In this time of isolation, what can we learn from Nelson Mandela?

"I went for a long holiday for 27 years," Nelson Mandela once said of his years in prison.

It was another example of the dry, razor-sharp and often self-deprecating humor for which South Africa's first black president was famous and now more than ever as we sit in a prison for our own protection and that of our family and neighbors my thoughts go to him.

Today marks my 27th day in isolation after returning from Bali and tomorrow I will celebrate a milestone birthday in isolation.

So my thoughts go to my hero, my hero, and mentor, Madiba.

Banishment

The notorious island, within sight of the city of Cape Town and Table Mountain, acquired its name from the seals that once populated it in multitudes - Robben being the Dutch word for seal. Its three centuries as a prison island and a place of banishment were punctuated by a period as a leper colony.

The longest spell of his prison life was spent on Robben Island.

A warder's first words when Nelson Mandela arrived were: "This is the Island. This is where you will die."

This was his cell.

He faced a harsh regime in a new cell block constructed for political prisoners. He had a single cell some seven-foot square around a concrete courtyard, with a slop bucket.

Prisoner 46664, as he was known - the 466th prisoner to arrive in 1964 - would be the first to protest over ill-treatment and he would often be locked up in solitary as punishment.

"In those early years, isolation became a habit. We were routinely charged for the smallest infractions and sentenced to isolation," he wrote in his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom. "The authorities believed that isolation was the cure for our defiance and rebelliousness."

"I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There was no end and no beginning; there is only one's own mind, which can begin to play tricks." 

This is how I feel, I think a lot of people feel this right now, especially those like me who are considered "High Risk" by the Govt. Each day passes into the next and you question the purpose of it all, the importance of days, of holidays of weekends.

After the first few months on the island, life settled into a pattern, he wrote.

"Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other," Mr Mandela wrote. 

I feel like the last 27 days in my home has been one repeating screening of the film Groundhog Day..again and again, we go with writing, reading, emailing, skyping, journaling, social media scroll-hole-ing, eating, meme collecting, washing plates, clothes, myself and repeating.

Still, Mandela's determination and wit were clearly undiminished. His lawyer George Bizos saw it at first hand.

"On my first visit to Robben Island, he was brought to the consulting room by no less than eight warders, two in front, two on each side and two at the back… in shorts and without socks. And the thing that was odd about it is that, unlike any other prisoner I have ever seen, he was setting the pace at which this group was coming towards the consulting room. And then with all gravitas, he said 'You know, George, this place really has made me forget my manners. I haven't introduced you to my guard of honor'." 

This reminds me that when I talk to anyone to be polite and to remember a sense of humor even in anguish.

For my Madiba access to books was limited, learning opportunity was limited.

For me and you, for us well we have the world's biggest library at our fingertips, the world's most accessible schooling is just a click away. Although some subjects such as politics and military history were forbidden, Robben Island became known as a "university behind bars". 

ANC and Communist Party stalwart Mac Maharaj remembers it as a cause of a falling out with Nelson Mandela.

"He was urging let us study Afrikaans and I was saying no way - this is the language of the damn oppressor. He persuaded me by saying,' Mac, we are in for a protracted war. You can't dream of ambushing the enemy if you can't understand the general commanding the forces. You have to read their literature and poetry, you have to understand their culture so that you get into the mind of the general.'

"Here he was showing right at the outset this focus of thinking of the other side, understanding them, anticipating them and so at the end of the day understanding how to accommodate them."

There is a depression coming

If the lockdown lasts longer then 3 months we will have over 2 million unemployed people and that's just the start with the economy possibly shrinking by 35% equal to that of World War 2.

Make no bones about it a recession is coming maybe not the one we read about that lasted a decade maybe one closer to the recession of 2008 but weeks of no work and for many of us, yes me, there is no help in sight from the government and unless we prepare now. But even for those on furlough or payment, we will all feel this.

But the word to focus on here is "we" as that's another lesson from Madiba.

We’re all in this together

Regardless of age or sex or creed or color, the bottom line is we’ve all been put on this earth together. As Mandela so poignantly reminds us, the world can be a better place if we work together to make it one.

He also reminds us that:

Knowledge is power

Change can be met with resistance from people who fear it. Or who don’t understand it. There are few things more effective as an impetus for change than knowledge — people can’t fight for something if they don’t understand what they are fighting for.

So use this time to learn about working online, changing your business model, re-tooling and looking at what you can do now to get through these times to come.

You can do it

People are capable of so much more than they give themselves credit for. So, whether it is while struggling through an intense workout or mourning the loss of a global icon, Mandela’s simple sentiment is a refreshing and a much needed reminder. You can do it.

Anyone can, as he reminds us: “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”

Love always wins

Mandela could have chosen to become bitter after being imprisoned for nearly three decades. Instead, he rose above the din of anger to speak out about the virtues and healing power of love. If simply hearing those words doesn’t make your heart grow a little bit bigger, we don’t know what will.

Lastly, this is a War of attrition

By the time Nelson Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor prison on the mainland, he was the world's most famous but perhaps least recognizable political prisoner. No contemporary photograph of him had been seen for years. 

Fellow prisoner Ahmed Kathrada recalled that in Pollsmoor in 1985, Nelson Mandela was called to the prison office and then returned to his ANC colleagues and started reading the newspapers. After a few minutes he said to them: "Oh by the way chaps, I was told President Botha has offered to release us."

"After 20 years or more of us being in prison and that's how cool he was… 'By the way this has happened'," Mr Kathrada reported. "We didn't even have to mull over it and that very night he wrote the letter. We all read through it and signed it, rejecting the offer."

Even though later Nelson Mandela was to have many meetings with the government and to be moved to the more comfortable conditions of his villa at Victor Verster prison - attending Sunday services, playing chess, teaching political economy to his fellow prisoners - he always sought to give the ANC exiled leadership no cause to be suspicious of his intentions and refused to put his own freedom before that of others and before the goals of the movement.

Think about this, he would not take freedom for himself if it was not for the betterment of his people. Can we not all stay home, stay educated and stay entertained in our homes for the betterment of the people we love?

Ahmed Kathrada told me that Nelson Mandela fought a war of attrition in everything. In prison, he once played chess against a medical student who had just come in for five years.

"They played for many hours in one day and they had to ask the warders to lock the chessboard up in the cell next door. They continued the next day and each move was so slow this was a war of attrition. After a few hours, the young chap said 'Look, you win. Just take your victory.' He wins."

So let's take this last lesson from ex-President Nelson Mandela and fight this with education, patience, with kindness and love.

Lastly, if I can help any of you get online or find your audience, please do reach out as helping you keeps me sane in my isolation not to mention giving me a purpose to do another day, another week...another 27 days.