robben island (cape town)

When our friends Adam and Lindsey were in town a few weeks ago, I went out to Robben Island with them for a tour. Unfortunately, I got a little seasick on the ride out!! (No vomiting, thank goodness). I was a little too shaky to take the bus portion of the tour around the island, but we did enjoy being led through the part of the prison where political prisoners were held, including Nelson Mandela for much of his 27-year imprisonment.

Our guide had been a political prisoner himself in the 1980s. He was arrested in Limpopo when he was a young man after getting involved with the African National Congress (ANC) while a college student. He was held at Robben Island for about four years. He returned to work as a guide only after losing his job in the northern part of the country.  He spoke a little about how difficult it was to return to the place where he had been a prisoner, but that after a year or so of leading tours he started to enjoy teaching foreigners (like us) about what had happened at the prison. He had a lot of positive things to tell us about the way the political prisoners supported one another - they had schools, political classes and meetings, and reading clubs within the prison.

On the ride back to Cape Town, we got seats on the top of the ferry instead of down below and it was a much more pleasant ride with beautiful views.

The entrance to the prison on the island. The prison is now a museum.

A prison yard.

A yard in the prison. It was incredibly bleak on the island - no trees whatsoever.

A group cell, where up to 40 men would sleep on the floor (see the mat and blanket) in rows. Later, in the 1980s, they got bunkbeds in the cell. The men would be taken out to work in the mornings, and brought back again around 4 in the afternoon for the night. They would hold classes for reading, math, and politics to make sure everyone held there was educated. They'd bribe guards or criminal prisoners for newspapers so they could keep up with political happenings, and would share clippings amongst all the political prisoners, reading aloud and analyzing what the news meant (political prisoners were not allowed newspapers).

A private prisoner's cell, fully furnished as it would have been during the time Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. More important or risky political prisoners were kept in their own cells, instead of in group cells.

A guard tower

I found the most interesting part of the tour was spending time in a block of prisoner's cells. The museum has posted words written by various prisoners about their time at Robben Island, along with artifacts from some prisoners, in the cells they stayed in. I liked this one, because of the positive messages in it about compassion, critical thinking and the value in asking questions.

The political prisoners advocated for greater rights in prison - the right to educate themselves, to learn trades, and to play sports. According to our guide, things were getting better by the 1980s, and they had proper sports leagues. I liked this hand-drawn certificate for a table-tennis champion.

The harbor at Robben Island with a view back toward Table Mountain.

It was pretty interesting passing these giant ships on the small ferry!

Lindsey and Adam, enjoying the ride!