2010 South Africa – Robben Island
Robben Island was where black and coloured political prisoners were kept during the years of apartheid. The most famous prisoner was Nelson Mandela who was incarcerated there for 27-years. We were taken by catamaran to the island and although the sea didn’t seem very rough we were thrown around quite a bit. Later on that day, it got much rougher and everyone got seasick so we went at the right time,
A group of us were herded onto a small bus which was not air conditioned so it was unpleasantly hot at times. Our tour guide described himself as being “coloured” although you would never have known it by looking at him and he was certainly no darker than me. He talked a lot and although Federika liked him, I always thought there were better ways to get a point across than preaching. Just give the facts and let the listener make their own judgement. In this case, the facts were damning enough without the need to preach. My other problem with him trying to be a comedian which even Federika found grating.
The island was always used as a dumping ground for society’s unwanted and before it was used as a prison, they used to send lepers there. The first stop was to show us an area where lepers were buried and although we didn’t get out of the coach to look around I was happy to take his word for it. We also stopped at a small quarry where prisoners had to cut lime from the rocks which was used to line the roads around the island. This was the hottest part of the journey and we were all suffering so it was shocking to be told that the temperature inside the quarry was always four degrees higher than outside. Prisoners’ eyes and lungs were damaged so some of them suffered the effects for the rest of their lives.
The main attraction was the long dormitory blocks where most of the prisoners were kept and the cell where Mandela was kept. 
In a recreational courtyard outside our guide pointed to a bush where Nelson Mandela used to hide the book that he wrote while he was there. When the book was finished he managed to get someone to smuggle it out and The Long Walk to Freedom was published in London causing a great stir. Hiding one book from the authorities was extraordinary enough but he made two copies in case one of them was confiscated. They showed us the tiny cell where he was kept. There were no beds and prisoners were made to sleep on blankets on the floor.
For that part of the tour we were guided by someone who had been a prisoner during those times and I had rarely been so spellbound by someone talking. He was around 50 years old but looked much older. Instead of the official dialogue that guides usually give, he simply told us the story of his time there. How he had been arrested with no charge and kept for six months in remand in Pretoria where people were routinely tortured before being sent to Robben Island. What touched me deeply was the fact there was no hint of malice in his voice.
“Comrade Mandela taught us not to hate or seek revenge because all that does is create another generation who perpetrate and endure more suffering and so create a cycle of violence.”
We were all seated around the edges of the dormitory where he and his “comrades” spent so many years. At the end of the dormitory were two bunk beds and he pointed to the upper bed where he used to sleep.
“When we were on hunger strike I was so weak I couldn’t climb up into my bed so I took the blankets and slept there on the floor. Many of us who were part of that hunger strike still suffer to this day from liver and kidney complaints” he told us.
He also told us of his great admiration for the whites that had joined them in their struggle because unlike the blacks, there was no comradery spirit and they were hated by both blacks and whites whilst renouncing their positions of privilege to spend a lifetime of struggle. We left with the feeling that this man was a true inspiration and that Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest men of all time.
2010 South Africa
