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Episode 1: Behind the scenes
When great leadership seems in short supply can an African experiment championed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu offer any hope?
Twenty-five young Africans chosen to participate in the Archbishop Desmond Tutu leadership course promise to dedicate their talents to transforming the continent.
By
Matthew Cassel
Published On 17 Jan 2013
17 Jan 2013
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The first half of their leadership coaching focuses on Africa(***)s most stubborn problems and takes place at a mountain retreat just outside Cape Town.
One of the course participants, Swaady, has a very bold approach to women(***)s empowerment in Africa and her ideas caused quite a reaction from others in the group.
With memories of the Tunisian revolution still vivid and of young North Africans who would risk everything for democracy, Zied Mhirsi, one of the course particpants, grows quietly agitated in one of the sessions as others appear to lean towards the idea of benevolant dictatorship.
These Tutu(***)s Children engage in quite a few heated debates and experience a clash of opinions on many occasions.
In a bid to inspire them with examples of Africa(***)s most admired leaders, Tutu(***)s Children are on their way to Robben Island prison, 12km off the coast of Africa(***)s southern tip, where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of his 27 years as a prisoner of the apartheid government.
They are led around the prison on Robben Island by former activists and inmates, now at liberty to tell their stories and those of the people who, at great personal cost, led the fight for civil liberties.