The head of The Elders writes about the 15 years she worked with ‘Arch’, first chair of the group of elderly statesmen- and women working for global peace founded by Nelson MandelaFormer Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Irish president Mary Robinson and US president Jimmy Carter with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem in 2009.
In every context, “Arch” — as he always wished to be called, deftly demonstrating his sense of humour and utter lack of pomposity — brought forth the SA concept of “ubuntu”, that shared sense of interdependent humanity that roughly translates as “I am because you are”. I will never forget an Elders’ visit to Côte d’Ivoire in April 2011 with Arch and Kofi Annan. The country was still in the throes of extreme political violence, and our immediate aim was to verify that former president Laurent Gbagbo was still alive amid rumours that he was being tortured by the military. We were able to do this, and in our small way helped put the country on a path towards peace and reconciliation.
Some years later, I was with Arch at another gathering, this time of social activists in New York. He was being interviewed by a rather stern young female journalist, who almost chastised him as to why he was always so optimistic in the face of daunting global challenges and injustice.Oh no, dearie, I’m not an optimist, I’m a prisoner of hope.Those words have stayed with me ever since, and today I am proud to call myself a fellow convict.
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