THE JOY and laughter that emanated from the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been remembered by an Isle of Wight dentist, who had links with him.

Dr Tony Wentzel had his degree conferred on him by the Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-apartheid leader in 1992.

Tony had been studying at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.

As a student, Tony stood out. He served on the dental council, made dentures for a project financed by Tutu's foundation, and carried out voluntary first aid at events such as anti-apartheid rallies.

When Tony questioned why he hadn't had any invoices for his final year tuition fees, he was told Tutu's foundation had paid them for him.

Tony, of Ryde, spoke to the County Press after Tutu died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

He said: "His joyous approach and laughter even during a time when apartheid was such a difficult period for so many of us, is how I remember him.

"My university was a very leftist campus and liberation think tank during those years.

"I was present at Nelson Mandela's first public speech at the Grand Parade in Cape Town.

"I cannot remember the speech itself as we were working, doing first aid, mending the wounded as there were skirmishes with the security police on the periphery."

Tutu was the chancellor of Tony's university at the time, and also officiated at his Hippocratic oath ceremony in 1991.

It was also that year that Tony and a few other students started a community clinic providing dentures to impoverished aged people in the disadvantaged black township of Gugulethu, known as a no-go zone.

The clinic was financed by the Bishop Desmond Tutu fund.

Tony said any time he met Tutu, he was always joyous and cracking a joke or two.

He vividly remembers him standing in front of an armoured police vehicle in Gugulethu, "like the scene in Tiananmen Square" Tony recalled.

"He didn't want to move because he knew people would be injured. He put himself out there and was always there for the people.

"I actually missed the chance to be arrested with him and many others at a Free Mandela rally in the city.

"Many of my classmates worked as first aiders under the banner of the International Red Cross, at Free Mandela rallies.

"I arrived late and no-one was there. I got shoo-ed away.

"I later found out they had all been arrested, together with the Archbishop and other clergy of different religions.

"They were all in the same cells. That could have been me!"

Tony said the word that describes Tutu best is the African word ubuntu, which means to be a person through other people.

Tony said: "I interpret it as humanity. The greatness he achieved for himself happened because he shared himself to the needs of others around him and even the world."

Isle of Wight County Press: