Ubuntu on Robben Island

Today when I step on the boat headed to Robben Island all I could think about was whether or not I should eat my sack lunch of chicken salad, because of the looming possibility of getting motion sickness on the boat. It never crossed my mind that I was going to see a museum full of living breathing people who were actually apart of the history that was created.

Robben Island from its birth was a place of banishment. Lepers, the mentally ill, and political outcasts were all sent to the Island. The prison that was created later was the home of Nelson Mandela for the 27 years he was imprisoned. Walking through the halls you could not help but feel trapped by the tiny rooms and high walls that surround compound A, the compound were all the influential political prisoners were kept.

The most moving part of the tour, however, were not the small segregated living conditions, or even the racist way in which the prisoners were feed or clothed but was our tour guide. Thulani, at the age of 19, was imprisoned at Robben Island after being found guilty of terrorism and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He described the life he lived in the prison; he painted a picture of the cramped living conditions, the secret political lessons that went on, and the horrible food.

At the end of the tour he related a story to us, I am having a hard time finding the words to describe what he told us because even know the description was so moving that I know it’s retelling will not have the same effect that it had on me. At the very bare bones of the story a white man beat Thulani severally.

“My ribs were broken, my body was picked up and slammed against the ground repeatedly, and then my privates were used as an ash tray,” Thulani said. If that torturous account was not enough he then came to find out that, that the same white man who beat him, shot his father eight times paralyzing him for life. Thulani went on to say that during the trails put on by the truth and reconciliation committee the man was pardoned and is now like many others a successful businessman.

I was stunned, I could not imagine what it must be like to work in a place that imprisoned you, let alone live knowing the man who abused, hurt, mutilated, and destroyed you and your family was alive and well. That kind of forgiveness is unreal. He admitted that he still does get angry but that his anger passes away with his prayers. He then closed by thanking us for coming. Asking us to tell others about his country, our country he said. I was left speechless. I think this is the perfect example of Ubuntu plain and simple. I am human because of Thulani.

--Anna Kathryn Sanford