South African anti-apartheid champion and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu will step down from his public duties on his 79th birthday on October 7.
“Instead of growing old gracefully with my family, reading and writing and praying and thinking, too much of my time has been spent at airports and in hotels,” said Tutu at a press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday.
He shared with reporters his decision to reduce his office work to one day per week and replace work travels with sipping tea and catering to his beloved wife. The restless peace fighter will also quit his positions at the University of Western Cape and at the United Nations Advisory Committee on the Prevention of Genocide. He says he will no longer grant media interviews, either.
But Tutu will continue to support his Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and work with the group of statesmen called The Elders, founded by former South Africa president and fellow laureate Nelson Mandela.
Born in 1931, Tutu was ordained a priest of the Anglican Church in 1960 and arrested multiple times for his courage to speak against apartheid. In 1984, he became the second South African to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Tutu also campaigns to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, homophobia, poverty, and racism. Recently, he was one of the biggest supporters of bringing the football World Cup to South Africa.
“Instead of growing old gracefully with my family, reading and writing and praying and thinking, too much of my time has been spent at airports and in hotels,” said Tutu at a press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday.
He shared with reporters his decision to reduce his office work to one day per week and replace work travels with sipping tea and catering to his beloved wife. The restless peace fighter will also quit his positions at the University of Western Cape and at the United Nations Advisory Committee on the Prevention of Genocide. He says he will no longer grant media interviews, either.
But Tutu will continue to support his Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and work with the group of statesmen called The Elders, founded by former South Africa president and fellow laureate Nelson Mandela.
Born in 1931, Tutu was ordained a priest of the Anglican Church in 1960 and arrested multiple times for his courage to speak against apartheid. In 1984, he became the second South African to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Tutu also campaigns to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, homophobia, poverty, and racism. Recently, he was one of the biggest supporters of bringing the football World Cup to South Africa.
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