Qunu: The remote village where Mandela will be laid to rest
- Published
Nelson Mandela spent much of his childhood in the small, Eastern Cape village of Qunu - a place he chose to return to after his release from prison. In fact, little has changed there since the future President of South Africa herded animals as a five-year-old boy.
World affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge takes a tour.
Click on the panels on the map below to see more of Qunu. Scroll down for the reflections of local people on Mr Mandela's life.
-
×
-
Qunu village
×-
Village life in Qunu has changed little since Mandela was a child. In his autobiography, he says he was no more than five years old when he became a herd-boy, looking after sheep and calves.
-
Mr Mandela wrote: 'It was in the fields that I learned how to knock birds out of the sky with a slingshot, to gather wild honey and fruits and edible roots, to drink warm, sweet milk straight from the udder of a cow.'
-
Today, as when Mr Mandela was a child, many people still have to collect the water used for farming, cooking, and washing from streams and springs.
-
Rolihlahla Mandela was the first of his family to go to school. He was nine when a teacher at the primary school in Qunu gave him his English name Nelson. Rolihlahla literally means pulling the branch of a tree, but its colloquial meaning is troublemaker.
-
-
Family burial ground
×
Across the road from the Mr Mandela's home, is the Mandela family burial ground, where Mandela's ancestors and some of his children are buried.
-
Mandela's house
×-
Mr Mandela returned to Qunu after his release from prison and built the large coral-coloured house that stands alongside the main road.
-
Mr Mandela spent much of his retirement in Qunu, often celebrating his birthdays with family at the property.
-
-
To Mqhekezweni
×
Beneath the gum trees at Mqhekezweni, six miles from Qunu, a young Mr Mandela is said to have learned about history and politics from tribal elders. He moved to Mqhekezweni to stay with his uncle, a tribal chief, after his father died. The mud hut in which Mr Mandela lived is still standing.
-
Burial site
×Mr Mandela will not be buried in the family burial ground. He will be buried in a grave on a hill in the grounds of his home.
-
He would ask 'when am I going home to Qunu?'
×South African MP and friend of Mr Mandela, Bantu Holomisa, describes how the former South African president longed to return to Qunu.
-
'He changed so many lives'
×Sinbile Siwendo, who lives in Qunu, talks about what Nelson Mandela meant to him, saying he changed many lives.
-
'He was a rural boy'
×Nozuko Yokwana, chair of the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu described him as a 'rural boy... just like any other village person' and says villagers will miss his laughter.
-
Nelson Mandela Museum
×-
The Nelson Mandela Museum opened in 1990. There are two main sites, the Nelson Mandela Youth and Heritage Centre in Qunu, and the Bhunga Building in Mthatha, the main town in Eastern Cape.
-
Mr Mandela insisted the museum should not just be a static collection and tribute to him, but a living memorial to his values and vision. Mourners lit a flame in honour of Mr Mandela after news of his death was announced.
-
