Madiba's words ring true

It is dark. The night is dark. My cellphone lights the little cabin in my boat which is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Tonight might be the night we are intercepted and kidnapped in international waters, and illegally detained in Israel.

- Dr Fatima Hendricks

My cabin reminds me of my visit to Robben Island where Nelson Rohilahla Mandela was imprisoned for many years. His tiny cell reminded me how the oppressor may curtail the physical freedoms of a person, but can never conquer the magnanimity of a free soul.

Reading Mandela's prison letters, which give us glimpses of his 10052 days of detention, I think of the many Palestinians held in the jails of the occupying power. Mandela lost his mother and a child while in prison and was prohibited from attending their funerals. I can't help but think of the many Palestinian people illegally detained in Israeli prisons and their enduring of personal tragedies.