The Legacy of Nelson Mandela


    Pascal Losambe is the first to admit.
    He didn’t understand.  He truly didn’t understand.

    How, he wondered, could Nelson Mandela, the hope of South Africa, emerge from 27 years of incarceration and immediately forgive those who had persecuted him?
    Why, he thought, was this great man not bitter?
    How could the one that he and so many others respectfully call Tata Madiba possibly rise above anger and retribution when human nature dictated otherwise?
    He understands now.  He has long since understood.
    “Nelson Mandela came out of prison preaching forgiveness,” said Losambe, who has taught Upper School biology and coached track at Collegiate the past three years.
    “That didn’t make sense to a lot of us, but forgiveness is a very powerful force.  A sense of pride arose within many people.”
    Many, though, still felt confused, bitter, and disenfranchised.
    “People who had suffered were saying, ‘My goodness, what are you talking about? Now you expect me to forgive this person who doesn’t understand what I’ve gone through?’ Losambe continued.
    “To be able to rise above that…it’s lifting your head and saying, ‘Yes, I am more than this. We can unite the country.’”
    Losambe was born in Nigeria, lived in Swaziland, and moved to South Africa in 1992, the year after Mandela was freed and apartheid was abolished.
    Despite the fact that the paradigm was shifting, he felt the effects of racial prejudice that were so ingrained in the nation’s culture.
    “Although I didn’t live in South Africa during the time of apartheid, I lived there during its legacy,” he said.  “As a black male, there was a feeling that opportunities were not there for us.
    “If I acted more white, if I did things that were favorable in the white man’s eyes, then I could advance myself.  That was my mentality.”
    Slowly, that mentality changed.
    “We were seeing this model for forgiveness,” Losambe said.  “We didn’t have to be angry forever.
    “(Mandela) said, ‘Pick up your head and forgive.’  A lot of people rose up and said, ‘Yes, let us walk this path.’
    “He provided a platform that gave us the potential to move past what had happened.
    “I didn’t personally share in their story, but I was able to ride the wave of rising above and moving beyond toward a successful future.”
    A successful future, it has been.
    After his family had lived in South Africa for nine years, Dr. Lokangaka Losambe became a visiting professor of English at the University of Vermont.
    A year later, his wife and three children joined him.
    Pascal Losambe completed his junior and senior years at Burlington (VT) High School, enrolled at Middlebury College, excelled in sports, and graduated with a B.A. in molecular biology and biochemistry.
    He was a Division III All-New England shot putter (personal best 47-6) and played on the rugby team that defeated Arkansas State for the Division II national championship.
    His next stop was Boston College where he earned an M.S. in biology while focusing on AIDS research, specifically the dynamics of neurological disorders associated with HIV.
    Though he was accepted into doctoral programs at Ohio State, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, he availed himself of an invitation to interview at Collegiate through the search firm Carney Sandoe & Associates.
    “Graduate school was fun,” he said, “but I wanted to feel like I was alive again.  I wanted to be on the sports field.  I wanted to be in the classroom.”
    He deferred his admission for a year.
    “Then,” he said, “I told them, ‘I’ve found my place.’”
    To Collegiate’s benefit.
    Losambe reaches his students on several levels.  He knows his science.  That’s for sure.  He’s personable and upbeat and always has a smile on his face.  He’s well respected by his colleagues and is wise beyond his years.
    Through his varied experiences and his personal style, his influence extends far beyond the classroom and track.
    Indeed, he’s never forgotten his roots, nor will he, or lost sight of the lessons he derived from the example of the great Mandela.
    As much through actions as words shares them each day with his students.
    “They can learn the power of forgiveness, of love, of acceptance, of listening before you speak, of really understanding another person,” he said. “They can learn that unity is much better than division.
    “We all think back on people who have invested in us.  Those memories stick with us.  They inspire us to do something good for somebody because it has been done for us. 
    “It is much bigger than just us.  It is for future generations as well.”
                              -- Weldon Bradshaw

(Pascal Losambe recently honored Mandela at Collegiate's Upper School and Middle School assemblies.  Please click here to view and read the text of his presentation.)
                                           




Back