Has the heading suggests the last 2 days i caught up with South Africa's dark and opressive past. Firstly i went to Robbin Island which was settled by the dutch in 1652 and was eventually converted into a prison a year later in 1653. The name Robbin is dutch for "Seal" so its english translation is Seal Island, safe to say there were a few seals on the island back then. So to get to the island you take a 30 min ferry from from the port of Cape Town,the sea was quite rough but luckily the boat was big enough that no one came down with sea sickness, unlike the shark cage diving where just about everybody was hurling over the side of the boat.As you get closer to the island you can see the guard towers standing out against the skyline and thats when the aura of the whole place really starts to set in. Where we disembark from is exactly where the black prisoners of years gone by landed on shore to to face there uncertain futures. We were picked up by a bus and taken on about a 40 min tour around the island, takling in the the Leper's cemetery, the guards quarters for them and there families and the island church. We finally arrived at the prison where Nelson Mandela and thousands of others were imprisoned over hundreds of years, there was a dark, mysterious energy about the place that told you a lot of suffering had taken place here, it reminded me alot of Dachau, a concentration camp just outside of Munich. We were met by our escort who was a former prisoner of the island at the same time as Nelson Mandela, he told us of the abuses that went on in there both physical and mental, the political prisoners were thought more dangerous than the murderers and rapists and thus were treated accordingly, no windows on the cells, just bars, these cells were very exposed and very windy, they mmust gave been very cold. They were only given a mat to lie on the floor with and 1 blanket... very tough. Outside is an area where the prisoners could exercise, Nelson Mandela started a little garden which is still there today, while he was in prison he covertly wrote his book the "long walk to freedom", and to hide it from the guards would bury it in his garden behind some grape vines which you can still see today. From there we went to the cell where he spent a majority of his imprisonment, all up he was impriosoned 27 years, 18 of which were on Robbin Island. Cell # 7 D-section, prisoner number 466/64 thisnumber if you look closely enough is on the South African Rugby jersy on the shoulder sleeve. The cell itself consisted of a matress on the floor,a hand basin and toilet and a window with a view of the exercis yard. From here we then made our way back to the docks and caught the ferrie back to Cape Town.
The Black Township of Langa, is situated about 20 mins from cape town, and it is like landing on another planet, lots of corrugated iron, lots of rubbish, filthy is the only word to describe it, i think the photos will sum it all up, better than any words can, these people were forcibly removed from there homes and re located to these townships which literally means to be shipped to a new town. Only recently have they had electricity and even then only parts of it have this luxury, lots of children running around, everything is different, the colours the smell, the sounds the people everything, it is not for everybody that is for sure, you feel very vulnerable and very lucky and almost guilty for how good we have it back home. I was taken to a school where the children, sang me a couple of songs, and then went through the alphabet, annd the days of the week etc, all in english to i might add pretty good considering the were all about 5 years old, they were very cute though, they keep running up to you for hugs and high fives. I was then taken for a drive to an area where a young american girl was killed by 7 boys back in 1987, she was kicked and beaten to death, what the boys didn't know is that she was doing alot of charity work for the township was due to fly back to the states the next.
After NelsonMandela was relaeased and became the president of South Africa he set up a Truth and Reconciliation court where the victims and victimisers could meet and seek forgiveness for there crimes, if you were forgiven by the family you could be released from prison. When the family of the american girl asked the boys why they had killed her they answered simply that it was because she was white, the discussions continued and the family forgave the boys for murdering there daughter, the boys were released from prison, the family set up a charity in the daughters name and appointed the boys as senior members of the charity, they are out there veryday raising money and awareness of the plight of the people in these townships. Not everybody was forgiven for the atrocities committed during apartheid for some the pain ran too deep, but this process was one of many needed for the people of south africa to start rebuilding there lives and there country. I was then taken to the District 6 museum which is a museum not far from where i am staying and this is and area where many coloureds were uplifted and relocated and then the whole thing demolished, its hard to put into perspective but its like someone coming in and telling the people who live in an area the size of Broadbeach to get out and then they flatten the whole place, there is only grass and rubble there now,quite amazing. So that was a wee peak into the otherside of South Africa, and there was a feeling you were only scratching the surface. Well its off on my wine tour now and tonight the hostel is having a Braai which is a South African BBQ lots of meat!!! i should have worked up an apetite after tasting wine all day.
