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Northerners hold memorial service for Nelson Mandela

After a week of mourning, people in Yellowknife are having a memorial service for Nelson Mandela, whose state funeral is Sunday in his ancestral home of Qunu in South Africa.

The service in Yellowknife is Saturday at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church on 52nd Street at 4 p.m.

It's a chance for anyone to talk about the former South African president, and what he meant to them.

Ryan Peters remembers exactly where he was May 10, 1994, the day Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa.

"I know when he was enlisted, we were in front of the TV [in South Africa]," Peters recalled in his new home in Yellowknife. He, his wife and his three small children moved to the city in June.

"Our whole family, we were just sitting there, watching this great event."

He remembers people always talking about Mandela and even singing songs about him, but before his swearing-in that day in 1994, Peters had rarely seen Mandela. Though this appearance was only on television, it was a big moment for Peters because he had voted for Mandela.

"It felt like I made a contribution to Nelson Mandela becoming president, because of my vote, he became president. And I think a lot of other South Africans felt like that, like there was a personal attachment to him becoming president," Peters said.

"It's something not just Nelson Mandela or the [African National Congress] achieved, but it's something that every South African achieved that voted for him."

Peters says Mandela's spirit inspired him to go beyond the status quo in South Africa, and become a mechanical engineer. He says that's what people all over the world need to take away from Mandela's life.