Not as a reminder of the oppression that occurred here, but as a reminder of the triumph of human spirit...

The view of table mountain and Cape Town from the bus

The FIFA World Cup 2010 stadium

The view of cape town from Robben Island

SORRY everybody, I meant to post this TWO days ago, but with the Wi-Fi situation, I simply haven't been able to keep up.  

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Not as a reminder of the oppression that occurred here, but as a reminder of the triumph of human spirit

Some of the informational murals on the island

It’s currently 22:20 local time, which means it’s 3:20pm back home.  Today we toured Robben Island, the prison where the apartheid resistance leaders (including Nelson Mandela, Jacob Zuma, and Robert Sobukwe) were kept as political prisoners.  The ferry ride over offered a stunning view of Cape Town and Table Mountain, which you can see below. 

Leper graveyard

On the island we were immediately shuffled onto buses where a tour guide took us on an overview tour of the island showing us the gates of the prison, the leper colony graveyard, and the limestone quarry where prisoners were forced to labor without protective gear among other sights around the island and village.  Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and relayed the facts about the atrocities and injustice in an incredibly poignant manner.  The history of the island is long and for the most part very sad.  Robben island in Dutch means seal island and was discovered in the 1480s.  In it’s time it’s been used as a whaling station, a leper colony, and throughout it’s history as a prison.  It was used as a political prison from

1961 to 1991.  Nelson Mandela spent 18 of the 27 years imprisoned on this island.

Sipho Nkosi

part of the prison

The view of Robben Island from the boat

After the bus tour we were taken to the prison itself where a former political prisoner named Sipho Nkosi showed us around and told us about the history of the prison and his own experiences on the island as a prisoner.  Although somewhat overgrown and obviously abandoned, the facility retained its dank and menacing presence, surrounded by barbed wire and tall grey stone walls. The political prisoners were considered very dangerous and as a result were kept in a maximum-security facility, the cells of which were smaller than the kennels of the guard dogs kept on the island. Our guide also showed us the difference in diet between the Coloured/Asiatic prisoners and the Black prisoners who were issued less food and no bread.  His comments on the lack of Christian compassion from the guards and administrators, who were all practicing Christians hinted at the issues he obviously still struggles to make sense of even years after his imprisonment ended. 

After our tour of the island ended we shared a thoughtful ride back to the V&A Waterfront.  The rest of the day was spent touring curio shops and the craft marketplace together and meeting many artists and local charity workers. 

For dinner we went to a restaurant named Karibu, which served authentic South African cuisine.  I ordered adventurously, trying the ostrich fillet sosatie, braai lamb chop, and Boerewors (a South African Sausage).  For desert I had the milktart, which is a sort of custard in a short crust.  As expected, everything was absolutely delicious, and I am truly happy to have been able to try something new and exciting.

One of my favorite photos thus far.

After dinner the group returned to our apartment for another Wi-Fi party, but unfortunately the Wi-Fi in the apartment is once again not operational.  Tomorrow we will try to find a solution to the lack of Wi-Fi available, but in the meantime my blog may not be updated as regularly as I’d like.