Glenn Fubler looks at the life of Nelson Mandela, who celebrates his 90th birthday on July 18 by way of background for Imagine Bermuda's essay competition, "Reflecting on Mandela's Example". The winning essay and a number of others will be published at the completion of the competition.

Nelson Mandela's Long Road…is a life of nine decades of personal transformation, overcoming tremendous challenge. His story has universal appeal and offers some lessons to up-coming generations. Here are some key milestones along that journey"

He was born 'Rolihlaha' Mandela in July 18, 1918 in one of the remotest parts of South Africa. His father challenged an order of the local Magistrate in 1919 and the family was removed from their land.

The impact of that punishment was eased in the memory of Mandela, by the support of relatives; a legacy of collective spirit and sense of shared responsibility.

Growing up living off the land, Mandela developed a reverence for Nature and a keen pride in the cultural traditions of his people. At age nine, his father died and he was sent to be raised by the Regent of the Thembu tribe; resulting in the opportunity to get a formal education in a Mission School – set up by the Methodist Church.

During that period Mandela underwent tribal tradition for adolescents; set the challenge of a Quest; and he was successfully declared to have 'come of age'. It was around that time that his name was changed to 'Nelson' by the teachers at his school.

Through the support of his adopted family, Mandela was able to benefit from a university education at the all-African school at Fort Hare. While he thrived there, he became engaged in a student protest along with others.

His commitment to principal led to him being the only one expelled. He later went on to study Law as the only African at his school, but again due to circumstances did not finish.

Mandela grew up in a South Africa which had the most harsh system of racial segregation — Apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC) started in 1910 working to change that country. By the time Mandela took over the leadership of the Youth League of the ANC, in 1950, there was a rising expectation in the post-war climate.

The first major effort Mandela was involved in started on June 26, 1952; known as the Defiance Campaign. They drew on the tactics that Ghandi had made famous in South Africa, many years prior. They peacefully and directly challenged the repressive apartheid laws.

Through the leadership of Mandela and others, the ANC decided to form a "Congress of the People". This brought together some 3,000 delegates from around the country who gathered at a sporting field in Kliptown.

Most of these were black, but there were some 500 Indians and about 100 whites. Over two days they were able to publish the Freedom Charter on June 26, 1955, which set out a Vision for the future of their country. It's opening read:

"South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people."

This Charter resulted in a split within the ANC in which the majority led by Mandela supporting non-racial platform and others pushing for Africans First.

The potential of the Charter led the Apartheid Government to arrest 155 leaders of the Congress of the People in what became known as the Treason Trial which began in 1956.

This backfired, exposing the true nature of the South African Government to the international community. It also strengthened the bonds amongst that emerging leadership and provided "education by experience" for Mandela and the others.

The repression by the Apartheid Regime came to a head in the Sharpeville Massacre when some 70 protestors were killed by the police. This watershed event led to more protest and subsequent repression by the military. The consequence of this was the decision of Mandela and other leaders to change their tactics and wage an 'armed struggle'. This led to a few years of underground acts of violence.

In a few years Mandela and a number of his colleagues were captured by the apartheid police and they were put on trial in October, 1963 for attempting to violently overthrow the Government.

That trial also received international attention since the defendants were possibly facing the death penalty. In the shadow of the hangman's noose, Nelson Mandela made a speech of four hours in which he refused to deny "taking up arms".

He outlined the crimes of the apartheid regime against the African population and the long attempt at peaceful protest which had been met with increased repression and concluding with the massacre at Sharpeville. In concluding his historic speech, Mandela told the judge:

"I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of democratic and free society… It is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

While the judge decided not to hang the defendants, they were sentenced to life in prison. Mandela entered Robbin Island in physical chains, but with the "key" to his power – his sense of self-respect he developed as a boy.

From the start he refused to do such things as run in his "leg-irons" when ordered to do so by guards. However, he maintained a strong sense of respect for the humanity of the guards – often looking out for their welfare when he could.

One of his favourite readings, gives insight into the philosophy he adopted; from the poem Ivictus by W.E. Henley:

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charges with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul

Mandela was released in February 1990 through negotiations – some of which took place in Bermuda. An act that symbolises his personal philosophy was when for his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa, he was allowed two guests.

One was his daughter Zindszi and the other was one of his guards with whom he had developed a close relationship with during his 27 years of imprisonment.

On that day in 1994 Mandela is quoted: "To be free is not merely to cast of one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

Anyone under the age of 25 is invited to enter Imagine Bermuda's "Reflecting on Mandela's Example" writing contest. Essays or poems of up to 400 words should be submitted to mandelaspromise@yahoo.com by July 2. The winner will take home a motorcycle, provided by HWP and the second place writer winning a cellular phone from Cellular One. The best essays will be published in The Royal Gazette on July 18.