‘How can there be only one dedicated hospital in the country for our children?’

When Madiba asked this question, he sowed the seeds of a challenge that would grow into a legacy.

A seed may be small but its size is disproportionate to what it can become over time. The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital was a project that seemed impossible when it was just an idea that started with ten people seated around a dinner table. As they discussed the state of healthcare in the country and shared their experiences, they realised that it was the children of Southern Africa who were the most disadvantaged by the lack of dedicated paediatric facilities. At the end of the evening a statement by the late Dr Nthato Motlana took hold and became the catalyst for a remarkable journey: ‘I will speak to Nelson,’ he said.

With South Africa’s first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela’s backing, the board of the Children’s Fund was inspired to take up the challenge to address this vital need. After years of global research and advice from experts in numerous different fields a Trust was formed to oversee the project and, critically, to set about raising the one billion rand it would take to build, equip and staff a state-of-the-art children’s hospital.

The stories behind the planning for, fundraising and building of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital are inspiring, personal, and sometimes heart-breaking. It was a long and arduous journey, beset with difficulties, but the dedicated team’s commitment and courage prevailed to create a living legacy that will truly impact the lives of children for generations to come.

Today, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in Johannesburg is a proud testimony to a uniquely African story which honours the memory of a great statesman and celebrates the children for whom he cared so deeply.

When Debbie Calitz and her partner Bruno Pelizzari set sail from Dar es Salaam in October 2010, they could never have guessed that they would be making a voyage into the depths of hell.

Three days into their journey as crew on board the yacht Choizel, it was captured by Somali pirates who held Debbie and Bruno for ransom. For twenty months the pair was made to live in dark rooms while they were moved countless times between different locations and captors who subjected them – but especially Debbie – to untold horrors. Yet Debbie’s spiritual awareness, her sense of humanity and, ironically, her past history of being the victim of abuse, helped her to stay alive as she remained positive in the belief that she and Bruno would be rescued.

In this compelling book right from the depths of depravity Debbie Calitz reveals the details of their ordeal and their eventual rescue. It is a story of overwhelming courage from a woman who overcame all odds when freedom and dignity were a distant memory.

Toe Debbie Calitz en Bruno Pelizzari in Oktober 2010 in Dar-es-Salaam anker lig, sou hulle nooit kon raai dat hulle op ’n hellevaart vertrek nie.

Drie dae nadat hulle as bemanningslede op die seiljag Choizel vertrek het, is die vaartuig gekaap deur Somaliese seerowers wat ʼn losprys vir Debbie en Bruno geëis het. Twintig maande lank is die paartjie van die een donker hool na die ander verskuif, telkens met ander oppassers wat hulle – en veral vir Debbie – aan onbeskryflike gruweldade onderwerp het.

Dit was Debbie se geestelike ingesteldheid, haar medemenslikheid, en ironies genoeg, haar verlede as ʼn slagoffer van mishandeling, wat haar aan die lewe help hou het deur positief te bly en te glo dat sy en Bruno gered sou word.

In hierdie meesleurende boek oor afskuwelike ontmensliking onthul Debbie die besonderhede van hul beproewing en hul uiteindelike bevryding. Dit is die verhaal van ʼn vrou se onoorwinlike moed toe vryheid en menswaardigheid nog net ʼn vae herinnering was.