Desmond Tutu was Cape Town’s first black archbishop and a vocal critic of South Africa’s apartheid government. 

Last month the Nobel peace prize winner announced he would retire from public duties later this year, when he turns 79. He spoke to Reuters Africa Journal about his long career as a churchman and activist.

What were the low points?

 ”When Steve Biko was killed in 1977 that was another moment when you felt as if God had abandoned us. But it was wonderful at his funeral when so many people pitched up and they were really defiant in their spirits. And another low point, and a dangerous low point, was the assassination of Chris Hani (in 1993). If our country never went up in flames, I don’t think it will ever go up in flames. I mean it was one of the most awful, awful moments.”

And the highs?

 ”I would say the highest point for me was when I stood on the balcony in 1994 to introduce our new, brand new president to South Africa and the world. That is a moment that will not be equalled by anything. Just to know that we are really free, we have our own, very own president which we have elected. I mean it was really like a dream.”

Ethiopia’s long-distance runners are among the best in the world, winning seven medals at last year’s Olympic Games. Generations of athletes have trained in the cool highlands of Asella but the weather there is changing, apparently as a result of climate change. There are now worries that this could have an impact on the country’s future runners.

For many young Ethiopians, this is where dreams are made. Internationally famous athletes like Haile Gebrselassie and Kenanisa Bekele have trained in these very parts.

Runners attend a training camp named after Tirunesh Dibaba who is the current holder of the world 5000 metres record. But the trainees’ future will depend greatly on the weather. Athletes require no more than 20 C when training and because it’s generally cool, Asella used to be perfect.

Not so lately. Temperatures rapidly increase as the day progresses and now runners have to get up earlier before training becomes almost impossible.

Tefere Alamerew is the squad’s coach. He told Reuters Africa Journal: “The temperature has changed — it’s hotter and hotter — so it will be difficult to train the athletes for the future here because the climate is changed.”

Like some other top Ethiopian runners, marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie was also born in Asella.

“Three weeks ago I was in Asella and I had the chance to jog 3km – around 9 o’clock – 9.30. You don’t believe it – I mean I was sweating, I asked myself, and I was running with Darata Tulu, we were struggling: ‘is this Asella, the place where we were training before? Yes it is.’ It’s amazing. My worry right now, what it will be like after 20 years?”

         Millions of years ago, Madagascar separated from the other continents and evolved separately. Today it has about 12,000 plants most of which can be found nowhere else in the world. Many of these plants have medicinal properties, but their habitat is under threat.In the town of Tolear, people rely on herbs as the nearest hospital is far away. Traditional healers combine plants and a little bit of magic to cure patients.”The forest helps us to cure all illnesses,” Dimbiraza, a traditional healer, told Reuters Africa Journal. “So we need to preserve the forest everywhere in the world, not just in Madagascar, in the world because the forest is nature. It’s our second God. There’s God up there and the forest is our second God.”The forest around Tolear is like a huge natural pharmacy.Malagasy companies such as Homeopharma manufacture plant products for sale at home and for export to Europe and the United States.Claude Ratsimivony, the company’s chairman, says the market is seeing growth rates of 30 to 40 percent and there are still medicinal plants to be discovered.”We still have not discovered everything. We know that there are about 12,000 species, but Madagascar is a country that is mysterious in the respect that it still guards the secrets of its traditional healers.”But some of Madagascar’s plant secrets may be lost before they can even be found as forests are being cut down for charcoal and farming.The government has initiated several conservation projects and wants to do more to preserve the plants that contribute to both modern and traditional medicine. It will be interesting to see if they can keep ahead of the slashers and burners.