CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA: ROBBEN ISLAND

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am a BIG fan of Nelson Mandela. Making a pilgrimage to Robben Island, the place where he was held behind bars for 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned, was a Must-Do for me. 

Of this island where he lived in a maximum security prison from 1964 to 1982 Nelson Mandela wrote, "Robben Island was without question the harshest, most iron-fisted outpost in the South African penal system."

We arrived at the ferry station at the Cape Town waterfront just in time to snap one quick photo with  my hero:

. . . before we got on the boat that slipped away from the dock and the pleasure boats and the Ferris wheel and took us four miles out into Table Bay:

. . .to a small oval island (less than two acres total) that is flat and barely above sea level:

For over 350 years, this desolate, wind-swept dot on the sea was used to isolate political prisoners and to lock up criminals. It has also been used as a leper colony, an animal quarantine site, a World War II defense site, a mental asylum, a Muslim pilgrimage site, and now, a major tourist destination.

First, we were herded onto a bus and given a 45-minute tour of the island.

This building, the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd, was built in 1895 by the leper colony on the island and served as their church:

The cemetery behind contains the bodies of approximately 1,500 lepers who died on Robben Island:

We learned that the men who worked in the prison brought their families to live on Robben Island, and there was a thriving community during the time Mandela and others were here.

It was sobering to see the infamous lime quarry, which figures so strongly in Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. In the beginning the prisoners' work here was brutal, and the limestone dust and the harsh light reflected off the limestone permanently damaged Mandela's eyes. On the other hand, this was one of the places where alliances were formed and plans for the future were made. As they hauled blocks of stone, Mandela and his fellow prisoners taught each other literature, philosophy, political theory, and many other things. As the years of imprisonment wore on, the prisoners' work load was lessened, and towards of the end of Mandela's time on Robben Island, guards didn't even TRY to make the prisoners work.

Apparently it still isn't a healthy place to live, at least judging by this dead guinea fowl:

Our bus stopped at the far end of the island, giving us a few minutes to visit a small refreshment stand. A map on an outside wall gave details about the slave trade, with Robben Island marked with a small red dot at the tip of Africa. For a time, Robben Island was used as a prison for black leaders of local insurrections.

The irregular, rugged coastline was once home to a healthy population of seals. In fact "Robben" means "seal" in Dutch. We didn't see any seals, but we did see some penguins.

One of the most anguishing moments of our visit for me was seeing Table Mountain peak out from among the clouds across the gray expanse of choppy seas. Mandela writes of this view in his autobiography and of being able to see Cape Town and Table Mountain in the distance--so close and so unattainable.

During the 18 years Mandela was here, his wife was only allowed to visit him a few times. Five years into his sentence, his oldest son was killed in a terrible car crash, but he was neither allowed to attend the funeral nor to know details of the accident. It was a terrible, terrible time for Mandela.

Finally we entered the prison block itself where the narrative was taken over by a former Robben Island prisoner who was actually here for part of the time Mandela was and who was also incarcerated for being part of the anti-apartheid movement. He described how he was tortured--stripped naked and strapped to an electric chair. He said he told them everything they wanted to hear. What else could he do?  He now lives on Robben Island with his family and some of the "good" white prison guards who are also guides. It is stunning that guards and prisoners now work side-by-side as equals and, I'm sure in some cases, as friends.

The food ration system in the prison was based on whether you were "black," "colored," "Asiatic," or a member of another ethnic group. The lowest rations went to the black prisoners, listed on his sign below as "Bantu":

The guide told us about an 11-day hunger strike that resulted in the elimination of these race-based distinctions.

He showed us a sample ID card (blown up, of course) for a man imprisoned from 1964 to 1984:

We saw a typical prison bed--a piece of cardboard covered by what would've been a bug-infested felt mat. Prisoners were also given a couple of flimsy blankets, but these were so inadequate in the winter that the prisoners slept fully dressed.

We walked across the exercise yard where Mandela was allowed some time with fellow prisoners. From this yard he and his fellow inmates were able to covertly run the African National Congress (ANC) and plan for what they hoped might be a future leadership role in the government. In his autobiography, Mandela comments, "I do not know that I could have done it had I been alone. But the authorities' greatest mistake was keeping us together, for together our determination was reinforced. We supported each other and gained strength from each other." (Long Walk to Freedom, p. 390)

During his time in prison, Mandela was also able to write most of the autobiography I've been quoting from, Long Walk to Freedom, and somehow got it smuggled out of the prison and into the hands of his followers. It wasn't officially published, however, until 1990, the year he was finally set free.

Today when tourists visit the actual cell block where Mandela was held for those 18 LONG years, it is deceptively quiet and smells like cleaning materials. It is well lit and--except for the bars on the window and doors--resembles a run-down office building.

Mandela writes that in his tiny, tiny cell (about 46 square feet), he "would do stationary running . . . in the morning for up to 45 minutes [along with] 100 fingertip push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 50 deep knee-bends, and various other calisthenics."

"I have always believe exercise is a key not only to physical health but to peace of mind," Mandela wrote. "Exercise dissipates tension, and tension is the enemy of serenity. I found that I worked better and thought more clearly when I was in good physical condition, and so training became one of the inflexible disciplines of my life. In prison, having an outlet for my frustrations was absolutely essential."

For me, the experience of seeing Mandela's cell made me ask myself what I would have done in similar circumstances and what kind of person I would have been when I was released. My answer is not very positive, and I realize how far I have to go in matters of self-discipline and in my ability to forgive.

This sign struck me as--I don't know--jarring? Cruelly funny? How does one reconcile "Prison" at the top and "Penguin Boardwalk" at the bottom?

The storybook well seemed especially poignant as I thought of all the dreams, all the wishes, that emanated from this island. In the end, the wishes were granted, and those still living in the Robben Island Prison were able to walk away, even those who had been sentenced to life in prison.

Mandela was not one of the ones who walked out a free man. That happened after he left. In 1982 he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, another maximum security facility located just outside Cape Town on the mainland. Six years later he was moved to Verster Prison, a low security facility. He was finally freed on February 11, 1990.

Mandela wrote: "When I walked out of prison, . . . my mission [was] to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not true. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning."  (Long Walk to Freedom, p. 624)

That Mandela. He was quite the man.

Timeline from BusinessInsider.com