World News for Students of English

03-05-2016 07:00

Twenty-two years ago, the first post-apartheid elections happened in South Africa. Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president. Now the 27th of April is a public holiday that people call South Africa’s Freedom Day.

Mandela remained president until 1999, and he guided South Africa from apartheid to a multi-racial democracy. He is an icon of peace and for the struggle for justice around the world. He died at 95 years old at his home in Johannesburg in December 2013.

In the West Bank City of Ramallah, Palestine, people unveiled a 6-metre-tall statue of Nelson Mandela. It is the first statue that South Africa gave to another country. It is part of a relationship between Ramallah and Johannesburg. The statue sits in a square named after Mandela.

Difficult words: apartheid (a system of discrimination), struggle (trying to achieve something difficult), unveil (to show people something for the first time).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.