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(Thursday August 17th 2000, 20.30hrs)

It was wonderful. I woke up this morning to write in my journal. I still haven't gotten over it yet. One of the guests at the hotel. A regular guest whose name is Steve Grigg works for British Aerospace and was having a private chat with Nelson Mandela yesterday.

He heard Paula and I singing and asked if we would like to sing for Nelson Mandela?????!!!!!! OF COURSE.

In the morning we got ready and were picked up in a limousine after meeting Steve and another colleague Martin for breakfast (Horizon Club breakfast on the 21st floor of my hotel, the priority guests have breakfast there - we, mere mortals, have breakfast on the 1st floor in the Coffee Garden)

Anyway, off we went to sing for Nelson Mandela, only to find that he had cancelled several meetings including the one we were supposed to sing at. The offical word was he was not feeling very well. The truth was he simply could not see everyone on his agenda. Including us. We were so disappointed. Many people, such as the staff and residents of an elderly people’s home were told he wouldn't be coming. They had prepared food and got all dressed up.

We were heartbroken. All day.

Until 8.pm when we were zoomed over to his hotel - The Palace of the Golden Horses - in another car (just a BMW!!!) to sing for Nelson Mandela as he left secretly from the hotel. Our last chance. There were very few guests who knew he was going at 8.30pm including us and we were positioned in the centre of the small lobby lounge, directly under the alcove in the ceiling.

When we sang, our voices resonated in the marble lobby and when Nelson Mandela appeared you could only hear our voices. We sang the South African Anthem in Xhosa and Sosetho. TWICE. It was like slow motion. When I saw Nelson Mandela enter the lobby I could feel my eyes glazing over and I knew I'm going to need to be strong or else I'll just break down. So, I looked at Paula and smiled and we just kept on singing and smiling. She looked very strong.

Nelson Mandela just moved, like slow motion around the people. The guests just seemed to move out the way so that he could approach them and shake their hands. They didn't rush him. They just waited and watched and all you could hear was our voices. He took time to shake everyone's hand.

Then there was a long walk for Nelson Mandela to approach Paula and me.

He took his time and walked directly towards us with a huge smile on his face, took our hands and shook them and said over and over again "Very Good, very good"
If he didn't move along when he did I think I wouldn't have been able to carry on singing. We smiled and continued to sing and looked deep into his eyes and watched him leave us, walk through the glass doors and then enter his car.

When he got in the car the song ended. You couldn't hear a pin drop. The car drove away. The people just stared, and we stared and felt........"Man, I wish he could have stayed and chatted with us"

It was wonderful. I don't think I'll ever forget this experience. We came all the way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to sing for Nelson Mandela.

What an honor!. He is very tall and has great presence when he is in the room that you are in. When we sang everyone just listened because that's all they could do. The Anthem is very moving anyway and in the presence of Nelson Mandela it was even more electrifying.

That's all. I had to go back to work last night after this. I was completely drained. I felt really weak after all the stress and disappointment earlier and then all the excitement, and then all the stillness. I still did 3 sets with my band before going to bed.

Wow.

Alexia

Reflections of the Nelson Mandela Experience
Monday August 21st 2000, 4.47am

It’s Monday morning now. 4 days after our singing experience for Nelson Mandela. I’m wide awake in the early hours of the morning and thought I would write down some thoughts that I have had on this unique experience.

It really is rare to have had the opportunity to shake the hand of a man who spent twenty-seven years in imprisonment for fighting for basic human rights. A man, whose belief was so strong that he sacrificed his family, his loved ones, his freedom to make the whole world know that righteousness must prevail. A man, who emerges twenty-seven years later with the intellectual and physical strength to lead the country he was born in and loved and the very country that once denied him those basic human rights to be free.

It is very rare for a person to meet a giant of a man in their life -time. I am blessed. I did.

On Saturday, Paula and I met the President of the Northern Province of South Africa in KLCC right here in KL. The KLCC is the tallest building in the world. Petronas Twin Towers. Well, there is a lot of controversy as the spires of both towers make-up the height and other cities of the world are currently building taller buildings. For this moment in time it is the tallest, however, and we met the President or Minister of one of the nine states of South Africa in Chinos – a chic restaurant on the 2nd floor.

This meeting was very educational. The Presidents wife told us the name of the languages we had just sung in for Nelson Mandela. She taught us that the second verse was in fact Sosotho (not Zulu) and the first verse was Xhosa. She reminded us that the song we sang was the ANC song when the party -The African National Congress - was made illegal. The Africans sang it as a strong and powerful pro ANC song and now it has become an Anthem, a symbol of the struggle. They actually have another National Anthem.

We sang in Chinos restaurant together. Nkosi Sikeleli Africa. All four of us. It was lovely and our two white friends Leslie and Bob were smiling and staring.

Steve Grigg and Martin Williamson are the two Gentlemen responsible for allowing us to meet Nelson Mandela. If Steve were not having private talks with Nelson Mandela we would not have been allowed anywhere near the man. Steve is a friend of mine since last year October. I sang in the lobby lounge of the Shangri-La, KL, then. It was just a two-month contract before the longer six-month contract in Singapore. We met again just on Tuesday of last week. Tuesday August 15th. Steve and his colleague, Martin are regular guests of the Shangri-La. Honored guests, I would say, as they spend lots of money in their Lafite restaurant and Executive Suites in the Horizon Club floors.

Anyway, after Tuesday night’s performance we all sat down chatting about our work. Steve was very excited about meeting Nelson Mandela where he hoped to put forward his proposals on Education and links with South Africa and Malaysia and so on. Paula and I began to sing in Xhosa and Sosotho and Steve got very excited. “I know that song!!” He has been to South Africa several times and loves the people and the music and the power of that nation.

He immediately asked, “How would you like to sing for Nelson Mandela?”……….And that’s how it all started.

Alexia