'Humanity is indebted to you, Nelson Mandela', this was written on the profile of one of my friends and this made me revisit my memories about this great leader of South Africa. I at once recalled his life struggle read in his internationally renowned autobiography 'A long walk to freedom'.

Nelson Mandela was born in a land where a minority of white people had deprived a vast minority of black people from their rights in their own land. While reading his book, we come to know about various kinds of injustices. One gets surprised how a nation or a group can be so tactful and tricky in keeping the people silent and snatching their rights. There is a long list of such injustices and inequalities and I would like to share some of them with you.

Majority of blacks lived in villages or rural areas where the light of education had never reached and enlightened their minds. They were never a danger for the ruling group as they could have never realized their condition and demanded any kind of right. Very small minority of the blacks was residing in urban settlements and cities but then there were present many restrictions on them. Special passes were issued for them, and anyone who wanted to travel to any other part of the country had to take prior permission from the court, and was badly punished if found without his pass.

Blacks had no right to vote and elect the representatives of their own and they were lead by the chiefs who were mainly the elected representatives of the central government. These chiefs kept their status and position dear to anything else and thus they were the biggest barriers in the way of progress of their own fellow citizens. Blacks had no right of property and time and again, the central government passed laws that gave the rights to whites to snatch and dislocate the blacks from their lands and towns. Similarly, blacks had no share in government offices, or other prestigious or important posts. They could hardly become an office clerk or a schoolteacher but they were never let to make access to important posts.

Similarly, they had almost no share in the business of the country and they worked on meager wages in mines administered and owned by their white masters. But most painful was that, they had no social status or respect. They were treated as second-class citizens in their own land. In such suffocating circumstances, some Africans had started dreaming of a free land. Almost all the Africans who could see and feel this situation were in pain and there was a fire burning in their hearts and heads but they could do nothing as they were facing an enemy very strong and cunning. Every way was blocked for them and they were left with every limited choices. Nelson Mandela joined African National Congress (ANC) that was working for the freedom of blacks. Like any other great leader, he suffered a lot right from the beginning. He opened the black law firm in Johannesburg that aimed at the service of oppressed black people.

He was an active member of his party and always believed in peaceful struggle but their efforts did not bring out any result as government strictly and harshly crushed their struggle.
Then he co-founded and led the armed wing of African National Congress (ANC) but they always tried not to harm the public and not violate the human rights. Right from the beginning, he was repeatedly banned or imprisoned. His passes were banned and many a times, he was expelled from different cities. In 1964, he was sentenced for a lifetime imprisonment and was sent to prison in Robben Island where he spent eighteen years of 27 years long imprisonment. Due to the international pressure, Mandela was released in 1990. As a result of first multi-racial elections of 1994, ANC won 62% votes and Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of the country. In 1999, after the completion of his term, he decided not to stand for the second term and retired himself for the welfare work, in and outside his country.

Few things include him among the greatest leaders of the world. He emerged from a very poor background (his father's friend brought him up when he was left as an orphan at the age of 9). He never got disappointed with the adverse conditions. Many times, he was left all alone and difficulties had ceased his way completely but this could only make him slow down for a while and then start his efforts with a renewed energy and spirit. Had there been anyone else in his place, he could have easily given up but he was a person who was alien to the concepts of disappointment and retreat.

Secondly, he was always in favor of education. He continued his disrupted education in the prison and completed his Bachelor of Law from the University of London via correspondence. Later on, he introduced many reforms to promote education in the country. During his presidency and the terms followed by his successors, the expenditure on education substantially increased. Compulsory education was introduced for African children between ages of six to fourteen and 3.5 to 5 million schoolchildren were provided with free meals.

In different regions of the world, the spirit of leaders and members of a nation exist until the freedom is achieved and mostly the leaders are found to be having no concrete plans after the freedom. This was not the case with Nelson Mandela. After he became president and in the terms followed by his fellows, many laws were introduced that were aimed to bring social equality, justice and reforms to decrease the gap between the rich and poor. He and his followers introduced a number of successful reforms to decrease poverty and make the condition of public stable.

He was not a person who wanted to enjoy the power so when he saw that a democratic system of government was able to run the country successfully, he decided not to stand for the second term of presidency when he could have easily become the president.

After he got retired, he started his efforts to help poor and needy in the country and make their conditions better. Nelson Mandela invitational charity golf tournament, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Mandela Rhodes Foundation are all working for making the conditions of children better in the whole of African continent and they have definitely made the difference.
Nelson Mandela was awarded with a number of honorary degrees and civil awards by almost all the countries of the world like USA, UK, Russia, Turkey, India, Pakistan and many more. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mandela Day on his birthday, July 18, is an annual international day adopted by the United Nations. Individuals, communities and organizations are asked to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67 years that Nelson Mandela gave to the struggle for social justice. No doubt, he is the only living legend of the world.