Perhaps it was appropriate that my journey to Africa - in this case South Africa - began in New York City. After all it was as a somewhat radicalised young man living in this city that I first encountered and befriended a number of dissident South African artists who were all, like me in their early 20s.

Their names escape me now, having faded from my historical memory, but the effect that they had upon me and my evolving political consciousness was profound. And as I sat on that South African Airways Jumbo waiting to take off from JFK surrounded as I was by colourful Nigerians and somewhat over looking South Africans of all stripes, my mind raced back to that heady era of my life.

The year to be exact was 1977. This was a year of extremes for me personally and for my fellow Bermudians. On the personal front my family celebrated and basked in the reflected glow of my first cousin Janelle Commissiong's triumph at the then recently concluded Miss Universe pageant. Representing Trinidad, Janelle became the first woman of colour or of African Descent to win the covered title.

Yet ominous clouds were on the horizon and our little band of Bermudians living in New York, waited in dreadful anticipation to see if the death sentences placed upon Erskine (Buck) Burrows and Larry Tacklyn would be commuted to life imprisonment.

This was not to be and we from afar witnessed as our island was convulsed in violence and protest.

It was within this context that through a mutual American friend who lived in lower Manhattan that I had the opportunity to meet the three black South African men who were preparing to stage a play off-Broadway that reflected their protest over the unjust conditions that the black majority were forced to endure under apartheid. In turn I would come to realise that we had more in common than that which set us apart.

The play's name? "Survival."

Bermuda's links with South Africa go back a long way. In fact one cannot fail to recognise that whenever one sees the Boer War prisoner of war gravesites. From the visits of Hugh Masekela the noted South African musician, to Cyril Ramaposa, the labour leader and activist who was there a few years ago and of whom I had the pleasure to meet, Bermuda's ties with South Africa have at various times been extensive and include significant business links.

In fact, during a very critical phase in the discussions between the African National Congress and the Apartheid regime, Bermuda played host to a highly secret and sensitive round of discussions between the warring parties that eventually paved the way to a resolution of the conflict; a resolution that eventually resulted in the release of Nelson Mandela who would go on to become the country's first Black President.

I would be remiss not to also acknowledge the huge effort of Bermudian opponents of apartheid who organised protests and missed awareness of the horrors of apartheid.

Ten hours of trans-Atlantic flight resulted in my eventual arrival in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. And it is to Nigeria that must go the credit of being the first nation in Africa upon which I first stepped upon this great continent. The time was 5 a.m. on August 26. Perhaps it was only right bearing in mind that this region of the continent was in effect the departure point for so many taken into captivity to work and build the so-called New World of the Americas, many of whom would have been my own ancestors.

Resuming our flight, now in daylight after the dark night of the Atlantic, was a revelation. Seeing the brown and beige earth of this massive continent from 30,000 feet was awe-inspiring in and of itself. Our next step was the Republic of South Africa, Johannesburg airport to be precise and from there to the Indian Ocean port of Durban the site of the World Conference Against Racism and Intolerance.

It is fitting that this important conference be held here after South Africa's history of racial relations over the centuries. No country symbolised racial hate in the modern era more than South Africa.

Over the next ten days not only the various Governments but NGO's (Non-Government Organisations) will be discussing the current state of race relations worldwide and attempt to form consensus on issues as wide ranging as the designation of the Atlantic Slave Trade as a Crime against Humanity to the issue of Reparations, which despite the attempted intervention of the United States of America, is strongly on the agenda here and gaining momentum.

In my next dispatch I will be conveying to you the sense of excitement and commitment that is evidenced in this city by the sea and a more through analysis of some of the salient issues under discussion. But for now I am savouring the number of personal firsts that I have achieved. For I have finally set foot upon this fabled continent of stark contrasts and I have also entered into the southern hemisphere where for example they are now experiencing winter, although the weather is somewhat mild and comfortable.

And as I breathe the air and look out upon the sea I am reminded that the Atlantic, which has always surrounded me and nurtured me, is so very, very far away.

Rolfe Commissiong is a member of the Bermuda delegation at the non-governmental organisations World Conference against Racism and Intolerance .He will be filing regular reports on the conference for the Royal Gazette.