Words and pictures come together to tell vivid and moving stories.

Client: The Coca-Cola Foundation

VOICEOVER

Some days are unforgettable. Forever etched in our memory.

Such was that day 10 years ago. April 26, 1994 to be exact.

On that day, South Africans did something many of us take for granted.

They stood in line to vote.

As the world looked on, they stood and they stood. Some for hours. Some for days.

Just to cast a vote.

It has been 10 years since that miraculous day when South Africa won its freedom.

To commemorate the milestone, a nationwide 10th anniversary celebration began earlier this year in Atlanta.

The celebration also recognized a second miracle. The fact that a new South Africa has begun to emerge.

The gap that existed between the races is closing.

More black children are in school …

More black children have clean water to drink …

… and electricity to illuminate a brighter future.

In addition, more black adults are joining and benefiting from the growing South African economy.

Coca-Cola is proud to be a part of the new South Africa. … Coca-Cola, which established its first bottling plant in South Africa in 1928, has invested more than $600 million across the African continent in the last five years alone … much of that in South Africa.

At a time when the private sector is being recognized as critical to Africa's ongoing development, Coca-Cola is proud to play a leading role.

Now with more than 10,000 employees, the Coca-Cola system is South Africa's largest private-sector employer.

In addition to direct employees of the Coca-Cola System, it is estimated that another 100,000 people are employed in related industries. Supplying the company and its bottlers with goods and services. And serving Coca-Cola's global brands - as well as popular local varieties - millions of times everyday in cities and townships across the nation.

In that way, one of the world's foremost global companies operates as a local business throughout the nation of 44 million people.

Committed to building sustainable businesses wherever it operates,
Coca-Cola's contributions to the new South Africa go beyond economic empowerment and stewardship.

Through the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and its bottling partners, Coca-Cola also is pioneering and supporting community programs focused on healthcare, education and the environment.

Recently as part of Johannesburg General Hospital Care Week, Coca-Cola Africa conducted pre and post HIV test counseling services for patients, staff and guests of the hospital.

By most any measure, it is clear that when it comes to South Africa, Coca-Cola believes in the nation and her people.

Great leadership continues to inspire confidence in the new South Africa.

Continuing in the footsteps of legendary leaders such as Desmond Tutu, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and South Africa's first democratic president, Nelson Mandela … a new guard of leadership is emerging.

Among that group, no one understands the pain of the past and symbolizes the hope of the future better than Her Excellency, Barbara Masekela, South Africa's Ambassador to the United States … and tonight's special guest.

Ambassador Masekela has been called the "model woman for the 21st Century African Renaissance."

Judging from her resume, she wears the title well.

A scholar and an educator.

A political strategist and activist.

A corporate executive.

A mother.

An ambassador for South Africa … first to France and now to the United States.

Always a humanitarian.

Although she was separated from her homeland for 30 years, in her own mind Ambassador Masekela was never far removed from its struggles.

In the early '80s, as the African National Congress started making headlines in the U.S., where she worked as a college professor, Barbara Masekela began to feel the tugs of her motherland.

Deciding it was time to become involved in the anti-apartheid struggle, she took on the role of activist.

Fueled by a love of both freedom and country, her passionate speeches ignited the fires of activism and blazed a path for change.

She also became involved in the African National Congress's "political protest through the arts."

Believing the arts express the values of a society, she decried the government's political censorship of South African writers, artists and musicians.

By the time the African National Congress swept to victory in 1994, Barbara Masekela had so distinguished herself by her words and her actions that President Mandela quickly made her a part of the new government.

First as a member of Parliament and later as ambassador to both France and the United States, she has worked tirelessly to increase trade with South Africa and usher in a new era of economic diversification.

Tonight, the Coca-Cola Company is proud to pay tribute to one of the most courageous participants in one of the most stirring triumphs of the last century.

Although Barbara Masekela would be among the first to say that there is still work to be done before victory can be proclaimed, it is reassuring to know that she is once again home in South Africa … leading, inspiring, nurturing the nation and people she loves.

For that, South Africa … and freedom-loving people everywhere, can rejoice.