Robben Island is visible from the mainland and is about a 25 minute boat ride from dock to dock. Robben is Dutch for seal, of which we saw several. Our group was hearded into a bus and we driven all over the island, stopping occasionally for pics. This part of the tour was fairly sterile, the guide simply pointing out the buildings and giving histories. At the end of his portion, the bus was stopped and he gave a 10 speech about hate, race, and loving each other. At first it seemed heartfelt but 10 minutes is a long time to hear the same thing over and over. By the end I felt like he was clubbing me over the head with his words, trying to force everyone on the bus to live in a perfect world. Everyone seemed to be shifting in their seats, feeling uncomfortable.
The entrance to Robben Island.
We got out of the bus and went into the actual prison area. Unfortunately the area where Nelson Mandela was kept is in the process of being refurbished so we weren't able to go there. They did however have a temporary exhibit setup to portray his cell. We met our tour guide for the inside part and he began by saying that he was a former prisoner and was imprisoned for 6 years. His stories and presentations truly came from his heart. He talked about the torture and harsh conditions they were forced to endure but stopped short of being graphic.
A cave where some prisoners had to live.
As the presentation went on, several different emotions went through my mind with the most striking being how recent these events occured, and a sadness to think that in modern times people could still think like this. Aparteid is the Africaans word for "apart". The Aparteid government, which was exclusively white, decided that any others were second class citizens and did not deserve basic human rights. Some races were even considered to be sub-human. All land was taken away from non-whites and given to white families. Johann told us that even 10 years ago there were public benches with signs that said "Whites Only". It was only in 1991 that Mandela was released from prison and 1994 when truly free elections were allowed and non-whites could hold office.
If you dared speak out against the government, you were considered a traitor and were jailed for as long as they wanted. You could be held without charges for however long they wanted. Our tour guide had joined the underground resistance and was sent to other countries like Zimbabwe to be trained in their armed unit. He was eventually captured and sentenced to 25 years at Robben Island, before he had even done any work for the resistance. Before sent to Robben Island, he was held in detention for five months where they tortured him every day to get information.
I was so struck with the guard. He did not have hatred in his voice and spoke in a stead, soothing voice though at one point he choked up a bit. He opened up the presentation for Q&A and someone asked if there were any guards that were sympathetic. His response was one that I hoped for: there were the expected terrible people abusing their power and doing awful things, but there were some putting their jobs and own freedom on the line to help the prisoners in any way, whether smuggling radios, newspapers, or simple information from the outside.
The prison guard from our tour.
I was not prepared for what he said next. One of the former guards is now a tour guide on the island tours and is his next door neighbor as most of the guides live on the island. When our guide arrived on the island to live, the guard and his wife knocked on their door with a chocolate cake in hand to welcome them. They now have barbeques together every weekend. I had to supress getting emotional hearing this. Obviously the guard wasn't a sadistic monster, but I honestly do not know if I would have the power of forgiveness this man has to be neighbors with someone who in whatever big or small reason, played a role in oppressing him just because of how he was born.
The tour guide did not preach or try to force a lesson in history though he succeeded in making many people examine their convictions and taught a powerful lesson in very basic humanity.
We were told that tomorrow Nelson Mandela and others including Pele will be on the island as FIFA is giving an honorary membership to the group of players from the island. They had games on Saturdays when they were given outdoor time. If their ball was kicked between the two fences surrounding the area, the guard dogs would rip them to shreads and they would have to wait for a new one. This award is being given in honor of Mandela's 89th birthday and the World Cup of soccer being held in South Africa in 2010. There is construction all over the place in preparation.
The guard station. I found their pride by flying the country's flag ironic.
We got back to shore after the tour and did some shopping until Johann picked us up. He didn't go because he'd been there several times and it was tough for him to see over and over. We went to the store, got some "nibbles" and beer, and went back to the house. Johann and I went to our rooms for a quick nap and left Forbes watching tv. I woke up 1/2 hour later, showered and made my way downstairs as we had planned on dinner at 8pm. Johann came out of his room followed by Forbes playing bumper cars with the walls. I suddenly realized that he'd been drinking the entire time and rapidly. He couldn't walk a straight line to save his life. I checked the fridge and counted 10 bottles of beer having been consumed. He claimed to not be hungry but we insisted he eat something. We drove to Hout's Bay and had a nice seaside meal. We poured his majesty back into the car and drove home to put him to bed.
Johann and I walked to the Manhattan Club. As we walked in, Whitey the bartender welcomed us (that's really his name) and said he knew we were coming because the Queen of Scotland was in earlier. So not only had he drank 10 beers in an hour and half, but he snuck out of the house while we slept and drank at the bar. Being sneaky, he hid some of the empties so we wouldn't figure out what he was up to.
Of course we weren't going to let him get away with that so we asked Whitey to give us as many empty bottles as he had so we could take them home. We went into his room hearing the snoring and started placing bottles all around him so we could get a picture. We had probably 30 bottles placed around and Johann was going for the gold by putting on next to his mouth but we both started snorting trying to not laugh. This roused him so we ran out of the room. When the fog cleared slightly, we heard "NOOO!!" coming from his room and then the door slamming shut. We knew we'd have another chance in about 5 minutes after he passed out again.
Sure enough we were able to set up more bottles though we weren't as bold in our placement as the first attempt. The flash woke him and again we got the "NOOO!!" and the slamming door. We were crying with laughter. The picture is available upon request.
Today was a day of tears, both from crying and laughing.
Some of the bottles used in the prank.
