Event coverage

Long Bridge to Freedom

Our photos from Long Bridge to Freedom, SOS San Antonio’s evening with Christo Brand at the Carver Community Cultural Center. Brand guarded Nelson Mandela on Robben Island and became his friend. He talked about those years, joined two students and a moderator for a panel, and signed copies of his book, Doing Life with Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend.

A long-haired young man and a young woman with curly hair laugh while holding microphones on stage, a man in a suit beside them.

Two students laugh during the panel with Christo Brand.

Setting the scene

A wide view of a theater with wood-paneled walls and gold curtains, its rows of seats filled with people.

The audience fills the theater at the Carver Community Cultural Center for Long Bridge to Freedom.

A white-haired man in a gray suit leans down to talk with smiling guests in their seats, a teenager in an SOS San Antonio T-shirt beside them.

Christo Brand stops in the aisle to greet guests before the program.

Copies of a book titled Doing Life with Mandela, with a green and blue painted cover, stand in stacks on a table.

Stacks of Christo Brand’s book, “Doing Life with Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend,” wait for the signing.

A sign reading SOS San Antonio, thank you to our sponsors, with logos including Valero, USI, Spurs Sports and Entertainment and pixelreflex Media, beside a table of water bottles.

SOS San Antonio’s sponsor board stands in the lobby next to a table of water bottles.

From the podium

A man in a suit speaks at a podium in a small pool of light on a dark stage, with the audience in silhouette.

Christo Brand speaks from the podium, alone in a pool of light on the Carver’s stage.

A bald man in a dark suit smiles while speaking into a microphone at a wooden podium with the SOS San Antonio logo.

The panel’s moderator smiles out at the audience from the SOS San Antonio podium.

A white-haired man with a mustache speaks at a wooden podium with an SOS San Antonio sign.

Christo Brand, who guarded Nelson Mandela in prison and became his friend, talks about their years together.

Close-up of a white-haired man with a gray mustache, in a gray suit and blue tie, pointing toward the camera as he talks.

Christo Brand makes a point during the evening.

Guests in suits sit in the front row of the theater holding programs, with more rows of people behind them.

Christo Brand waits in the front row as the theater fills.

Audience members, some in African print clothing, sit in theater seats listening intently.

Guests lean in during the talk.

On stage together

Four people sit in chairs on a wide stage beside a large screen showing the SOS San Antonio logo.

Christo Brand joins two students and a moderator for a panel under the SOS San Antonio logo.

A young woman with curly hair speaks into a microphone while a long-haired young man and a white-haired man in a suit sit beside her.

A student answers a question as Christo Brand listens.

A young man, a young woman looking upward and a smiling white-haired man sit holding microphones on a dark stage.

The panelists listen as the conversation moves down the line.

A man in a dark suit holding a microphone and notes faces three panelists seated on stage beside a red curtain.

The moderator puts a question to the panel.

Seen from behind, four people embrace in a row on a stage lit in purple, facing rows of theater seats.

The panelists share a hug on stage as the theater empties.

The book signing

A white-haired man in a gray suit bends over a table to sign a book for a smiling woman with long locs.

Christo Brand signs a copy of “Doing Life with Mandela” for a guest.

A white-haired man in a gray suit holds a book and smiles with two women in a crowded gallery.

Guests smile with Christo Brand after he signs their book.

A bearded man in a plaid shirt shakes hands with a white-haired man in a gray suit as a young woman in yellow looks on.

Christo Brand shakes hands with a guest in the signing line.

A boy in a dark hoodie hands a book across a table to a smiling white-haired man seated behind it.

A young reader hands his book to Christo Brand to sign.

A white-haired man in a suit stands between two smiling women, one in a dress printed with a map of Africa, while someone in the foreground holds up a phone.

Christo Brand stands between two smiling guests, one in a dress printed with a map of Africa, as a friend takes their picture with a phone.

A white-haired man in a suit poses arm in arm with five teenagers and young adults, one in an SOS San Antonio T-shirt.

Christo Brand stands arm in arm with five young guests, one in an SOS San Antonio T-shirt, at the end of the night.

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