Guest : Father Michael Lapsley | Director at Institute for Healing of Memories |
Father Michael Lapsley is a former South African anti-apartheid activist who has turned
his personal tragedy into a clarion call for peace and forgiveness. In 1990, three months
after the release of Nelson Mandela, the ruling De Klerk Government sent Father
Lapsley a parcel containing two religious’ magazines. Inside one of them was a highly
sophisticated bomb. When Lapsley opened the magazine, the explosion blew off both of
his hands, destroyed one eye and burned him severely.
Father Lapsley went on to work at the Trauma Center for Victims of Violence and
Torture in Cape Town, which assisted the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation
headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.