Today I took the sobering trip to Robben Island and the maximum security prison where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were kept. Ferries launch every couple of hours throughout the day, and visitors are taken over the bay to the island, then given a bus tour of parts of the island, and a walking tour of the prison by an ex political prisoner. It was a fascinating day!
Our trip across Table Bay was rocky, and I don't even think it was a rough day. The boat pitched and rolled, people all around us got sick, and I found myself thinking what it would have felt like to make that trip as a prisoner - not sure when or if I would ever set foot on the mainland again. Table Mountain stands over you throughout the journey - those on the island would describe it as a symbol of hope as they looked across the bay. After about 45 minutes, we arrived.
During the bus tour we learned that Robben Island had been used as a place of isolation for lepers, orphans, the blind, and other societal outcasts of the time even before it became home to the prisons. It was later used during World War II, and most famously became the home of Nelson Mandela during the majority of his 27 years of imprisonment. The island is actually quite large, though we only saw a small portion of it. We saw the homes and schools of the wardens and their families who lived on the island, the different prisons, a church, and the infamous lime quarries. Our guide told us that the new South African constitution was born out of the lime quarries, through the conversations of those imprisoned there. A large pile of stones sits at the entrance to the quarry where, at a reunion of the political prisoners, Nelson Mandela took a stone from the quarry and set it down - saying it served as a monument to the triumph of the human spirit. The others there also did the same - and the pile of stones stands today to testify to that incredible resiliency.
When we arrived at the maximum security prison, we were shown the place by a kind faced man named Ntando Mbatha, who also served a prison sentence at Robben Island for his activism during the apartheid years. He showed us the office where prisoners lost their identity and were reduced to a number - Mandela's was 466-64, (called four-triple six-four) meaning he was the 466th political prisoner to arrive during the year 1964.
We saw the censorship office where both incoming and outgoing letters were literally censored with scissors for anything that might be seen as political. Sometimes prisoners or family members received letters with only the salutation and the signature remaining. Mr. Mbatha showed us the library and told of the motto "each one teach one" - whereby prisoners committed themselves to educating one another and sharing in dialogue and discussion to keep the movement going even from behind bars. We saw the prison yard, where sentries were armed with guns and the order "shoot and shoot to kill" and two layers of incredibly tall fences had snarling dogs in between to keep the prisoners away. Even if a prisoner managed to get through that, only the ocean lay in front of them. No one ever escaped...
We learned that political prisoners had no chance for parole - their sentence required them to serve their entire term in prison. While Robben Island was only home to black and coloured male prisoners, many other activists were sentenced and imprisoned through other parts of the country, and many others died in the struggle and never even made it to their trial or to jail. The prisoners on Robben Island faced torture, isolation, poor health, and extremely uncomfortable living conditions. They lost not only their freedom, but also their dignity. What Mr. Mbata shared reminded me of a quote from a book I've been reading on this trip. "Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live...Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty." ~Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. Amazingly, the men of Robben Island were able to maintain their dignity not only to survive, but to thrive for themselves and create an incredible new country.
As we neared the end of the tour, we saw the courtyard of Block B where a famous propaganda picture was taken (above), and where Mandela tended a garden in which he buried a copy of "Long Walk to Freedom." It was found by guards and Mandela was punished, but fortunately it was the second copy Mandela had written. The first copy had already made it out. We ended our tour at the cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years before being moved to other locations until he was finally released in 1994.
While it is sobering to see a place where so much hope could have been lost, and so much bitterness fostered, Robben Island is instead an incredible monument to forgiveness and reconciliation. Mr. Mbatha shared that despite the suffering the prisoners endured, they never talked of their suffering and they bear no hatred. instead, they worked to move forward in a spirit of peace. Robben Island now stands as a reminder of what was, and an urgent monument to what should never happen again.
We headed out on our return trip to the V&A Waterfront, our minds full of all we had seen. While sitting and staring at the bay in front of us, we were surprised to see seals swimming along side the boat. Then, there was a puff of air out of the water, and we realized that we were traveling beside 5 whales!!! It was incredible to watch their backs and their tales glide through the water - a further symbol of beauty even in the midst of the pain that has been experienced here.
Tonight we'll be sharing dinner with the president of a local college in Cape Town, and I'm really looking forward to getting to chat education with him and his family. I'm so thankful for the depth and fullness of this experience as I come towards the end of my time here!
~emily~
Our trip across Table Bay was rocky, and I don't even think it was a rough day. The boat pitched and rolled, people all around us got sick, and I found myself thinking what it would have felt like to make that trip as a prisoner - not sure when or if I would ever set foot on the mainland again. Table Mountain stands over you throughout the journey - those on the island would describe it as a symbol of hope as they looked across the bay. After about 45 minutes, we arrived.
During the bus tour we learned that Robben Island had been used as a place of isolation for lepers, orphans, the blind, and other societal outcasts of the time even before it became home to the prisons. It was later used during World War II, and most famously became the home of Nelson Mandela during the majority of his 27 years of imprisonment. The island is actually quite large, though we only saw a small portion of it. We saw the homes and schools of the wardens and their families who lived on the island, the different prisons, a church, and the infamous lime quarries. Our guide told us that the new South African constitution was born out of the lime quarries, through the conversations of those imprisoned there. A large pile of stones sits at the entrance to the quarry where, at a reunion of the political prisoners, Nelson Mandela took a stone from the quarry and set it down - saying it served as a monument to the triumph of the human spirit. The others there also did the same - and the pile of stones stands today to testify to that incredible resiliency.
When we arrived at the maximum security prison, we were shown the place by a kind faced man named Ntando Mbatha, who also served a prison sentence at Robben Island for his activism during the apartheid years. He showed us the office where prisoners lost their identity and were reduced to a number - Mandela's was 466-64, (called four-triple six-four) meaning he was the 466th political prisoner to arrive during the year 1964.
We learned that political prisoners had no chance for parole - their sentence required them to serve their entire term in prison. While Robben Island was only home to black and coloured male prisoners, many other activists were sentenced and imprisoned through other parts of the country, and many others died in the struggle and never even made it to their trial or to jail. The prisoners on Robben Island faced torture, isolation, poor health, and extremely uncomfortable living conditions. They lost not only their freedom, but also their dignity. What Mr. Mbata shared reminded me of a quote from a book I've been reading on this trip. "Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live...Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty." ~Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. Amazingly, the men of Robben Island were able to maintain their dignity not only to survive, but to thrive for themselves and create an incredible new country.
As we neared the end of the tour, we saw the courtyard of Block B where a famous propaganda picture was taken (above), and where Mandela tended a garden in which he buried a copy of "Long Walk to Freedom." It was found by guards and Mandela was punished, but fortunately it was the second copy Mandela had written. The first copy had already made it out. We ended our tour at the cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years before being moved to other locations until he was finally released in 1994.
While it is sobering to see a place where so much hope could have been lost, and so much bitterness fostered, Robben Island is instead an incredible monument to forgiveness and reconciliation. Mr. Mbatha shared that despite the suffering the prisoners endured, they never talked of their suffering and they bear no hatred. instead, they worked to move forward in a spirit of peace. Robben Island now stands as a reminder of what was, and an urgent monument to what should never happen again.
We headed out on our return trip to the V&A Waterfront, our minds full of all we had seen. While sitting and staring at the bay in front of us, we were surprised to see seals swimming along side the boat. Then, there was a puff of air out of the water, and we realized that we were traveling beside 5 whales!!! It was incredible to watch their backs and their tales glide through the water - a further symbol of beauty even in the midst of the pain that has been experienced here.
Tonight we'll be sharing dinner with the president of a local college in Cape Town, and I'm really looking forward to getting to chat education with him and his family. I'm so thankful for the depth and fullness of this experience as I come towards the end of my time here!
~emily~
No comments:
Post a Comment