The fourth window from the left

Nelson Mandela's cell in the prison at Robben Island.

It was a room smaller than my closet: simply furnished with a bed roll and table. I couldn't imagine spending an hour in that cell, much less two decades. But that's what Nelson Mandela did.

In January of 2010, I boarded a plane by myself and flew to South Africa for a two-week research trip. I had been there six months before with a group of students from the University of Arkansas, and was fortunate enough to get funded for a return trip.

Besides spending a lot of time in the museum where I was working, I had the opportunity to travel to a number of places I didn't go when I was in South Africa the first time. The one that struck me the most then, and I still remember the most clearly now, was Robben Island.

Robben Island is roughly 7 km off the coast of Cape Town and was home to Nelson Mandela for 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment.

On the island, Mandela lived in a tiny cell, the fourth window from the left when you looked at the building. He worked in a rock quarry every day. I like to think he played with the penguins that live in a colony on the island. But most importantly, he never lost sight of his goals for the country of South Africa.

When he was released from prison, Mandela did not take revenge on those that had hurt him. Instead, he used his power to encourage the people of South Africa to forgive but not forget, and to become a new, stronger "Rainbow Country."

In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela wrote, “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

When I sat in the editorial meeting at The Arizona Republic on Monday, I wasn't surprised to hear the editors discussing the obituary package ready to go when Mandela passes away. His life has inspired many people, including President Obama. Sitting in the meeting, I was taken back, in a way I didn't think I would be, to my time in South Africa, and how inspired I was being there and reading Mandela's own words on hope, education and forgiveness. When someone mentioned last night at the pool that Mandela might have passed away, I was incredibly sad.

As President Barack Obama wrote in his foreword to Mandela's 2010 book, "Even when little sunlight shined into that Robben Island cell, he could see a better future — one worthy of sacrifice."

One of Mandela's biggest passions was education. I'm proud that even in a small way, I get to be a part of making a difference every day as a teacher, and I hope you are, too.

Bailey Elise McBride
Bishop Kelley High School
Tulsa, Okla.

I had the opportunity to teach at a school in KwaZulu-Natal.

 

Full disclosure: I did a very similar post to this one over at my personal blog, which has more pictures of Robben Island, and my Facebook has three albums of pictures of Africa, if you're interested.