It will be one of those questions that people ask for decades to come: where were you on December 6, 2013, when you heard that Nelson Mandela had died?
Former South African President Nelson Rohlihla Mandela, 95, the founder of the democratic South Africa, died peacefully at his Johannesburg home at 10.45am New Zealand time yesterday.
The human rights fighter and politician did not see South Africa become the strong, free, fair society he and countless others dreamed of - and in many eyes he is the symbol rather than the bringer of freedom for a divided nation and its different peoples.
Robyn Shefer is one of a large population of expat South Africans in Northland who are mourning the loss of the man who went from being a victim of an oppressive apartheid regime to a man who inspired the world and his country's President.
"He was definitely a symbol of the good of South Africa but there is so much wrong there now.