Photo: Reg Caldecott
“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others” – Nelson Mandela
Those were the words that greeted Marcos when he arrived at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg on Tuesday to gain a greater understanding of the history of South Africa’s apartheid era and of the legacy created by Nelson Mandela.
Apartheid was a policy initiated by the white elected National Party government in 1948, which turned 20 million people into second class citizens, damning them to a life of servitude, humiliation and abuse through segregation.
Before the tour of the museum, Marcos had a first-hand experience of how it would have felt living in apartheid South Africa. Marcos, his coach Oliver Soules and agent Jean-Philippe Bernard were all labelled as either white or non-white prior to entering the museum and forced to enter through separate doorways.
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“It’s weird you know, knowing that they separated people for everything,” said Marcos. “They had different toilets, black people had toilets, white people had other toilets. But it was not only that, it was everything - beaches, houses, taxi queues, entrances, bus stops and mainly the black people suffered a lot and that’s sad to hear.”
Moving through the museum, Marcos was clearly moved by the overwhelming experience. “It’s sad to hear that people suffered, and I also watched some videos which showed how they were treated and it wasn’t really nice, it hurt a lot to see that and all I can really say is for them to forgive, forgive them for what happened and move on, to have peace, love and every body together. It’s like Mandela says “One Nation One Country", in the end we are all the same,” said Marcos.
Marcos Visits Apartheid Museum Photo Gallery
Marcos was taken through a visual and physical explanation of the life of Nelson Mandala, one of the most influential and inspirational men in history. Mandela was incarcerated in 1964 for alleged crimes of sabotage against the country, a crime he never committed but saw him remain in prison until 1990. Four years later, Mandela was voted in as the first democratically elected president of the Republic of South Africa.
“I can understand now why he is a hero to so many people. The guy is an amazing person and whatever he wanted to and whatever he wanted to help those people he did it even if it meant death for him. He spent 30 years of his life in prison and he suffered a lot to maintain what he maintains today, and I have a lot of respect for him. I can understand now why people see him as a hero,” Marcos remarked.
During the tour, Marcos was also asked to take the walk of freedom, an experience that saw him choose a series of coloured sticks which represent various characteristics of Nelson Mandela’s life. Marcos chose red for loyalty, white for courage and green for forgiveness, all colours of the flag and symbolic of the rainbow nation that is South Africa.
Reflecting on his choice of sticks, Marcos said: “I chose loyalty because it’s always important to have loyalty to everything in life, courage I chose because showing courage is when you get the best out of yourself, and forgiveness because we have to forgive people that make mistakes and give them a second chance to make everything right for all the people that live this life and to leave a legacy that will not allow people to suffer like other people have."
The tour finished with Marcos signing the museum’s visitor book, the same book, which Mandela signed when the museum opened in 2001.
“It was great, you know, it’s something that we don’t get to do so often and you know it was great learning about one country’s history and about how people suffered so much, it’s a bit shocking when you’re in there and watching that, but it’s also nice to see because it is a small wakeup call and it does wake you up, you see life a bit differently and people a bit differently and it’s a great experience,” concluded Marcos.
Thanks to www.ATPWorldTour.com
