In 1984 he nominated Nelson Mandela for Chancellor, when “terrorist” was still the word echoing down campus corridors. Mark Stanbridge’s beginnings read like a paradox: a carefree Free State childhood and a country split by curfews and colour lines. Around a dinner table of books and debate, he formed a stubborn belief in the dignity of the individual—long before law school gave it language. At uni he chose principle over popularity, pushing back on ritual and rhetoric, and learning that values don’t announce themselves; they’re tested. An exchange year to small-town NSW opened a window on another way of being, then he returned to South Africa with clearer eyes and a steadier compass.This first episode is the making-of: family, teachers, and a divided society forging a liberal spine—setting up the question that will define everything that follows: do you stay and fight from the inside, or leave and begin again? #AStrangerASuitcaseAndAStory #MarkStanbridge #Belonging #SouthAfrica #Bloemfontein #StudentActivism #MigrationStories #Identity #LiberalValues

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