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Robben Island
Named Robben Island because Robben is the deutch word for seal - so also known as Seal Island.
After our wild evening out on Thursday, we decided to not go out Friday night and wake up super early for us (9:30 AM) and head to Robben Island.
We got on the 11 AM ferry and about 20 minutes later we had arrived at Robben Island. We were escorted to a bus- where our tour guide Yassir Muhammed showed us around the island. His main point was that every country in the world had something to offer Robben Island - and played a part in their freedom. He was a very nice, moving guy who had one of the highest privileges on Robben Island- he has given tours to all the politicians and political figures that have visited Robben Island and was cracking jokes about a lot of them in a nice way. For Example: During WW2 they moved all the prisoners from the island and stationed marines and navy people there to protect South Africa in case of any foreigners trying to get in - and they were making all kinds of cannons during this time
- one of which is pictured (inside of a camoflauge painted house)- our tour guy was joking that when Obama came to visit (before he was elected to be President) he asked Obama to do him one favor - “Don’t tell George W. Bush that we have weapons of mass destruction”. He was also joking about how the war ended in 1945 and the cannons weren’t finished until 1947. HAHA He said… Englishmen have watches and Africans have time.
The tour guy showed us where Robert Sobukew was imprisoned. He was part of the Pan African Congress and a revolutionary leader. He was only supposed to be imprisoned on the island for 3 years, but was imprisoned for much longer because the revolution was at such a peak that they couldn’t afford to let him go. His prison cell was completely separated from everyone else in the prison (see pictures) - I cant remember exactly why - but I am pretty sure that he was the first revolutionary leader and they didn’t want him spreading his beliefs on others.
This man had the privilege of meeting Nelson Mandela on a few occasions during his 14 visits back to
Robben Island. Our tour guide was telling us that at one point the prision wouldn’t allow the prisoners to study and learn how to read and write- during Nelson Mandela’s 18 year stay on Robben Island he earned 3 degrees and learned how to read and write. During the walking tour we learned more about his writing. See pictures
He spoke a lot about Reconciliation - we will not revenge - and the 3 M’s: Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandi
Some fun facts from the bus tour:
- Eucalyptus trees grow all over the island and these trees use ALL of the islands fresh water - workers must cart their own fresh water to the island
- There are over 129 bird species living on the island (and in the Eucalyptus trees)
- And hundreds of stray cats that live on the island and eat the birds
After the bus tour was over we got dropped off at the front of the prison for a tour - our tour guide was an OLD prisoner- it was very sad to hear his story but more moving to see it through his eyes.
The room
that we sat in - was the room where he was for imprisoned in for 7 years. You can see from the pictures that the room looks pretty large, but when he was there, there were 60 men in that room - with no beds and wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt. Some prisoners were allowed Jackets, shoes and socks but our tour guide, nelson Mandela and most of the political figures were ONLY allowed shorts and a t-shirt. There was no glass in the windows and during the winter it would RAIN (literally like monsoon) into the prison cell. People would die all around him in the winter. Just awful. In the bathroom, there were 3 showers, 3 toilets and about 7 sinks for 60 men. When they arrived to Robben Island- they would be given a card with what they did, their name and such and then their new name-, which would be a number. (look at the pictures) Also depending on their color they would be fed accordingly. Discrimination within the prison where colored people and Asians would receive less food than the black people. It was super crazy to see. We walked into an area,
which is where the prisoners at the time would workout and eat - Nelson Mandela used to hide his book “A Walk of Freedom” behind the grape bush (see pictures). The guards found it one day, but Nelson Mandela had already given one copy to his friend who smuggled the book out (when he was released) and later became the minister of transport when Mandela became President. (because he was good at getting information)
Nelson Mandelas prison cell was very small - with a night table in it - (see pictures) and this is where he spent his life for 18 years. The other tour guide was talking about how the hardest thing about being in the prison was not being allowed to see children the whole time. The only people that could visit you- had to be 18 years of age.
I really enjoyed the Robben Island tour-- the whole thing was about 4 hours and I would highly recommend it to anyone that comes to South Africa. Now I have to ready Nelson Mandela’s books.
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Dad
non-member comment
great pictures
Continue to have an awesome time