History Lessons

Saturday my roomie and I went to visit Robben Island. It was a beautiful day and we had a beautiful boat journey there. We saw wonderful views and took wonderful photos of the City and mountains from the sea.

I was expecting the journey there to be somewhat different. I was expecting something different. In my mind Robben Island should have been a frightening gloomy place. It should have been a horrible arduous journey to reach an impenetrable fortress. Harsh waves should have been crashing against high stone walls and Dementors should have been swarming over the island.

Instead, it was a beautiful island resplendent with bright yellow gorse, with beautiful wild African birds and the horizon stretching out for miles around. "This is a prison?" by rommie and I asked each other perplexedly. It seemed so absurd that such a place could be a prison.

Then we visited the limestone mines where Mandela and the others worked. We saw their cave or "university" where they endeavoured to educate each other. We were guided around the tiny cells where the political prisons stayed. We were led into the small exercise yards where they were allowed out for half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon.

Our guide shared his story with us. He was involved in the 1976 school uprisings. He must not have been more than 16. He and his friends took part in a peaceful demonstration. He was shot at by the police. He hid in his school. The police arrested him hiding in the school. The way he spoke about his experiences really humbled me. He didn't seem bitter or angry. He just said what had happened. He did not over-dramatise or either play down what happened. He spoke so calmly and with such humanity that I thought I was going to shed a few tears but luckily I managed to hold it back. He smiled a lot. I thought to myself that it was truly amazing that someone could smile in such a place where they had experienced such brutality.

Going to Robben Island was not my most fun experience of Cape Town, but it has defiantly been one of the most interesting and enriching. It does make you wonder though going there "When how did we manage to turn paradise into hell?"