“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, rather than as 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…"
Nelson Mandela (above is his cell durng his stay at Robben Island Prision)
Nelson Mandela (above is his cell durng his stay at Robben Island Prision)
On Saturday I made the trip to tour Robben Island, which is located 12 km. from the Waterfront. Robben Island was the home to maximum security prison, built in 1961 by the first prisoners which it would house, for “black” political prisoners during apartheid. I place black in quotes because during apartheid it encompassed all people of color – African, Indian, mixed race ect. Those prisoners housed a Robben Island were limited to receiving two letters a year, which were monitored by guards to ensure they did not included any “political propaganda” or any information about the political situations taking place outside the island. Political prisoners were released at the end of apartheid, in 1991.
We first toured Cell Block A, which was where the normal political prisoners were held. Each cell was open and you were able to go in and read different stories from each cell. We didn’t have enough time to read all of the stories because the boat was late but they were really interesting. The one that stuck out most in my mind was the story about an individual who made keys. One of the prisoners carved cell keys at night, blindly, he would place both hands under his pillow and pretend he was asleep and carve the keys by touch. The guards used two different keys a day key (which you only had to turn once) and a more secure night key (which had to be clicked twice releasing multiple locks). There was no information on how they got the initial key but the story talked about how secret of a mission it was, and the first night they tested the key they were able to unlock the cell but then could not re-lock it after, because the second set of locks would not free. The night guard ended up being blamed for not locking the cell properly. The ferry ride from the waterfront takes about 30 min and departs 3 times daily. It was a rather bumpy ride, a few people around me got seasick, which was just great for the smell of the ferry. The ferry leaves from the Waterfront (I had mentioned it a few blogs back) which is the “ritzy-ist” places in all of Cape Town, which is rather interesting considering where we were headed. I headed to the back of the ferry to snap a few shots of the waterfront and Cape Town as we were leaving.
Once arriving at Robben Island we split into smaller groups and started with an approximate 45 min. bus tour of the island. When coming into the Island on the ferry, you can see that there are houses, which appeared to be well kept around the island. The guide explained to me that the people who currently work for the museum, as it is now called, are all either former prisoners or guards who worked at the Prison and on the Island during apartheid. Everyone from those who drive the busses, run the ferries, to the people actually giving the tours have a connection to Robben Island Prison. Currently, those who work on the island have the option to live on the Island, about 35 families currently do so. The bus ride takes you past a Islamic kramat, the current church (which is open to the public on Feb. 14 for marriage ceremonies), the schoolhouse (which currently has 9 students), and the lighthouse.
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| Church |
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| a view of the main street of hte residental neghborhood |
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| School house - really cool looking building |
After the bus tour we arrived at the prison, which was broken into two main cell blocks. The shape of the prison is a connected N. In the early days of the prison, it was all one attached cell. During Mandela’s stay at the prison, the cellblock was broken into two parts, with one section of the N cordoned off from the rest of the population. The reason for this change was that they felt that certain prisoners (Mandela included) were speaking to much politics to the other prisoners and they were worried if they were allowed to continue meeting and talking that they would have an upraise of the prisoners and potential violence.
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| The doggy kennels, they wrapped around in an S shape. The dogs were isolated from each other becuase they were trained to kill - but they had some seriously nice sleeping arangements, in comparison. Of course I was intrested in the part... I dont think the Killer Brewer would have fit in to well here, CalDog on the other hand would have run the show. |
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| Entrance to the Prision... Apparently the isolated Island surrounded by Great White Shark infested waters, dogs trained to kill and snipers were not enough.. |
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| Exercise yard for cell black A - Cell block B was directly over the wall to the left. |
After leaving Cell Block A we headed over to cell block B, which is where Mandela and other highly influential prisoners were housed. We were first shown Mandela’s cell. I found some of the stories about his time in the prison very interesting, because he was such a high profile individual the prison tried to give him preferential care but he refused to accept this. For most of the stay on Robben Island prisoners did not have beds, they simply had mats that they placed on the ground for them to sleep on. (think drunk tank, I have heard that is what they give you there ;) )The prison tried to give Mandela a bed to sleep on but he refused to take it until everyone in general population was given a bed, they even went as far as to say to bring a doctor into who said that because of problems with his back Mandela had to have a bed, yet he still refused preferential treatment.
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| Another View of Mandela's cell |
If anyone has read Mandela’s book, The Long Road to Freedom, he spends a lot of time talking about how he had a “garden” in prison which helped him keep his sanity. The Garden is the area surrounding the court below. One of the most interesting stories I heard about Mandela was how he communicated with the other prisoners, even once he was sectioned off. Every weekend Mandela played tennis in his recreation area, it was well document that this was one of his favorite activities while in prison. On Firday night, before playing he would slice open a tennis ball and place a note inside. He would then in the course of play “accidently” hit it over the wall into the recreation area of cell block A. When he would return on Saturdays he would find that they had hit the ball back over the wall with a response to his note. This became the main mode of communication between the two cell blocks.
The girl on the trip to Robben Island was frustrated because she wanted to hear more, well that’s on you to do. As I mentioned earlier, the story about the key really stuck out to me but I was curious about how they got the key. As we were walking from place to place within the prison no one was talking to the tour guide, a former inmate, so I decided (because I am so quiet and introverted) to walk with him and take that time to ask some questions. Turns out the key was originally left out , not sure if it was purposefully or not, while one of the guards went to the bathroom. An alert inmate grabbed the key and pressed it into his soap to make a copy of the key. Another thing I got to talking to him about was how it was now, with former guards and inmates working together at the museum. He explained to me that there were a lot of guards who were very helpful and forgiving to the prisoners, they would often sneak them extra food rations, newspapers and once even a radio. Guards were never allowed to stay at the prison for more than two years, they were always rotated out of the prison system to prevent them from becoming to close or forgiving with the inmates. He told me a few more stories, but I assume by this point people are getting sick of reading so I wil leave them out.
Moral of the story, I left Robben Island very satisfied. It was a great historical sight to see, although we only got bit and pieces of the story it really helped me understand a lot about the history and significant of South Africa.
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| Outside the entrace to Robben Island Prison |
On Saturday night, I had my second night out on the town with Tommy (my MU buddy) and his friends from the Mizzu Program. All of the bars out here are clubs on the weekend, even the "pool halls" are clubs. Needless to say thats not really my style, but I tried. Don't worry no dancing took place, I didn't want to make a fool out of myself!
