"Robben Island"

First off, let me say if you ever come to Africa and don't experience a thunderstorm, you're missing out. Or it's just my fondness for thunderstorms. Either or.

Anyway, we spent Friday at Robben Island and the V&A Waterfront. Robben Island was the prison the South African government placed political prisoners during the Apartheid Era, including Nelson Mandela. It was also used for criminals and, for a brief period of time, lepers. It also served as a military outpost during World War II.

To get to Robben Island you have to take a ferry offshore. The closest thing I can link it to is Alcatraz Island in California, USA. But the prisons were not the same. For that matter, Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin was different as well. Sure, Kilmainham had political prisoners, but Robben Island was majority political prisoners.

While the ferry ride was only about 20 minutes long, it was amazing. It was raining and I went up to the top deck. The city (well, Table Mountain and the Waterfront) disappeared into the fog. The wind was on my face. It felt fantastic. I forgot how great it was to be on a boat and on the open water.

We took the tour of Robben Island on a little bus, so that was kind of convenient. The only bad part was that we didn't walk.

Overall, the tour was very informative. Two things really struck out to me:
1) There was no hope in attempting an escape. There was absolutely no way off the island.
2) The guards lived on the island with the prisoners. I thought that was really interesting. What happens if a prisoner got out? Not saying that would happen, but it would be a very interesting political sideshow.

The most touching part about the tour was our prison guide, Sparx. He was in prison for 7 years for acts of Terrorism, and he served while Nelson Mandela was there. We asked him "Why would you come back? Why would you work here?"

To incorrectly quote him would be a dishonor. To paraphrase would also be a disgrace. But his point was this: Yes, it sucked at first. But what happened here should never happen again. The injustices and human rights violations. And the only way to prevent it was to inform the people of what actually took place.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite"
-Nelson Mandela "A Long Walk To Freedom"