National Adoption Month: Spolight on Nelson Mandela

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I'll feature famous folk who have been adopted! Check the Abby’s Road Facebook page for more adoptees – this blog will host some of the more interesting and famous!

                   

Today’s spotlight is on Nelson Mandela!

  

When Mandela was 9 years old, his father died of lung disease. Mandela was adopted by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu people.  He became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, serving until 1999. A symbol of global peacemaking, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

I watched his inauguration live on television. I obtained a copy of his speech and have kept it since. It is one of the most inspiring speeches of history. The text is here: http://www.bet.com/news/global/2013/12/05/transcript-nelson-mandela-s-1994-inauguration-speech.html

“Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.
Let freedom reign.
The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!”
1994 Inauguration speech, Nelson Mandela

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry