[NoHo Arts District, CA] – This month’s Active World Journeys’ travel blog: “A Visit to Robben Island.”
When Apartheid in South Africa officially ended in 1994, Nelson Mandela became the president of the country. But that was after a lengthy period of incarceration for him from 1964 to 1990.
Some of us from the tour group I was hosting in South Africa recently went to Robben Island to visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of those 27 years behind bars.
Daily tours depart from Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, and the boat ride takes about 30 minutes to get out there. Once you are on the island, tour buses will take you around the island. Each bus has its own guide.
The buses drive slowly around the island with stop offs at the lime quarry where prisoners alongside Mandela worked. There was really no functional reason for the lime quarry work, other than to break down the prisoners’ dignity and spirit. (The island was first used as a political prison in the mid-1600s; Dutch settlers sent slaves, convicts and indigenous Khoikhoi people who refused to bend to colonial rule.) Nevertheless, Mandela and other heroes of South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, such as Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu, used their time in this quarry to teach each other literature, philosophy and political theory, among other things.
Another stop is the house where Robert Sobukwe, the leader of the Pan Africanist Congress was held in solitary confinement for six years. The bus tour then takes in the church where prisoners worshipped and the former graveyard of those who died from leprosy. (During the 19th century, people suffering from mental illness and leprosy were isolated on the island.)
We were then handed off at the entrance of the old prison to another guide. In fact,l the guides who work at the former prison on Robben Island are former prisoners themselves. Our guide was incarcerated in the mid-80s through the early 90s when the prison finally closed. I found out that he is actually the same age as me and was jailed at the young age of 18. I couldn’t help but think about all the whimsical and stupid stuff I was doing at the age of 18 in my life, with no real pressures and responsibilities; compared to his life at that age– a stark difference. He brought to life the hardships of the inmates serving time there for “sabotage” against the Apartheid government of South Africa. He was part of the next generation of freedom fighters jailed after Mandela and his group.
We eventually saw Mandela’s actual 7-by-9-foot cell where he lived for those 18 years in confinement on the island, and the courtyard where he had an hour a day for outdoor leisure. The facilities are, to no surprise, sterile, cold, unwelcoming, and lifeless.
The Robben Island Tour experience is powerful and inspiring. I recommend it if you have some extra time while in Cape Town (plan on about four hours between the boat rides and island and prison tour). For history buffs, I would even say it’s a must-do tour.
The human spirit and the hope for freedom and democracy ended up outlasting theapartheid government in the end. Nelson Mandela could have sought revenge on his political foes once he became president but chose not to… a sign of a great leader = putting the country, people and progress over personal vendettas and political party gain.
Cheers,
Jack Witt, MS, CPT
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