A typical workday for an American Airlines flight attendant, Darlene Roe, had a turn of events that landed her at Fresno State for Siyabulela Mandela’s discussion.
Mandela is Nelson Mandela’s great-grandson. He spoke to students before the unveiling of the statue in the Peace Garden.
Mandela was expected to land in Fresno on Tuesday, Sept. 11, but a flight delay made him late. They landed on Wednesday, Sept. 12, the day of the discussion.
“Underneath the belly of the plane where the luggage goes, the cargo net was missing its hooks, and we had to replace our cargo net,” Roe said.
Mandela waited nearly an hour inside the plane before it took off from Dallas, he told The Collegian.
He was impressed with how Roe informed passengers about the flight delay.
“No one explained to us exactly what was happening except for this lady [Roe],” Mandela said. “She has such this lovely character and warm character.”
After the trouble, the plane took off and just moments before landing she found out Mandela was one of her passengers on the flight.
Roe said throughout the flight she had heard speculation of him being on the flight but no one was actually sure, so she took the initiative to ask.
“I got up and I went and I grabbed him by the shoulder and I said are you Madiba’s grandson,” Roe said. “He said yes and I just absolutely could not believe it.”
Amid her excitement, Roe knew immediately that she had to attend the discussion since she would be in Fresno for a night until her flight back the next day.
“I literally just threw on whatever I could get my hands on and found out where this room was because I needed to be in this room, and here I am,” Roe said after Mandela’s presentation in the TV studio.
Mandela had never had an encounter where his flight attendant showed up to one of his public conversations before.
“It was a wonderful surprise,” Mandela said. “To have someone who hears that someone from [Mandela’s] lineage is in town and would leave anything and everything that she was doing to come and listen, it is a living testimony that the likes of Mandela has left a huge mark in our lives.”
Roe has had several celebrities on her flights before, like Pattie LaBelle, 50 Cent and Brittney Griner, but no one moved her like Mandela.
“[At the discussion] he gave a call to people to be responsible, it’s your responsibility to dig and get the right information and put the right information out there and it was just so empowering to see that, to hear that and to see the excitement of the students,” Roe said.
Roe had an unforgettable experience as a flight attendant.
