Hello! Today was another day off for me. A few of had scheduled a tour of Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. So we headed down to the waterfront around 9 a.m. to do some shopping...and boy did I! I have about 3 bags of stuff that I bought, mostly for me, but some will be souvenirs for other people. I still have to sit down and really look at what I bought. I got a ton of post cards (keep an eye out) and most of the other stuff is to decorate with. The cool thing is that everything is so cheap! If I had been in the states I probably could have bought like only a few things before I'd spent too much, today I had 3 full bags of stuff and only spent $154!!! (AWESOME!)
So, then it was time to board the ferry to go to Robben Island. A little background for you: Robben Island used to be where people with leprosy were sent. If they had children, the babies were immediately taken away so they wouldn't catch it, and sent back to the mainland for adoption. Eventually it was a military type base. Finally, it was a prison. When there was a lot of political uprising going on people were arrested and sent to Robben Island. They kept the common criminals and the political criminals separate because they didn't want the politicals to influence the commons.
Once we got off the ferry we got onto a bus with our guide, Kente (pronounced Kentay). He was super informative and really funny too. First they drove us around the island stopping in front of various buildings to tell us who was kept there or what happened in those places. There was a building with a lot of kennels that housed the german shepherds that the guards patrolled with. Also, around the buildings were walls with narrow walk ways known as "no man's land" where the dogs would walk to catch anyone trying to escape.
We got to our first stop and met our new guide, Sparks, who is a former prisoner. He was in for terrorism (although he promised not to terrorize us :), he was very involved in politics and this is what landed him there. So we walked into a large room with concrete floors & walls, and bars on the windows, which also had just 3 small blankets lying on the floor. Apparently this room housed about 85 prisoners. They each only had those 3 blankets to sleep with, and had to fold them exactly a certain way or they'd be sent to solitary confinement--2 to lay on and 1 to cover with (and it can get very cold here at night!! Thinks 40's or less). Also, the Coloreds & Asian prisoners were given long pants & shirts to wear & shoes & socks too. Black prisoners were only given shorts and short shirts, no shoes or socks. The food was different too. Blacks were given less food to eat. They all had access to water on only 3 days of the week. (Water has to be brought into the island). They had to shower with cold water.
We moved on to the individual cells. These were probably smaller than a lot of closets. Again, they just had the 3 blankets, a chair I think, and a bucket...yes, the bucket was used for going to the bathroom. They had to carry their buckets with them to pick up their food and keep it with them while they ate. If they forget to take their bucket back to the cell with them...they had nothing to use. The only cell that was set up was the one that Nelson Mandela stayed in. (For those reading who don't know much about Nelson Mandela-- he was part of a political group trying to end apartheid. He served time for 27 years, 18 of those at Robben Island. He was the first elected president when South Africa finally had a democracy--there's a VERY brief synopsis for you).
I'm trying to think of any other tidbits of info I got today... during apartheid everyone was issued an identification card that stated what race group they were a part of (whites, coloreds, blacks) and it also stated where they could go; they had to be carrying this pass at all times. If they were stopped by police and were somewhere they shouldn't be at a given time, they would be arrested. Everyone called it a "dumbie pass" because they felt it was so stupid. At 10:00 p.m. an alarm would sound and at this time blacks couldn't be in any other area, even with the pass. There was an activist (whose name I can't remember) who organized a day when everyone would disobey the pass, thinking then everyone would be arrested, the jails would be full, and they'd have to stop the system. Instead, the police just opened fire on the people.
Both Kente & Sparks made a special point of saying that we shouldn't be angry about what happened at Robben Island, for we would be no better than the guards and the politicians who had made it that way in the first place. Instead we should be thankful it's not that way anymore and simply learn from it. Sparks said that he is friends with the former guards now.
**Sidenote: Ursula (our driver & tour guide with AVIVA) said that she actually preferred life during apartheid (she's colored too). She felt that although there were restrictions and things like that, that she was safer. People weren't stealing and weren't desperate then... I dunno. Some of us have discussed it and wondered if maybe it wasn't as bad for her because she was colored and not black? It would have been interesting to visit SA during apartheid.
Ok, so after we got back to the waterfront I did a bit more shopping and watched some street performers--dancing, singing, and playing drums. I love street performers!
Back to work tomorrow, for 3 days, so the blog will be slow I'm thinking. Take care.
