ROBBEN ISLAND: THE PRISON WHERE NELSON MANADELA SPENT 18 YEARS

Dear Iya,

To commemorate the memory of the late Nelson Mandela I thought I would reflect on the time I spent on Robben Island.  

As the ferry pulled away from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and streamed over the choppy emerald blue Atlantic Ocean, I found a quiet corner and tried to imagine what it might have been like for Nelson Mandela and other political activists being sent to prison for daring to oppose the white apartheid regime in South Africa. I couldn't imagine the fear, anxiety, and uncertainly that filled the boat.  I questioned how it was possible for the minority white South Africans to militarily rule over the black South Africans for almost five decades.  Why hadn't they fought back sooner? As an American raised in post segregated America I could not understand the power of oppression and fear.  

As we disembarked from the ferry and walked towards our bus I was angry at the tourist smiling and taking pictures in front of the entrance of the prison.  Did they not realize this was a prison that held men whose only crime was fighting against an oppressive and violent regime?  I had to realize for some Robben Island is just a tourist attraction.   To me Robben Island served as a place of imprisonment and isolation for anyone that stood up to apartheid. As we boarded the bus I sat as close to the front as possible I wanted to hear the history of Robben Island from an actual prisoner.     

Staring at the 8*7 cell that was Mandela's home for 18 years.  It was extraordinary to think that through all he endured he still believed in the good of human beings.  

"Nobody is born hating others because of their colour religion or background. People must be taught hate and if they can be taught to hate then they can learn to love because love comes more naturally to the human heart than it's opposite."  ~Nelson Manadela