A letter of condolence from the Fuller Center of Housing Western Cape, South Africa 

By FCHWC Chairman / Managing Director

 

CEO / Managing Director – Louis Michael Green 

December 10, 2013

Mrs Graca Machel Mandela
c/o The Speaker of Parliament
The Honourable Max Sisulu
The National Parliament of South Africa

Dear Mrs Graca Machel Mandela

& the Family Members of the late President Nelson Mandela

A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA

On behalf of the Fuller Center for Housing, Western Cape, I hereby wish to express our sincere condolences to you and all the members of the Mandela family on the passing of President Nelson Mandela.

I have had the privilege and honour to have met President Mandela in 1994, and on several other occasions, when I entered Parliament as an M.P. for the ACDP. I was also present in Parliament when President Mandela addressed the nation on several occasions as the first President of a democratic South Africa.

President Nelson Mandela (also lovingly known to us as uTata Madiba) was one of the 20th and 21st century's iconic symbols of freedom and equality. We are of the view that he was predestined by God to become the first democratic President of South Africa, because he, with the support of other political leaders, would usher in a new age of freedom and democracy in our country. The peaceful democratic transition in South Africa was largely due to his leadership style.

To millions, he was a leader, a mentor and a hero. He remained a father figure for our country going through wrenching economic and political change. Throughout our nation and the world, he is regarded as the father of the nation, the pioneer of a new South Africa.

My name is Louis Michael Green and I am a retired South African Parliamentarian. I have been serving as a Member of Parliament since 1994, when President Nelson Mandela became our first democratically elected President of South Africa and I retired after serving in Parliament for fifteen years.

 

I am presently serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of the Fuller Center for Housing Western Cape, a Non Profit Company (NPC) in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Fuller Center for Housing is presently working in about 16 countries internationally and we have recently started our activities in South Africa.

 

Millard Fuller was the founder and former president of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). His 29-year leadership, beginning in 1976, forged Habitat into a worldwide Christian housing ministry, building 200,000 homes with projects in 100 countries.

It is our intention to start with the building of the first 100 houses for indigent families in Cape Town in 2014, and I would like to dedicate the first 100 houses to the memory of the late President Nelson Mandela.

Like Habitat for Humanity, which was started by our founder, Millard Fuller, we would also like to name ONE of our blitz housing builds, in the name of the late President Nelson Mandela.

We have several blitz builds throughout the world that is led and managed by the Fuller Center for Housing, e.g.:

The  Millard Fuller Memorial build in the USA, and several others.

It is now our sincere intention to honour the memory of the late President Nelson Mandela by naming a Blitz Build in his name.

As a newly established Board for Fuller Center for Housing, Western Cape, we have committed ourselves to build our first 100 houses for needy families over the next five years, starting in 2014. Most of the funding will be raised in the USA by Fuller Center for Housing.

The Fuller Center for Housing Western Cape intends to build homes for indigent families. Our building projects are not “giveaway” programs. The houses are built for families in need with the help of many volunteers and with the participation of the prospective homeowners through “sweat equity.” The houses are then sold to the recipient families at no profit and no interest, which makes an adequate house affordable, even to a very poor family.

The program is all about empowerment and is not a giveaway or a handout.
The late President Mandela believed in the empowerment of the poorest of the poor.

 

I particularly remember his inaugural speech in Parliament when he mentioned that he stood before us not as a prophet, but as a servant to the nation. He was a leader of service to his people.

Now we, the Board of Directors of the Fuller Center for Housing, Western Cape, want to follow his example. We want to demonstrate our respect to President Mandela not by mere words, but by our action.

In conclusion, as one of the world’s most respected humanitarians, we salute you uTata Madiba. We admire and respect you for your achievements. You were a healer and a leader and you will be remembered as one of the world’s most respected leaders. You leave behind a legacy – one that no one will ever forget!

May you rest in peace.

Be Blessed !!

Bishop Louis Michael Green Chairman /

Managing Director The Fuller Center for Housing Western Cape, South Africa

 

Building on Higher Ground

 

Phone: +27 21 9878639

Cell: 060 679 3070

Fax: +27 866578715

 

Skype ID: louis.green5

Email: fuller.wcape.green@gmail.com

 

Website: http://fchwc.org