Tutu as I know him (Book)

The idea for this collection of personal anecdotes came from Professor Piet Meiring, but the architect is Lavinia Browne, Bishop Tutu's personal assistant for close on thirty years. Having worked so closely with the Arch for so long, she knew who would be the key people to contribute – not so much to pay homage as to tell of their personal experiences of a man who has alternately been called terrorist, politician, prophet, activist, priest, charlatan, communist, peace-maker. The response to her invitation was overwhelming. The contents page of Tutu as I know him reads like a who's who in fields as diverse as international politics, the entertainment industry and the church. The contributors belong to different faiths, denominations and walks of life. They are mirrors that reveal glimpses of a person who hardly seems to stand still and yet finds the time to remember a friend's birthday. The editor puts it like this: "As mirrors reflect light, these fragments come together to build an image to describe the gift to the world that is Desmond Tutu." Arranged in roughly chronological order, the various pieces portray a man who is growing with age in stature and inner strength. Anecdotes range from Trevor Tutu's description of a family cricket match that he insists lay behind his father's support of the ordination of women to HRH Princess Irene of Greece’s recounting how Desmond Tutu jokingly offered her a bicycle so she could travel around South Africa anonymously.