World leaders extol Mandela before a crowd of thousands

It seems only fitting it should rain on Tuesday in Soweto, South Africa. As the drops fell from the sky, the tears streamed down the cheeks of tens of thousands of South Africans and scores of world leaders as they mourned the passing of former president Nelson Mandela.

According to a report from the New York Times, huge cheers greeted President Barack Obama as he rose to offer a eulogy that blended a personal message with a broader appeal for Mandela’s values to survive him.

Using Mandela’s clan name, Obama declared: “It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion, generosity and truth. He changed laws, but also hearts," the Times reports.

The country's largest soccer stadium was filled to capacity with around 95,000 attendees. The memorial service was part of a 10-day period of national mourning since Mandela died last Thursday.

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