Speaking on the wider issues and the challenge that has confronted humanity throughout history is to engage humanity in a natural world and carve out an environment in which people can live in security and peace; a person can eat and live a healthy life. To do so one needs to learn and be taught. Today people have several degrees and it is no longer enough to say one has received an education with a single degree. It is important for us to understand the world in which we live and be committed to that world. There was an age when education was meant to produce benefit for the community where we wanted to produce some member of legislature and to have cabinet ministers. Since then the situation has changed. We have today for example the Arab League, the United Nations, and other organizations having people with highest academic qualifications and the competition to get into these organizations is ruthless.
Now we want to prepare children and understand the role of these regional and global organizations. He reminded the that audience that the First World War occurred in 1914 and ended in 1918, the 21 years later a Second World War broke out and ended in 1945. It is now 55 years since the end of the Second World War and there has been no other war although several regional conflicts had and are still taking place. This he said was primarily due to the active work of the United Nations that has emerged as a major organization promoting peace. The United Nations is doing an excellent job but those who represent them must acquire a quality education. One of the challenges facing globalization is that it has made the world smaller; it has made globalization a force that we cannot avoid. It is breaking down national barriers to commerce and trade. It makes commodities cheaper. It has led to the information age, with advances in telecommunications and the transfer of technology to those who do not have it. At the same time we must know that globalization favors the rich and the mighty. Poverty is the greatest assault to human dignity. People who cannot feed their families and cannot send their children to school. It is a challenge that opinion makers and academic speakers must face. For example AIDS, cancer, malaria, and other terminal diseases must be addressed.
Now the challenge to enlightened leaders is to address this issue. Globalization has not addressed the issues of poverty. A small country like Haiti that produces bananas has to compete with the United States of America under the rules of the World Trade Organization. Globalization operates to shore up the rich and mighty and is a peril to the poor and the weak. He spoke about how he had set up funds for the benefit of children when he was the President and continues to help them and other charity organizations by distributing over 60 millions rands. Several of these children he said were very intelligent. He narrated one of those moments when he was moved emotionally when a child asked him what he thought of people like himself who suffered from a type of cancer that made his bones brittle. His reply was "I think of you as a human being". You are a courageous young man to be able to articulate the state of your health and you have hopes and aspirations like all of us and me. Even with your disability you can be a role model and I have read several such stories in the Readers Digest while I was in jail.
He has read numerous stories about individuals having a determination to live and fight and not to surrender to a medical prescription even when the goings tough. Don't give up and if you do then even the doctors cannot help you. You must turn disaster into triumph. It is this trust and opinion that acts as an inspiration to everybody who suffer from terminal illnesses. He narrated how children used to walk over 12 km just to get a decent meal in December when he used to entertain and shake hands with these children. It is something that you give and share that makes you go into bed feeling strong and happy. That is the task and challenge of people who are educated is to care for others. It is not President's alone but even ordinary people who are touched when they see somebody suffering and wasting their opportunities. Education cannot help if you have no confidence in yourself and in those around you. Leadership is the result of a collective effort and one must have confidence in yourself and those around you. To save humanity you have to mobilize forces and people around you.
Religion is the most powerful force. You need to have grown in South Africa to understand the importance of religion. There was a time when the responsibility for giving us education was the religions organizations and not governments. They employed and paid teachers and this was done by Christian, Muslim and Hindu organizations. Religion flows in my blood. But your have to have lived in apartheid jail and to met religious leaders. It is a great honor for me to address you. Somebody has said I have walked that long road for freedom, I trust I did not falter I have made mistakes along the way, but I have discovered the secret after crossing a great river one realizes that there are many more hills and rivers to cover and I have taken a moment to rest hear to look back at a distance that I have crossed but I can only lean and rest for a moment became with freedom comes responsibility. I dare not delay because the long road to freedom is before me and freedom means we must destroy poverty, literacy and terminal diseases. In this country the leaders love their people. A member of the ruling family said what is important is not whether we have a democratic or authoritarian society. What is crucial is that a ruler must love his people. When he does so he will be able to raise the living standards of people. You can enjoy all these without those institutions if you have a good leader. Thank you for listening patiently, he concluded.