Robben island an island famous for the wrong reasons
Back in the bus. We travelled to the maximum-security prison. After leaving the bus we met a guide. He was no ordinary guide. He was someone who had shared the prison with Mandela himself. Such a raw and emotional connection. It really pulled on the heart strings.
We followed him around as he explained every finite detail. No script needed; this was all his own experience. Every word uttered was absorbed by a captive and captivated audience. All were spell bound by the firsthand experience and truth being shared. The maximum-security prison is nothing to write home about, a dull concrete structure, barbed wire and lacking in vegetation. Soulless – but hearing the stories was powerful, heart breaking yet awe inspiring.
We passed by Nelson Mandela’s cell. Section B, cell number 5. Measuring 8 feet by 7 feet. 4 walls, a bucket, a sleeping mat and blanket. Simple and basic. Exactly what I would expect a prison cell to look like. Yet these humble surroundings forged one of the world’s greatest leaders. Tales of stoicism and how Mandela would forgive those that kept him captive (very important lessons that stood him in good stead upon his release and in his rise to power). There was the unbelievable story about how he kept notes for his autobiography hidden in the garden that he tended. A book that surely deserves to be read – ‘A long walk to freedom’.
Nelson Mandela left Robben Island on 31 March 1982 and not as a free man. He was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town. He would later be transferred to Victor Verseter Prison near Paarl in December 1988. Nelson became a free man on 11th February 1990, 28 years of life in prison. After being sentenced to the death penalty he was released from incarceration. 3 years later he would become South Africa’s first black and democratic president. A remarkable journey, struggles and setbacks, hope and humiliation but ultimately one of triumph.
