Nelson Mandela has a gift of story telling. For the most part, I have enjoyed listening to his autobiography on Audible. Until I got to the part where he described prison life on Robben Island. I was tired, still recovering from my vaccines in preparation for Cape Town, and my emotional resilience was low. I hit a point in listening where I had to turn it off and reach out for prayer. Mandela\u2019s attention to detail had a triggering effect on me and I started to feel extremely anxious as memories flooded my mind.<\/p>\n
2017, my son\u2019s Senior year in high school, was a difficult year, to say the least. My son has autism. The day he graduated from high school, he assaulted my husband and spent the next month and a half in juvenile detention. We had difficult visits talking to him on a phone and seeing him through a glass window. I remember at his hearing, when he realized that he was not going home, he screamed, \u201cNO!\u201d and tried to run out of the courtroom. I turned around to see him taken down by four burly policemen. As a mother, it was a horrific experience to watch.<\/p>\n
It took me a while to be able to get back to reading and digesting Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu\u2019s stories. I did not get very far before our Advance, so now I am playing catch up. I am grateful for my prayer warriors. I was nervous about seeing the prisons first hand, but thankfully I did not get triggered while on Robben Island. I was able to engage fully in the moment and listen to the story of our guide, Itumeleng Makwela.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Makwela told us that he was a prisoner on Robben Island from 1983 – 1990.\u00a0 <\/span>He was labeled prisoner 18-1983, the eighteen prisoner of 1983. Treating the prisoners of Robben Island as no more than a number was just one way of dehumanizing them. Mandela detailed in his autobiography the many ways in which they were dehumanized day after day, year after year. From the food they ate to the clothes they wore, the apartheid government sought to dehumanize the African people.<\/p>\n Walking through the prisons at Robben Island, visiting the District Six Museum, driving by Langa, learning about the history of South Africa highlights to me that there is great potential for evil to happen everywhere you go. Learning about apartheid and how the African people were treated reminds me of how the Native Americans were treated when invaded by the Western World. It makes me think of the history of slavery and racism in my own country. The Black Lives Matter movement highlights how far we still have to go toward racial equality.<\/p>\n There is great potential for evil, but also great potential for good. We saw the worst of humanity, but we also saw the best of humanity. Nelson Mandela was a man of love, compassion, and forgiveness. Desmond Tutu described him this way, \u201cThis man, who had been vilified and hunted down as a dangerous fugitive and incarcerated for nearly three decades, would soon be transformed into the embodiment of forgiveness and reconciliation.\u201d1 Mandela worked toward unity and harmony, a middle ground, rather than trying to swing the pendulum in the opposite direction. He did not seek revenge, instead, he exemplified love. Itumeleng Makewela talked of forgiving his captors, of now living as a free man on the island on which he was imprisoned. Both men model Jesus on the Cross when He said, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d (Luke 23:34, ESV)<\/p>\n I have lived a life of privilege. Reading these stories, visiting South Africa highlights just how privileged and how much I take for granted. If I cannot read of the atrocities of others or see first hand the struggles and not take a hard look in the mirror at myself, I miss an opportunity to grow. I miss the point. Desmond Tutu wrote, \u201cIt is and has always been God\u2019s intention that we should live in friendship and harmony.\u201d2 As I journey home, my prayer is that I would live out these words, that South Africa would stay with me, that I would continue to learn and grow, and continue to do what I can to be a positive force for change in my community.<\/p>\n \u00a01.\u00a0<\/span>Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness<\/i>. (New York, Doubleday, 2000), iBooks pg. 17 of 381<\/p>\n 2. <\/span>Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness<\/i>. (New York, Doubleday, 2000), iBooks pg. 345 of 381<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nelson Mandela has a gift of story telling. For the most part, I have enjoyed listening to his autobiography on Audible. Until I got to the part where he described prison life on Robben Island. I was tired, still recovering from my vaccines in preparation for Cape Town, and my emotional resilience was low. 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