Happy Birthday to my brother, Jeff!
We started the day by going to Robben Island, the prison that housed Mandala as well as many other political and criminal prisoners. We took a ferry over to the island. There we were met by our guide, a man who was in the prison from 1977 until 1982. He was in high school when he was arrest for attending a Christian school meeting that the government believed was plotting against them. He was spoke very elegantly.
He told us about the system of privileges including education that the prison imposed in an effort to manage the prisoners behavior. One of the privileges was how much you were allowed to communicate with family. Of course that communication was censored. Our guide spoke a lot about the prisoners mixed feelings about accepting the privileges.
He showed us the prison cells including Mandala’s cell. It was a tiny room with a mat for sleeping and a bucket. We also saw group cells that were horrible overcrowded back when our guide was there.
Our guide told us about how he felt coming back to be a guide. It was very difficult initially but he also thought it helped him heal. He really was inspirational.
After our tour we got on a bus for a short tour of the island. We saw the quarry where the prisoners were forced to do hard labor as well as the place that Robert Sobukwe was kept. On 21 March 1960, Sobukwe led a nationwide protest against the hated Pass Law which required black people to carry a pass book at all times. Sobukwe led a march to the local police station at Orlando, Soweto, in order to openly defy the laws. In a similar protest on the same day in Sharpeville, police opened fire on a crowd, killing 69 in the Sharpeville Massacre. His ideas were consisted so dangerous that he was isolated from the rest of the prisoners and died before he could a South Africa free from apartheid.
I found the visit to Robben Island very emotional, troubling, and inspirational in the way some are able to forgive their captors.
We took the ferry back and stopped at a grocery store on the way back to the van in order to pick up some sandwiches. That afternoon we were scheduled to do a tour of Stellenbosch. In Stellenbosch we passed acre after acre of grape plants. We went to two wineries. At the first winery we tasted pinotage which no one liked. The second one was better but we were not tempted to buy any wine.
We drove through the town of Stellenbosch which has a very large university and some quaint Dutch homes. We ended with a stop at a chocolate shop for Belgian chocolate after which Rodney took us back to the hotel. Rick and I said good bye to Rodney. He is a great guide who share a lot of knowledge and his view on many aspects of South African and its history.
That evening we went out to a steak place for dinner.