Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – When I visited South Africa for the first time in 2017, I remember staring at Nelson Mandela’s face on the currency and thinking, “Who is this man?”
I knew he was important, but I didn’t really understand what he meant to the country.
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Coming back years later to the Youth Journalism International Global Conference in Cape Town, I was a lot older and more aware. I finally had the chance to see his story up close at an exhibit dedicated to his life at Cape Town City Hall.
As I moved through the museum, I started learning about Mandela’s early life and how driven he was, even as a student. At Fort Hare University, he joined a protest after the school tried to limit the power of student representatives, and he ended up getting suspended for it.
I loved being given a clearer picture of the kind of person he was long before his political career.
The exhibits then shifted into his time with the African National Congress Youth League, his work underground, and eventually the years he spent imprisoned on Robben Island. Unfortunately, at the time of the conference in Cape Town, Robben Island was temporarily closed to visitors.
But through the exhibit at Cape Town City Hall, I learned not just about his life but the people who stood beside him, like Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and so many others who were also jailed or forced into hiding.
One part that really hit me was stepping into a small replica of Mandela’s cell. Just 2.5 meters. It was one thing to read about the size, but actually standing in a space that tight made me feel almost claustrophobic.
I caught myself trying to imagine living in a room that small for almost 20 years and I honestly couldn’t.
A little farther along, I reached a display of letters Mandela wrote to his family from Robben Island. Seeing his raw handwriting on the old, crinkled yellowed paper moved me and you could tell how much he missed home.
One of my favorite lines was in a letter addressed to his wife Winnie Mandela.
“What is even more important to me is the knowledge that nothing can ever ruffle you and that your step remains as fleet and graceful as it has always been — a girl who can laugh heartily and infect others with her enthusiasm,” Mandela wrote to his wife. “Always remember that this is how I think of you.”
Shiara Naveen is a Senior Reporter with Youth Journalism International from the United States. She wrote this article.
Dorothy Quanteh is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International from the United States. She made the audio recording and contributed the top photograph.
Anya Farooqui is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International from Pakistan. She took a photograph of the Mandela exhibit.
Click on the logo below for more from YJI’s 2025 Global Conference in Cape Town:
