Article By Rebecca Johnson // Global News

Gospel singer Kierra Sheard is known for touching hearts with her powerful songs and vocals. Recently, her own heart was touched during a visit to Cape Town, South Africa.

While in the motherland, the 31-year-old toured Robben Island, the iconic prison where the late anti-apartheid revolutionary, Nelson Mandela, spent 18 years of his 27-year imprisonment.

“This was an amazing learning experience,” wrote Sheard in an Instagram post, where she posed with tour guide, Ntando Mbatha, formerly a seven-year political prisoner at Robben Island with Mandela.

“Learning the treatment that he, Nelson Mandela, and others had gone through was heartbreaking. Poor treatment, electrocuting their private areas, torture,” the CEO of Eleven60 full-figured fashion line reflected.

“To see how graceful he remained, while talking about it, was simply life-changing,” she added.

From Nov. 7, 1962 to Feb. 11, 1990, Mandela had his freedom stripped for his role as a leader in the African National Congress and its struggle against South Africa’s apartheid regime. Four years following his release, remarkably, the man affectionately known as Madiba, was elected president of his country.

He passed away at 95, but his legacy lives on as one the most distinguished and influential freedom fighters.

 “Nelson Mandela had given 18 years of his life for people he didn’t know personally, but of his kind— people of color. Not to mention the other years during the transfers to other prisons, all for his stand for anti-apartheid,” Sheard went on. “All of that time, to fight for equality.”

Sheard shares some photos from the experience on social media.

During the emotional tour, Sheard said, “The atmosphere was quite melancholic; it felt like something bad had happened there.”

Robben Island has been a prison for over 400 years and the hearts of countless tourists have been touched listening to the story of Mandela and his fellow political prisoners while visiting.