    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [March 29, 1998]
    [Pages 469-470]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Church Service in Soweto, South Africa
    March 29, 1998

        Thank you, Father,
    Bishop, Mrs. Mathlata; to all of my friends in the American delegation, our
    Ambassador, the South African
    Ambassador; to the AME bishops getting a
    little instruction in Roman Catholicism today. Reverend
    Jackson, thank you for your prayer. Ladies and
    gentlemen, thank you for making Hillary and me and our entire group from
    America feel so very welcome.
        And especially, I want to thank the children. Now, we're about to
    leave South Africa, and we're going to the airport. And maybe we'll be
    like the birds; we can fly. [Laughter] It takes a little more to get me
    in the air. [Laughter] But we're going to practice that.
        I am profoundly honored to be in this great house of God, which is
    also a great shrine of freedom, for it was here that you and people
    before you gathered to stand for the freedom of the people of South
    Africa when it was denied you. I came to South Africa, first, to thank
    God you have your freedom now, to thank God for the life and work of
    President Mandela and so many others, known
    and unknown, who walked the long road for so many years so that the
    people of this great nation might be free. But also I came here resolved
    to work with the people of South Africa as a friend and a partner, to
    help you make the most of your freedom. It is one thing to be free, and
    another thing to do the right thing with your freedom.
        Yesterday evening we dedicated a commerce center here to try to help
    bring American investment here, to create jobs for the people of South
    Africa, and to have more trade between our two countries. The center was
    named after

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    our former Secretary of Commerce, the late Ron Brown. He wanted to help
    South Africa make the most of its freedom.
        And when I looked at the children singing today and I saw the
    children throughout this beautiful church, I was reminded that I think
    the lasting image I will take away from all my stops in Africa are the
    faces of the children, the light in their eyes, the spring in their
    step, the intelligence of their questions to me, the beauty of their
    voices. More than anything else, it is important that we help them make
    the most of your freedom, with better schools and better health care and
    more housing and safer streets and a brighter future.
        A couple of years ago the United States had the honor of hosting the
    Olympics. And on the last day of the Olympics, the first black South
    African ever to win a gold medal won a gold medal--Josia
    Thugwane. Now, it is so fitting that your
    first gold medal came in what event? The marathon. Your fight for
    freedom was a marathon, not a sprint. People who train for the marathon
    say when you get almost to the end, about 80 percent of the way, the
    pain is so great many people quit, and you have to keep working to go
    through to the end. It takes a long time to run a marathon.
        The fight to make the most of your freedom, to do the right things
    with your freedom, to give your children the right future with your
    freedom, that, too, will be a marathon. But we want to run that race
    with you.
        And so, as I leave South Africa, I would leave you with one verse of
    Scripture that has throughout my working life been one of the very most
    important to me. When you are discouraged, when you are frustrated, when
    you are angry, when you wonder whether you can make the most of your
    freedom for these children, remember what St. Paul said to the
    Galatians: ``Let us not grow weary in doing good. For in due season, we
    shall reap if we do not lose heart.''
        God bless you. Keep your heart.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:37 a.m. at Regina Mundi Catholic Church.
    In his remarks, he referred to Father Mohlomi Remigius Makobane, pastor
    of the church; retired Bishop Gerard Ndlovu; Beatrice Mathlata, chair,
    parish council; U.S. Ambassador to South Africa James A. Joseph; and
    South African Ambassador to the U.S. Franklin Sonn.