Robben Island

Today we went to Robben Island to see where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for twenty-seven years. We have all been highly anticipating this visit to see where Mandela spent his time. We woke up very early for this adventure because we had to be in class by eight am. Dr. Wolfe taught us about some of the history of South Africa and struggles between the races. We then had a great lesson about leadership taught by Mallory, one of our TAs. After we were finished with the lecture part of morning, we boarded the buses and drove to the Water Front where we took a ferry to Robben Island. The ferry ride was a pretty bumpy forty-five minute ride but we made it safely. When we got to the island we were split up into two groups. I was in the group that went on a bus tour for the first half. On the tour our guide pointed out things like churches and the high security prison. We also went to a point where you can see the best view of Table Mountain which was beautiful! When we moved on to the walking portion of the tour we were led by an ex-prisoner. He had been imprisoned from age nineteen to thirty-seven. He told us lots of stories about how he was tortured and a very sad story about how when his dad came to visit him the guards shot his father eight times. It made us realize how corrupt and inhumane some of the guards were. He took us to see the cell where Mandela spent his time, which is a 2 meter by 2 meter cell. I am very glad we were able to speak with him because it was interesting to hear the point of view from an insider. That concluded our tour and we got back on the ferry and headed back to the Water Front. Tomorrow we are headed back to The Old Biscuit Mill for good food and shopping!

Morgan Roberts