Mandela: South Africa's Emotional Roller Coaster - Sky News

A group of children representing their Kindergarten came to lay balloons and flowers outside the Pretoria hospital where Nelson Mandela is being treated.

A week after his admission, these children pretty much represent the feeling of South Africa's millions.

Their teachers say children as young as two had heard their parents talking about the ex-president, who remains very ill, and wanted to see where he was resting.

Outside the hospital and Mr Mandela's Johannesburg home, people have been laying flowers and messages of support for Tata Madiba, his clan name now synonymous with this remarkable man's history but also with the new South Africa.

It is impossible to easily convey how important he is here.

Prayers have been held for 'Madiba'

"Let us all come together, hold hands all over the world, and let us call upon God so that he would heal President Mandela," Bishop Abraham Sibiya told reporters at the hospital while leading prayers with a group of clergy.

There has been very little for anyone to see since Mr Mandela was rushed to hospital in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

The visits of his family are filmed and relayed around the world instantaneously; teams of reporters and photojournalists are camped out around the hospital, which has a security screen of police checking all vehicles entering the grounds.

For a week the country has lurched from depression to optimism as reports of his condition have gone from serious to improving. It has been an emotional roller coaster.

This week has seen an incredible string of anniversaries marking important moments in Mr Mandela's life.

President Jacob Zuma has visited Mr Mandela

Exactly 55 years ago he married Winnie Mandela. This week marks the date when he was sentenced to life in prison, and this week also sees the anniversary of the 1976 youth uprising in Soweto where Hector Pieterson became one of the first children to be killed by apartheid forces.

The current president, Jacob Zuma, laid a wreath at the Pieterson Memorial marking Youth Day.

He has seen Mr Mandela and has commented on his condition more than anyone else in recent days, visiting him unexpectedly on Thursday night.

So the prayers and the waiting go on hand in hand; a nation poised for grief but hoping that Nelson Mandela's famous walk through life goes on.

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