Castles and Inns

Most people go to Mariefred to see Gripsholms Castle. This quaint little town is about forty-five minutes drive west of Stockholm. The little wooden houses look as if they have been around for almost as long as the castle which was started in the 14^th century and completed in the 16^th. The Gripsholms Vardhus, where I have stayed, proudly displays the date 1609 above its front door. It is the oldest working inn in Sweden and the rooms are elegantly furnished. It overlooks the castle and water and in days gone by was the guesthouse for visitors to the king.

I have yet to take a guided tour around the castle – I am always there out of season – but have seen good bits of it. It is mediaeval looking; thick stone walls covered in original oil paintings and old iron railings going up well-worn stairs. In places you have to duck so that you don’t hit your head on the low roof. The Swedish pop group, ABBA, who sang the background lyrics to my high school years performed here. Apparently in 1974 the castle was used as the cover shot for their Waterloo album.

Mariefred train station

Although I came by car, there are other, more leisurely ways to get here from Stockholm. There is the steamboat S/S Mariefred which plies the waters leaving from near the king’s palace in Stockholm to the castle here. I heard that it is a three-hour journey on a hard wooden bench, though. There is also a train that comes from Stockholm to the next town and then you can take the cutest little train into Mariefred station. It really does look more like the blue train that goes round and round in Mouille Point.

Town Square

There is a town square, also called the mayor’s square, although there is no longer a mayor. Just like there is no longer any policeman, although the station is still there.

This was my third visit - the first two were very brief; all three have been for the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child ceremonies. Since I was spending a bit more time, I was able to wander round the village, dipping in and out of shops displaying typical Swedish ware – simple, natural and classic. 

I took advantage of the beautiful weather to sit outside in the sunshine (like a good Swede, making the most of the sun while it is there). A wooden deck was under construction in preparation for the summer. Like everywhere in Stockholm, things were being fixed and renovated, in preparation for the warmer weather.  

I have been there in the autumn and spring so the weather has been cold and crisp with beautiful, sunny blue skies and flowers in bloom all over (this is where I have taken some of my best daffodil pictures). I can walk for ages all around the lake, through the park that surrounds the castle or just sit at the water’s edge. It's the kind of place you could take off to, to write that book you have been promising to write...

Stockholm - Venice of the North

“It is not a city at all. It is ridiculous to think of itself as a city. It is simply a rather large village, set in the middle of some forest and some lakes. You wonder what it thinks it is doing there, looking so important.” 

          

I love this quote by Ingmar Bergmar talking about Stockholm.  It really does have the feel of a village, a really old village. The old buildings sit side by side with tall skyscrapers. It is not unusual to see people fishing over a bridge into the clear, fresh water in the middle of the city. I remember last time looking for the city hall,  sure that I would readily find it – except all the buildings look like city halls (or churches and palaces).

This was my third visit to Stockholm.  The first time we stayed in Gamla Stan or the “old city” and dined in the same restaurant, Den Gyldene Freden (The Golden Peace) – est. 1722, where the Nobel Prize for Literature was being decided upstairs. The committee members looked as if they had been around for as long as the restaurant!

Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities that I have been to. It is set on 14 islands (hence the name, Venice of the North) and the water adds a certain charm. Cobble-stoned roads invite you to explore history minutes away from broad, busy modern roads. Parks with trees and benches are dotted all over the city.

This time a friend and I walked through the very Bohemian area of Sodermalm. Shops open late here  - 1030 or 1100 - which was a good excuse to duck into a coffee shop, Frantzen’s. On the counter was a yummy display of home-baked goodies. The cinnamon buns exuded a spicy aroma that was hard to resist and certainly lived up to the promise. In fact it must have been the best cinnamon bun I have ever eaten – slightly crisp around the edges, soft and filled with spices in the whorls.

Fortified we set off – in and out of art galleries, home-ware and clothing shops. The wares on sale were typically Swedish – linen and wood, glass and terracotta – natural and simple. Clothing was finished off with edges of lace and embroidery. We dodged dads out with their toddlers in prams. The Swedish have generous maternity leave of up to 18 months and paternity leave, too. So the mums take the first stretch and do the breastfeeding, etc and then go back to work and the dads take over for a while.

My favourite shop was grandly called the Tea Centre of Stockholm. Entering was like stepping into another world. Dark wood counters were stacked almost to ceiling height with row upon row of tea canisters, many accompanied by glass jars with samples to smell before you made your choice. Electric light glimmered on the polished surfaces and the exotic smells of tea from Morocco, Sri Lanka, India and other far off places, filled the air.

And then the owner made an appearance looking exactly like I would have imagined. Sleeked back hair, round, wire-rimmed spectacles and attired in a dark pants and waistcoat over a white shirt and tie, his skin almost as dark as the woodwork. He was from Sri Lanka and was an expert on teas; although I had to resist getting into a fight about the benefits of Rooibos (he was of the firm opinion that it had none!). We settled for a special blend named after the area in a quaint tin with images of the palace and city hall. The sale was rung up on an old-fashioned cash register. We stepped out into the sunshine with our purchase. Right opposite was a church with tiny graveyard dwarfed by tall bare trees. But in the middle was a little tree bravely heralding spring, all decked out with white blossoms.

Each time I have been to Sweden it has been either spring or autumn. The temperature is around 10-15 degrees, the air crisp and fresh. I love that the sun shines brightly and the sky is as blue as an African sky. Autumn feels like the locals are running around trying to make the best of the good weather and spring feels like the city has woken up from a long sleep and re-discovering itself.

We ended our morning with lunch at Le Gondolen restaurant which boasts grand views of the city. On the way home I could not help leaning out of the car window and taking yet another picture of the trees in bloom.

Children's Heroes

Cecilia, Murhabazi and Monira in the Town Square, Mariefred

Cecilia Flores-Oebanda looks like someone who you would meet in the supermarket. She has an open face which is often lit up with a friendly smile. You would be surprised to hear of the life of struggle that she has lived.  She is from an extremely poor family in the Philippines, and as a young child, sold fish that her father caught in the river and along with her 10 siblings, searched the garbage dump for things for her family to sell to supplement their income.

At a young age she became active in the struggle for human rights under the dictatorship of Marcos - a struggle that included living in the mountains as a guerrilla, and spent four years in prison with her children. After the dictator was overthrown, Cecilia continued to fight for the rights of children, specifically to end child labour and trafficking.

Cecilia was just one of the very inspiring people I met at the WCPRC awards this year. Cecilia was honoured for her 20-year struggle with the World’s Children’s Honorary Award. In her acceptance speech she said that she was ‘energised and ready for the battlefield...to wage war against trafficking”.

I was fortunate to sit with her at dinner that evening and across the table she shared some of her fight for the rights of children. Her warmth and passion is evident in everything she says and does. At first glance she looks soft around the edges but underneath is a steely passion for what she does and in her determination to take the struggle around the world. She has received numerous other awards and will be participating in the UN discussion around children trafficking.

Cecilia urged us to take the children from “exploitation to empowerment” and to fight for the dignity of every child. She reminded us that we are entrusting the future of humanity to children. 

Murhabazi Namegabe from the Congo has saved thousands of children who were abducted and forced to become soldiers. He has been imprisoned and assaulted and lives with constant death threats. His organisation runs 35 homes and schools for children.  Murhabazi was chosen as the Children’s Rights Hero for 2011. Accompanying him was Faida, a girl who broke my heart. She is barely 15 years old and yet has lived a life of horrendous suffering. Captured at 11 years by one of the many armed groups operating in DR Congo, she was forced to become a sex slave as well as a soldier. Murhabazi went back to negotiate with the soldiers three times before they released her. She says simply that “he did what a father would do for me”.

Faida arrived the day before the ceremony because of problems with her visa and standing up to accept the award with Murhabazi must have been completely overwhelming. Here she was in a Scandinavian castle in the presence of Queen Silvia, and unable to understand a word that was being said. Her eyes had the haunted look of someone who has seen too much.

Monira Rahman is a strong, confident woman from Bangladesh. She runs a foundation for people, mainly girls, who are victims of acid attacks. The children of the world voted for her to receive the Honorary Award along with Cecilia.

Magnus Bergmar with jury members Ofek and Hamoudi

The children on the jury are all experts on child rights through their own experiences. I remember Ofek from Israel the first time I went to the awards. Then, as a 15 year old he stood up along with fellow-juror, Omar from Palestine and together they told us that they were tired of living under conflict conditions. Now he is retiring from the jury and in his short but profound speech he spoke as “the Jewish grandson of Holocaust survivors” of his hope that “the world would find more words for peace than war”. “I tell you that peace is possible,” he ended.

These are real heroes - people who inspire us to live better lives, who teach us the true meaning of being compassionate and honorable. Follow these links to read more about them:


Cecilia Flores-Oebanda
Monira Rahman
Murhabazi Namegabe

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words

Fotografiska is the red building on the other side of the water

On my last day in Sweden, friends invited me to visit the new photographic museum, Fotografiska, with them. Since I have an interest in photography this seemed like an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon. A very packed tube journey later (Labour Day was being celebrated all over the city with marches and rallies) we arrived at the building on the edge of the water. Three photographers were being exhibited – Albert Watson, Edward Burtynsky and Jonathan Torgovnik.

We started on the lower level with the Scotsman, Watson. He has made a name for himself as a fashion photographer, having photographed the likes of models, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, as well as famous sportspeople and singers. The variety in his work is so huge that it is hard to believe that all the photos were taken by the same person. On display were some unusual variations like the headshot of Mike Tyson taken from the back. He also had and interesting sequence of photographs of Michael Jackson taken in the 1990’s. The photos seem to have been cut into strips and then put together again.

Moving up a floor, we found the environmental photography of Canadian Burtynsky . He has done a series of photographs of our relationship with oil and depicts the destruction of the land and sea through drilling. There are also photographs which show the waste related to the industry like piles of discarded tyres and graveyards of rusted cars and planes.

The final section was the heartbreaking account of the Rwandan women and the children who were born from their rape during the genocide. I think I managed to read three of the stories which accompanied the photographs before I was so overcome with sadness that I had to leave. After the very emotional few days I had with the World's Children’s Prize, this was just too much to bear.

Jonathan Torgovnik has systematically recorded the stories of some of the thousands of Tutsi women who were raped in 1994 and “the children of bad memories” as they are called. In one of the stories a woman who tells of her ordeal makes it so clear that there was no way that she was able to love this child she had borne. On one level I could understand that, but on another I felt such pain for this child who has been condemned to grow up without love.

Many people were visibly moved by the exhibition and I was hyper-sensitive to the tension in the room. I moved off into the area where a video interview with the photographer was being shown. He was making the point that many of the men who committed such horrible crimes have simply moved over the border and are probably doing exactly the same thing in the Congo or somewhere else. I am constantly amazed by the pain we as humans can inflict on one another, and especially on the children who we have been entrusted to take care of.

View from Fotografiska

We retreated to the restaurant to compose ourselves with a cup of tea. The huge windows look out over Stockholm, light years away from the worlds we had just been exposed to. The museum is worth a visit. 

For more on the photographers and their work visit:

Edward Burtynsky

Albert Watson and

Jonathan Torgovnik

Jonathan Torgovnik has also started a foundation to help the mothers and children.

Magic in the Music, for sure!

Gripsholms Castle

The imposing red-brick turreted Gripsholm Castle rises up beside the lake where it has stood for almost five hundred years. I am sure that the thick walls have withstood much and would have many stories to tell if they could. In recent times many performers have played within these walls, including the Swedish group, ABBA.  But I doubt whether they have been rocked by music like they were last Thursday when our young band from Cape Town burst into the jazzy rhythms from home.

After a more sedate start to the proceedings of the 11^th Annual Awards Ceremony of the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, the seven teenagers took to the stage and ROCKED! They had hardly played the last note when the audience literally exploded into applause. I felt the first tears to prickle behind my eyes, I was so proud.

It is a long way from Delft on the Cape Flats to the picturesque town of Mariefred in Sweden. Golden yellow daffodils and crimson-red tulips bloom along the roadside and in pots in front of many doors. The castle stands on the edge of Lake Malaren. Beautiful parks and walks surround it. It is here that HM Queen Silvia of Sweden presides over the Awards, an award that she herself has called “a kind of Nobel Prize for Children”.

The ceremony is conducted in such a way that the very emotional stories of children’s rights activists and the experiences of the children themselves, is balanced by musical items by children. This year the children were from Brazil, Sweden and South Africa.

The Special Stars

The Cape Town band did us proud. Adelia, the pint-sized singer packed a mighty punch. Time after time they took to the stage to wow the audience. Every time they played they it seemed that they grew in confidence. They were clearly having such a good time that it was infectious.

Adelia signing autographs

Afterwards people flocked around them congratulating and hugging them. They appeared to be on such a high that I had difficulty gathering them for photographs. Everyone else wanted photographs and even a few autographs were requested.  At dinner, I was beset with questions about the group - everyone was talking about the energy with which they played, their confidence and their talent.

The next day I walked through the park to visit them in their hotel. I saw the (Portuguese-speaking) Brazilian children who had also played at the ceremony – they were humming a very familiar tune, occasionally I made out a few words. As I came closer I realised they were singing the Mafikizolo song, Hamba nawe... I think that sums up the impact our children made.

Visit World Children's Prize for more on the ceremony.