robben island

On Friday morning we had the opportunity to venture out to the waterfront on the south side of Table Mountain. This is where the "main" city of Cape Town lies though our residence area is very much a large city as well. One of our many excursions was first to Robben Island, infamously known as the prison that housed Mr. Nelson Mandela for 18 years of his 29 year imprisonment. Before we made it to the island--a good 25 minute cruise via coach--we got to enjoy the beautiful views as we left port.

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

My awesome roommate and I

Kate, quite the sweetheart

The island now houses a museum for tourists and locals to journey with the prisoners and remember. There are seven sections labeled A-G. The divisions are based on things like punishment, levels of confinement, and race as well. Robben island only housed blacks and colours/asiaties (those who are of a mixed race of any sort; simply neither black nor white).

Our guide is a former prison of Robben Island himself. Out in this courtyard he described this being the very place where Mr. Mandela and others would write their hopes down for a new government and hide it in the bushes so that guards would not discover this act of "rebellion." These notes became the groundwork for their new body of law.

Discrimination existed inside the walls of the prison too. Coloureds had a greater priority over blacks.

These restrooms were only available to prisoners from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. If I prisoner needed to use the restroom any point in the evening and night, they were to collect their feces in a bucket in their cell and empty it out come morning.

Mandela's prison identification

We also visited a location called District Six. This is a community that was once home to coloureds South Africans, but they were forced to remove themselves from their homes and communities when the Apartheid government came about. Those who used to live here have come back to the museum and signed the large map of the community that we stand on to signify where their family lived.

Freedom takes a whole new meaning.