Robben Island

Our trip to Robben Island was an important, if sobber one, as we were made aware of the recent history of South Africa. Most people will have heard of apartheid and the imprisonment of political prisoners; the most famous one being Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for campaigning to end apartheid in South Africa.


Here Sandra is standing outside Mandela's prison cell, only two metre square...





...and this is what the cells looked like inside.

This was our guide, who had been a political prisoner himself for 20 years, on the same block as Mandela. He now works on Robben Island as he couldn't find work on the mainland. He showed no signs of anger or revenge and I felt the passage of time must have mellowed him greatly.

Daily life for the politican prisoners was harsh and brutal. This was the limestone quarry where they worked. The glare from the sun on the white rock gave many of them permanent eye damage. There was a small cave, which was their only escape from the fierce sun. This cave became the university of the prison, where many of them learnt from others, shared ideas and planned for a better future.


The building on the cliff top was a guard house and the pile of stones next the entrance was symbolic of their hopes and dreams; each stone a different shape, size and colour, touching and affecting each other, but together making a significant feature on the barren landscape.

Without their pass they couldn't eat, take recreation or receive letters....


...but their letters were often censored or altered to give psychological torture to both prisoners and their families.

These are chess pieces made out of brown flour bags, which were then hidden away from the guards for fear of confiscation, if found.