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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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ROBBEN ISLAND (CONT.), SOUTH AFRICA
Luckily I had read 'Long Walk to Freedom' - otherwise I wouldn't have know what I was looking at. He rushed us through some areas of the prison and then at others he had us stay too long listening to his longwinded stories that didn't have anything to do with the prison. In fact, he was so longwinded that we literally had 5 minutes to run to the gift shop and get back to the ferry before it left (the last ferry of the day).
Case in point, I ended up with a Robben Island pen with a flag that moved back and fourth in water and a replica of the prison key. Ha ha usually things I wouldn't buy but I was throwing anything into the basket. We (including the cashier) ran out of the store, the LAST ones, got on board and the ferry took off. So 2 days later I had a free morning, my cousin went to a winery, so I went to Robben Island again. I mean since it was the only reason I was in Cape Town, I HAD to try again. On the ferry, after I listed to 'Free Nelson Mandela' again - ha ha - I met a woman who knew Fr. Bill (a dear dear family friend who passed away last year). What a small world!
Instead of breaking mind and body, the prisoners used time to teach each other - prisoner that could read was paired with one that couldn't. After the quarry, we headed for the prison. Would I get an ex-political prisoner guide or wouldn't I? Would I have to visit Robben Island for the third time? |
Robben Island's "Today when I look at Robben Island, I see it as a celebration of the struggle and a symbol of the finest qualities of the human spirit than a monument to the brutal tyranny and oppression of apartheid. It is true that Robben Island was once a place of darkness, but out of that darkness has come a wonderful brightness, a light so powerful that it could not be hidden behind prison walls, held back by prison bars, or hemmed in by the surrounding sea." - Nelson Mandela Madiba (pronounced muh-dee-buh) is the name used by many South Africans when speaking about former president Nelson Mandela. It is used affectionately, but is actually the name of his clan. It is so widely used that even the media refer to Mandela as Madiba. On February 11, 1995, all ex-prisoners went back to Robben Island (1,200 in all). When they visited the limestone quarry, Mandela picked up a stone and put it on the ground and then everyone else followed making a pile. They vowed that it [Apartheid] would never happen again and to meet at the island every 5 years until all the ex-prisoners had passed. Prisoners were originally supposed to work limestone quarry for 6 months but ended up working it for 13 1/2 years. |
From this point on, I'm describing my second trip to Robben Island. The first trip was OK until we finished our bus tour and got to the prison. We were not given an ex-political prisoner to take us through the prison but a PAC administrator. He gave no details about who stayed at the prison, what happened, etc. and gave the PAC perspective but nothing about the ANC perspective. 
We ran the to the shop and were really just throwing things in our basket without looking too carefull. 
So my second bus tour - got on the beat up bus again - started at Robert Sobukwe's house (
Then we went to the Limestone Quarry. We learned that the prisoners had to work the quarry 8 hours a day for 5 days a week - in an attempt to break mind and body. The limestone was so bright that their eyesight was damaged and limestone dust would get behind the eyeball and dry out their tear ducts so they couldn't cry. 