You might not be here, but I can listen to your cry for freedom, the freedom to be you, to be a human being, with a life, an identity and a place to call home. I can see it in the buses, on the streets, in classes and in the restaurants. Everywhere you look, Freedom is saying, here I am.

You may not be able to see the fruits of your effort, but I can see the innocent smiles on the faces of young children, the carefree gait of people as they walk, without fear, full of hope, with a bright future waiting ahead.

You might not see the spectacular sun rise over the hills in the East, every morning, but I can see because I know that you gave millions of people the chance to have the simple pleasure of waking up to see the beauty of the sunrise over the hills, through the windows of their own homes, the land of their forefathers.

When the sun sets in the West, they know that tomorrow there will be a brand new day with brand new opportunities. I can see them.

You might never know that we no longer fear brother and sister. We live as one people, one family, and one nation. We can sleep soundly and not worry about our neighbor.

We no longer dream about the day when we will live side by side, like one happy family. We are a nation, because of the sacrifices you made.

You might not know that the world looks up to our country, for hope beyond the worst of humanity. Can you believe this, people who have not seen the worst seeking to find hope in those who have already seen the worst?

You might think we forgot you. No, we did not. Every single day of our lives we remember you and your efforts. We know that we are who we are because you dared to believe that it was still possible to strive for the right to belong.

Every single day, we believe that you did not shed your blood for nothing. You gave up your life so that we, our children and our great grand children could live longer in peace and serenity.

You cannot know how much our nation has progressed. Everybody now looks up to us. Our children are proud to be the citizens of our country. Our neighbours admire our courage and foresight and want to learn from us.

Big and small nations come here to see for themselves. They come to learn, to help whenever they can because they want to be part of our story, your story, the story that you made possible.

You can not taste our coffee and tea. They are most delicious.  You can not dance to the rhythms of our drums and the songs of our joyous voices. They are the most unique.

You cannot feel the spirit of growth and development that has enveloped us, that drives us forward. It is a monumental spirit.
You might imagine that we do not know your name. You are wrong. We value and respect the cause you died for.

We are grateful for the gift of you. We recognize you, day by day, in the small and big ways of life. You are our hero!

Contact: kelviod@yahoo.com