Story of a South African boy with AIDS who continues to inspire long after his death.

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I've been very depressed since the recent Presidential Selection. Then on World AIDS Day, I learned about Nkosi Johnson and was inspired out of my measly misery to sing about this extraordinary young man. http://nkosi.iafrica.com/ And now that I feel helpless in the face of the unimaginable Christmas tsunami disaster, I'm reminded again by Nkosi to do what you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.

This is the story of a boy, a little boy, a little Zulu boy
A boy who had no reason not to give up
But he gave it his all
This little boy, this little Zulu boy, his life was short
But he will long be remembered by those who want his words to live on

He said Do what you can
With what you have
In the time you’ve got
In the place you are

He was two, this little Zulu boy was two years old
when the virus took his mom and the hospice took him in
Those dying queens and Gail Johnson
fell under the spell of Nkosi’s grin
He won the fight to go to school
He won a millions hearts and minds
His ailing countrymen were not surprised to find that
All South Africa stood up taller when Nkosi raised the bar, saying

He said Do what you can
With what you have
In the time you’ve got
In the place you are

He was scared, he was fearless, he was often unsure
He was confident of one thing: he was dying for a cure
And with a wisdom far beyond his age
He stood with courage on the world stage, he said
An illness has no shame
We are normal, we are all the same we do

CHORUS

This little story of a little Zulu boy, it’s just a drop in the bucket
And the bucket’s just a drop in an ocean of pain
What do we do? Do we wring our hands
Or do we stand together with our buckets in the rain, saying

CHORUS