It was a privilege to meet Desmond Tutu ... it amazes me to think he and Nelson Mandela were born a few doors apart yet become so influential in world politics
Ayrshire artist’s tribute to legendary campaigner
An Ayrshire artist has recalled the moment he met late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Tributes have poured in for the Archbishop – who died on Boxing Day aged 90 – and was one of the driving forces behind the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
Turnberry bronze sculptor, Mark Stoddart, met Archbishop Tutu in November 2004, having been invited to help the South African government raise money for the HIV Paediatric Foundation to help children with AIDS.
Mark, an internationally acclaimed artist, attended a special auction in Cape Town to help raise funds for the cause, where he donated one of his unique and highly collectable hippo dining tables plus matching chairs, which raised thousands of rand for the cause.
The Hippo now sits happily in a lodge in South Africa looking out onto its own homeland. Mark, 57, whose customers include pop icon Elton John and the King of Saudi Arabia, said: “It was an absolute joy to meet him and it’s a massive privileged position I’ve been in to have been able to meet somebody like that.
“We got invited out by the South African government to Cape Town and got taken to some of the townships to see the kids and see the communities and community centres.
“We had an auction at a beautiful hotel in Cape Town, it looked right on to Table Top Mountain.
“Nelson Mandela was supposed to come along that evening but sadly he wasn’t up to it. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was there, and he sat next to myself and my friend Richard, and we were chatting away to him. We had our first course and I turned to him and said ‘you don’t really want to be sitting next to me and Richard, do you?’
“You’d far rather be sitting next to our beautiful partners and chat away to the girls, wouldn’t you?’
“And he replied ‘uh huh’, so we switched places and he chatted away to the girls!
“When the auction was going on, he was making jokes and shouting up and then eventually got up and did a speech.
“He was absolutely wonderful, a fantastic person, and an absolute privilege to meet.
“He was totally down to earth and made you feel at ease. He was mad as a hatter – really was – but in the right way. Archbishop Tutu was among the best-known figures to oppose apartheid, along with Mandela, and worked tirelessly and peacefully for its downfall.
Throughout his life Tutu was a tireless campaigner for human rights, and campaigned against HIV/ Aids, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.
He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984.
His relationship with Mandela ran deep, having introduced the future president to the crowds on the Grand Parade in Cape Town in February 1990 following his release from prison.
Mark added: “It absolutely amazes me that in the same street, a couple doors away, that two of the most influential people were born and lived together – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“I think Tutu ran under the radar in comparison to Mandela, but he played a massive part in South Africa. “I don’t think people realise quite the extent that he did do, he was very much involved in a big, big way.”