Bangladesh, July 17 -- I had the privilege of visiting Robben Island in 2001, during my first trip to Cape Town. I left my luggage at the hotel and headed straight there. I felt that if work kept me too busy over the following weeks and I missed the opportunity to visit the island, it would remain one of the greatest regrets of my life.

Advertisement Today, the whole world knows about the tiny cell of Robben Island where Mandela was confined for 18 years. Yet standing before it in person, contemplating that someone whose moral stature towered above the sky had been imprisoned there for years, is an experience that simply cannot be put into words. He was released from the jail in 1990.

Mandela taught us that human beings possess the st...