https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r By: Christo Brand with Barbara Jones en-us 2016-11-14 00:38:17 UTC 2025-09-25 11:50:28 UTC hello@padlet.com katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137243607  When he was 18, Brand decided to become a prison warden rather than enlisting in the army or police force. Brand was almost immediately assigned to an intriguing group of prisoners being held on Robben Island. The criminals he soon came face to face with were not what he was expecting. Instead of seeing violent, tattooed, young revolutionaries, he saw a group of old men ludicrously labeled terrorists. Despite the amusement he saw in the title bestowed onto his new prisoners, Brand knew that he was put in charge of the most dangerous men in all of South Africa, and among them was Nelson Mandela.]]> 2016-11-14 00:41:43 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137243607 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137243792 Click this link to listen to a podcast and learn all about the life and growing up of Nelson Mandela.
(5 part audio series)]]> 2016-11-14 00:44:03 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137243792 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137245004 Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend follows the life of a man named Christo Brand and his unique relationship with freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. When Brand was young, the quality of a person’s life in South Africa was greatly dependent on skin color. Christo Brand, a white male, lived his childhood largely unaware of the cruel, discriminatory system his country had established, called apartheid. As he grew older, however, Brand had the jarring realization that not every child grew up like him. ]]> 2016-11-14 00:55:50 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137245004 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137245243 For 12 of Mandela’s 27 years in prison, Brand witnessed Mandela cleaning and performing chores without complaint, even as the black prisoners were treated worse than white and Indian prisoners. Mandela grew vegetables for the other inmates and encouraged their studies. ]]> 2016-11-14 00:57:46 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137245243 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137246775 This bond was not confined to the iron bars of Robben Island. After Mandela was released, the two men only grew closer. Throughout Mandela’s presidency and Brand's term in parliament, they remained friends and stayed that way until Mandela’s death in 2013. 

]]> 2016-11-14 01:11:55 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137246775 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137248952 Watch this documentary to dig further into the unlikely friendship formed between Brand and Mandela.]]> 2016-11-14 01:31:29 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137248952 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137250150 " This moment that passed between us, this silent understanding from man to man, meant everything to him. We became allies for life without referring to that day again all the time he was in prison." - pg. 35]]> 2016-11-14 01:42:54 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137250150 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137250496 " He had this way of making provocative comments with a hint of humour so that you could not take offense. "
- pg. 231]]> 2016-11-14 01:46:04 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137250496 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137250821 " The way he saw it, if you have education, if you have degrees, if you have knowledge - even if it's about motor mechanics - for as long as you alive, they can't take it away from you. "
- pg. 41]]> 2016-11-14 01:49:00 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137250821 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137251833        By: Christo Brand with Barbara Jones]]> 2016-11-14 02:00:59 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137251833 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137254075 Robben Island is where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail. ]]> 2016-11-14 02:30:57 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137254075 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137254742 Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. He served as president from 1994 to 1999.]]> 2016-11-14 02:39:00 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137254742 katelyn_kraynak https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137255986 Click to expand.]]> 2016-11-14 02:55:53 UTC https://padlet.com/katelyn_kraynak/fbh30f44je5r/wish/137255986