horndean and District U3A were at Merchistoun Hall on 7th February for the regular monthly meeting. Guest speaker was Richard Costard who gave a
talk on “Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Rainbow Nation”.
Richard had had a passion for this subject since his teenage years and had been particularly influenced by the book “Cry the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton.
He outlined the history of South Africa prior to Tutu’s birth and explained how the Dutch Reform Church’s interpretation of the bible had led to the belief that the black man was not physically equal to that of the white. Apartheid was thought to be God’s will, resulting in the oppression of the black population.
Desmond Tutu was born on 7th October 1931. He came to be deeply affected by the priest Trevor Huddlestone after the priest had doffed his hat to Tutu’s mother.
It was very rare for a white man to show such courtesy to a black woman. Huddlestone gave Tutu a copy of “Cry the Beloved Country”
Desmond Tutu trained as a teacher but became disillusioned and resigned after three years. In 1960, the year of the Sharpeville Massacre, he was ordained as an
Anglican priest. Sixteen years later he started to get involved in non-violent political activity. From 1978 to 1985 he was General Secretary of the South
African Council of Churches, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1984.
Soon after this, attitudes within the country began to change, with some of the more petty rules of Apartheid being abolished. In 1986 Tutu became Archbishop of
Cape Town. In a speech in 1989 he proclaimed that “ We are the rainbow nation of God”
After the dismantling of Apartheid he served on the subsequent Truth and Reconciliation hearings during the 1990s. He was awarded the Congressional Peace Medal by Barack Obama in 1990. He retired from public life in 2010 and announced that he would spend some of his time serving hot chocolate to his beloved wife Leah. In concluding his talk, Richard hoped that he had managed to convey a sense of not only the faith of Desmond Tutu but also his humanity.
Clive Midson: Committee Member