Robben Island: June 7th

This morning was an early one, early enough to see the sun rise over the mountains. It was almost as pretty as the sunset in Camp’s Bay.  Approximately 85 other people accompanied our group on an hour long ferry ride to Robben Island as we tried hard to overcome the sea sickness and embrace the beauty of yet another view of the whole city (at least most of it). We exited the boat and began our two part excursion on Robben Island. I had no idea that the island consisted of more than just the prison. They have a school, a hospital, and about everything needed for living. They even create their own energy and can live independently from the main land. The one thing they did not have was an ATM. During the first part of our Robben Island experience we explored the other things on the island had such as the Leper Graveyard and the Limestone Quarry. This part of the tour gave a lot of background on the island and its amenities, for example, the island was named so because of the immense amount of seals that lived on the island at the time. The tour ended at the prison. After watching Invictus and hearing stories about people’s experiences visiting the prison, I had a certain set of expectations (which I tried to void, but failed) that were not met. I anticipated that the experience would be much more emotional and moving, but instead there was an absence of any emotion whatsoever. The prison was cold, white, sterile-feeling and empty. Our leader (ex-prisoner) spoke in a loud mono-toned voice with a thick accent and didn’t speak much about his personal story. We had the opportunity to read some personal stories, however some didn’t make much sense and others didn’t say much at all. The Robben Island experienced ended with Nelson Mandela’s cell. It was kept set up with the minimal belongings he was able to keep while sleeping on a concrete floor with one thin blanket. It was sad but almost didn’t feel real. I left Robben Island tired and not knowing what to think or feel.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the waterfront exploring the mall area. The place was huge and reminded me of the Mall of America but more open and bright and not quite as big. It was frustrating. We were in a VERY ritzy part of town so not only could we not afford anything it had to offer, but it also brought back memories of living in the township and reinforced the “tale of two cities.” It was an exhausting day to say the least. Early to rise and definitely early to rest tonight to be up for another day in South Africa J