At 6:45am last Friday morning we excitedly walked down a still-dark Kimberly road in our heels and ties to attend mass at St. George’s Cathedral with the one and only Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but was comforted when we sat down in a small chapel area with about 20 others, mostly foreigners also excitingly awaiting to be in the presence of such a profound man. Mass was short and sweet, perhaps mostly because I was clinging to his every word. He stayed afterward to sign autographs and then we all headed to Café du Roché for breakfast. I was fortunate enough to sit next to Frank van der Velde, a close friend of Tutu’s and the former mayor of Cape Town during apartheid from 1991-1993. He is an incredible man and I loved having the opportunity to listen to his stories along with two women, one in charge of the Desmund Tutu TB Clinic and the other the first doctor Nelson Mandela saw when released from prison. And then of course a few chairs down illuminating the room with his laugh was Desmond Tutu. At one point the waiter brought out the day’s Cape Times to show Tutu the article ‘Obama to award Tutu highest civilian honour’ (see above photo). How incredible to see my two heroes in the same headline !
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