Tribute to a “Shero,” Mama Africa

by Dr. Felicia Mabuza-Suttle

Miriam Makeba

Being based in the U.S., it is gratifying to see how much the international media is paying tribute to Miriam Makeba—from New York to LA to Chicago to Atlanta, from CNN to the national networks, she is being honored as an “ambassador of Africa.”

Miriam Makeba, “my shero,” as I used to call her, wrote this moving acknowledgement for me in my autobiography: “Dare to Dream is an exhilarating and inspirational story. As much as I am humbled by Felicia’s admiration of me in her book, I believe her story is an inspiration for everyone who
has a dream.”

In each and every telephone or personal conversation, she would urge me along and encourage me to dream beyond my boundaries. The last conversation I had with Miriam was a couple of weeks ago when I was in South Africa. As usual, we would break into song, because she knew that as a little girl, I wanted to sing like her. I idolized Miriam and wanted to follow in her footsteps. I remember even joining Barney Simon’s production, “Phiri” and appearing in The Rand Daily Mail.

In this last conversation with Miriam, the song we sang over the phone was her popular farewell song when she left South Africa in the early 60’s: “Good bye Mother, Goodbye Father, and to you my little darling, goodbye until we meet again. Farewell to friends I am leaving. May the good Lord be with you all, I am leaving, until we meet again. I’ll miss all my relations. And the sunshine of my homeland, farewell, Good bless you all.”

How appropriate, Miriam was leaving and saying goodbye. How fortunate she was to pass away doing what she loved, doing what the Almighty sent her to do on earth. God must be smiling and looking down on Miriam and saying, “Mission accomplished. You fulfilled your purpose.”

Just last week, The Africa Channel aired the interview I had with Miriam in the U.S., U.K. and the Caribbean. Miriam’s legacy continues to be felt as the true Ambassador of Good Will who took “Africa with her to all the world,” as the New York Times reported on November 11, 2008. “Miriam Makeba was a continent’s voice at home and in exile.”

Of the at least five shows we dedicated to Miriam Makeba, the most memorable for me was the one with ambassadors based in South Africa from all over the world, who came to pay tribute to her. All of them wanted to claim a piece of Miriam from Tunisia to France, Cameroon to Germany, Morocco to Sweden, Egypt to Switzerland, Kenya to England, to America. With grace she thanked them all for the time she visited or lived in their countries, but made it clear that she was a daughter of South Africa and her contribution towards educating the world about the atrocities of apartheid.

A young man named Monwabisi Lawrence Lolwana emailed me today saying, “Thank you for bringing Mama Makeba into our living room in your talk show as you continuously interviewed her and her colleagues about their life in exile.”

I also received an email this week from another young man, Mandla Sibeko, who said, “Thanks for your shows that taught my generation our past and the contributions of icons like Miriam Makeba.” She was a true Good Will Ambassador.