Ficha - Nelson Mandela

1. Read the text and check you answers to DO YOU KNOW?

Nelson Mandela

The next time you stop for a drink at a public water fountain, think about this: for over 40 years, many of South Africa´s citizens were imprisoned for doing the same thing. From 1948 until 1994, the lives of black, coloured and Asian South Africans were destroyed by their country´s policy of apartheid. Apartheid meant that the colour of your skin determined where you could live, which jobs you could have and even which water fountain you could drink from. This policy kept South Africa´s white minority in power and the rest of the country in terrible misery – until Nelson Mandela led his people to freedom.

Mandela was born in 1918 to the royal family of the Thembu tribe. His first name was actually Rolihlahla, meaning ¨troublemaker¨. A teacher later changed it to Nelson, but Mandela´s original name turned out to be almost prophetic. As a young man, he ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage. He studied law and became involved in the ANC, the African National Congress, which was battling for people´s rights. When the South African government declared the ANC illegal in 1960, Mandela became a hunted man. A few years later, he and many of his organisation´s leaders were sentenced to life in prison.

Mandela spent 27 years behind bars. The prison´s harsh conditions overwhelmed many men, but not the ¨troublemaker¨. He refused to give up his political beliefs, even when his jailers offered to free him if he did. He became a symbol of resistance all over the world and the most important black leader in South African history. He continued fighting for equality, and his release from prison in 1990 represented the end of apartheid. In 1993, Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work, and a year later, he became the first black president of South Africa.

2. Decide if the following sentences are true of false according to the text.

1. Apartheid is the official policy of South Africa today.

2. Mandela´s character is linked to his first name at birth.

3. Mandela was put in prison because of his activities with the ANC.

4. Nelson changed his beliefs becuase he wanted his jail sentence to be shortened.

5. Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize while he was still in prison.

3. Why do you think the governments of some countries have supported discrimination?

4. Read the poem below that Nelson Mandela read to his fellow prisoners while he was in prison.

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the capitan of my soul.

5. Answer the questions about the poem.

1. What do you think the title of the poem means?

a. fate

b. angry

c. unconquerable

2. What words or phrases show that the writer is in control of his life? Find at least three.