Today we woke up bright and early for our tour to Robben island. Forecast once again said that it was going to be rainy and yucky but of course we had our mind set on beautiful weather for our tour!

We got on the ferry and after 30 mins we were in Robben island!

The first hour we spent it in a bus driving around the island. I thought it would be like Alcatraz, a little island with a prison on it but I was totally wrong! Robben island looked more like a concentration camp, it is huge and full of history!

While in the bus our tour guide told us that we were the last ferry to go for the day (and this was at 9am!) and that all other tours had been cancelled due to weather!!!! We are so lucky!!!!!

The tour guide in the bus was so knowledgeable and nice, he told us about the kind of work prisoners had to do, the illnesses they got while on the island, the visiting policies etc. He also shared the powerful story of Robert Sobukwe and how they made a specific law just for him to get arrested every time he got out of jail. Finally they put him under house arrest away from everybody where he died.

Here are May and Leslie  posing at Robben island... behind them is a very foggy Cape Town and table mountain!

After our bus tour we went into the prison where we met our prison guide, Geelbooi, an ex political prisoner who showed us around and told us his story. 

Here is Nelson Mandela's cell... He only got a thin mattress, a blanket, and a bucket to use as a bathroom. After looking at his cell we were able to wonder around other cells where stories and images were displayed along with some objects. I got chills when reading the stories and sadness for these people who were only trying to help others and make their country better. The one story that has stuck with me is how they made the prison to be very cold. Usually walls are put in first and then wait for them to dry and put the roof on. In Robben island the roof was placed while the walls were wet, making every cell extremely cold and damp so many of the inmates suffered from respiratory diseases and were affected by their moldy cells.

Everything done by the government had a purpose, they were very clever on the ways they tortured the inmates. They would cut windows out of the letters from their loved ones and an inmate wrote that the beating wasn't torture but what hurt the most was to get a letter with parts cut off.

As I said before... I got chills!!!!! it is incredible to think that only a couple of years ago this was going on in Africa. What is more impressive is that we, as a society, have not gotten to a point of acceptance towards each other and we still see so many forms of racism in our daily life... This brings me back to the idea of entitlement and people believing that they are superior than others when in reality we are all heading to the same place! I really believe that when I get to "heaven" ( or wherever people believe they will go) they won't ask me about what I had but they will ask me who I am and how I made the world a little bit better! 

... Moving on... Here is a picture of some of the inmates at Robben island when they were released!!!

Back on land we stopped at "moyo" for an African feast... Yumm

In the afternoon and under the rain we walked around the waterfront!

Here is the little heart 16690km away from "home"... Add more kms  for Hawaii!

Here are some pictures taken by May at the waterfront :-)

Leslie' highlight of the day: Like May, I was moved and inspired by the ex-political prisoners. In each of the cells, there was a picture of a man who had once occupied a cell with the dates of his imprisonment. Also in the cell would be a quote from the prisoner regarding his time on Robben Island. Sometimes there would be an object in the room mentioned in the quote, such as a belt made from fishing wire. Our groups were led by ex-prisoners. At the end of the tour, one ex-prisoner said that (I'm paraphrasing here) remembering Robben Island isn't about focusing on the suffering, it's about focusing on the great things that were achieved from the struggle. After reading May's highlight regarding the process of healing, I'm thinking this focus on the triumph of the struggle is a big part of the healing process.