Birth name: Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Born: 7 October 1931, Klerksdorp, South Africa
Died: 26 December 2021 (aged 90), Cape Town, South Africa
Occupation: Bishop, theologian, social activist, author
Education: King’s College, University of London
This award is for mothers, who sit at railway stations to try to eke out an existence, selling potatoes, selling mealies, selling produce. This award is for you, fathers, sitting in a single-sex hostel, separated from your children for 11 months a year… This award is for you, mothers in the KTC squatter camp, whose shelters are destroyed callously every day, and who sit on soaking mattresses in the winter rain, holding whimpering babies… This award is for you, the 3.5 million of our people who have been uprooted and dumped as if you were rubbish. This award is for you.
— Desmond Tutu’s speech on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize (On 16 October 1984)
The 14th Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates, in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2004
He is in a mobile HIV test unit- one of The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation’s social services.
It can be said that the summary of his life and valuable legacy for us are:
- Combating injustice with non-violent ways,
- Trying to promote a culture of dialogue even with opponents (who usually are named “others”),
- Strive for environmental justice,
- Using the capacity of religion to ensure social justice and fight all kinds of unjust discrimination,
- Volunteerism in advancing justice for all,
Let’s preserve his legacy and move on!