My husband Jerry Dunfey and I are going to 10 Downing Street tonight for an event Sarah Brown is hosting for the Donald Woods Foundation, a philanthropic development organization. Woods was a very close friend of ours and had to escape from apartheid South Africa after he broke the story of Steve Biko’s murder. Jerry is a Founding Patron of the foundation with Wendy Woods and Ntsiki Biko, respectively the widows of Donald Woods and Steve Biko. Desmond Tutu, who married us, will be the other special guest at 10 Downing St. To get into the spirit of the connections between the British anti-apartheid movement and the struggle within South Africa, we stopped at the statue of Nelson Mandela that was unveiled in 1985 by our friend Oliver Tambo, president of the African National Congress during the 27 years Mandela was in prison. I wrote the opening chapter for the book OR Tambo Remembered. Our long-time friends Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza, South Africa’s High Commissioner to the UK, and Pallo Jordan, Minister of Arts and Culture, are the co-editors of this book of tributes from key anti-apartheid activists. Lindiwe will host a dinner for Jerry and me on Sat Jul 18, Mandela Day: so, between tonight and that evening, we will celebrate with many friends with whom we have engaged in much wonderful work.
On another front, check out Suzanne Engo’s iReport from the CNN premier screening of Black in America 2. You can catch her interview of me at the end of the video clip that follows.
