Smile Foundation Poem by Diana van den Berg

Eleven years ago
our Madiba
wanted to help Thanda,
a young girl,
with a facial defect,
smile.

And oh, how he smiled her lips
and the cockles of her heart
and her family
and Madiba’s family
of South Africa
and the Smile Foundation
was born.

Eleven years down the line
the Smile Foundation is flourishing.

What a legacy Madiba will leave behind,
though only a fraction,
of his legacy
of love action!

(15 November 2011)