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...

Look at us now!

A little while ago I read an article in the newspaper about an archaeological finding in SA that has been hushed up since the 1930's. The finding is thought to be about a 1000 years old and includes gold artifacts and glass beads from India, proving that the early inhabitants of the area must have been established traders. The finding was suppressed because it was contrary to the Apartheid policy that Africans were uncivilised.

Sometimes out of the blue, I realise just how oppressed we were - how controlled every aspect of our lives was and how successful Apartheid policy was in controlling us. We don't realise the miracle that democracy is, that we have overcome the brain-washing of more than 40 years to be where we are today. Certainly, the Apartheid curriculum for the "Department of Coloured, Bantu or Indian Affairs" did not allow for any independent thought.

I was thinking about this after helping my daughter edit her History essay a few days ago. She was to discuss "the impact of internal and external factors on the economic challenges of post-colonial Africa" - quite an interesting discussion ensued about the social and political factors following the independence of African countries from European colonial powers. I am constantly amazed at the subject matter they cover at school these days. I am not sure how many of us realise how much more progressive the school curriculum has become.

A year or two ago she had to design a protest T-shirt for an art project - not so long ago being in possession of such an item of clothing would almost guarantee arrest! And it is not only during Art and History that they are being enlightened. They read literature by African writers, study Human Rights in Life Orientation (we are one of the few countries who do) and the eugenics of race in Biology. My son at junior school is similarly being encouraged to hear both sides of the story and to think for himself. He is certainly not learning the same version of the colonisation of the Cape or of the Zulu war, that we were forced to learn. He learns Xhosa as easily as he learns Afrikaans - no baggage attached.

Imagine the possibilities if we had all been given the opportunity to stretch our minds, to know and to understand. When I was in Sweden for the children's rights awards, Magnus Bergmar, the founder of the WCPRC, told me that he thought that "an ongoing humanisation of every new generation is necessary for any sustainable development." We need strategies for a better world, he went on to say. I know that we still have much work to do, but I think that we are moving in the right direction and that our children are going to be better humans who will make a better world.

Thank you, Madiba, and Happy Birthday

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, 

Or being hated don't give way to hating, 

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch, 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

If all men count with you, but none too much: 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, 

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son.

Yesterday Madiba turned 92 - every extra day that we have him seems like a blessing, since he has lived such a long and difficult life. He is the first person that I think about when I read Rudyard Kipling's poem. It seems like there are very few people who measure up to this standard and Madiba certainly is a living example of many of the sentiments expressed in the poem.

Qunu in the Eastern Cape, Madiba's birthplace

I have been fortunate to meet Madiba on more than one occasion and a few things stand out. One is his ability to make you feel like you are the most important person in the world. We have been at a conference where Madiba has kept international delegates waiting because the kitchen staff have been lined up for ages to catch a glimpse of him and he has not wanted to disappoint them.

Another is his love for children. When he accepted the tribute that the World's Children's Prize had bestowed on him, his message to the children was that he would support them whether he was "alive or in the grave" and I have no doubt that that will indeed be so.

But one of his greatest gifts to us is his ability to forgive. His ability to sit down to tea or share podiums and stages with his former oppressors and jailers, is something that I, as an ordinary human being, find hard to conceive of. 

Since time immemorial, humans have searched for heroes. But the power of the hero is not as an idol that is unreachable or untouchable but as an inspiration to us to be the best that we can be, to raise us up. I hope that Madiba's spirit will be around to guide us for a long time yet.