Visiting Robben Island

Visiting Robben Island and its maximum security prison provides the kind of day you will never forget.

This is the former prison for political prisoners of the Apartheid years.

So many words and thoughts flash through your mind as you recount the experience

I am sure they will be there in my mind for ever!

First is my anger at the regime that behaved in such away to institute such an applalinbg policy.

Then there is the total strength of ANC members to overcome everything that happened to them.

I had not realised the bleakness of the place and the terrible conditions the prisoners suffered.  The proximity of those 60 to a cell and the immense solitude for those locked up alone

The length of sentences which seem to go on beyond one's lifetime

History is so much more when you are where it was

Just being there……………seeing and feeling

Our visit to Robben Island started from Cape Town and we were on one of the boats actually used to transport prisoners

We went to the quarry where prisoners toiled hacking limestone with basic tools in the blistering heat

We saw the tiny cells where famous political prisoners like Nelson Mandela

However, the most amazing part of the visit was meeting and talking with a former political prisoner.

He had been sentenced to 25 year for treason in the 1980s

This was a man who really believed in the new South Africa and the part the ANC had played in achieving the new democracy.

He seemed totally at peace with himself and bore no grudge for his imprisonment.

Although from Soweto he now lived and worked on Robben Island.

Amazingly he lived next door to a former prison officer.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Dave Futcher's blog