A Long Walk to Freedom

The earliest ferry to Robben Island runs at 9am; the reason this is important is that it’s steeply discounted (which is important for some of us who are experiencing a slight case of transitional unemployment). Because the weather in Cape Town is always a bit iffy, the folks that run the ferry wait until 8:15am to decide if ferries will run for the day. Every morning Mike has been in charge of calling Robben Island at 8:15 to see if we should make the trip to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (where the boat is launched). Why Mike is always the first one up I still can’t understand. 4 or 5am nights are not uncommon for this kid and yet he’s still the one in charge of rounding up the troops and rallying in the morning. Aka, he’s a machine. Anyway, apparently on Saturday the weather was good enough for the captains because the call was good. Although we rushed as quickly as our little VW Polo would allow, by the time we arrived the ferry was full. The next trip left at 11am so we drank bottomless coffee at the Mug & Bean to wait for our boat.

For those of you who are unfamiliar. Robben Island is home to the infamous Robben Island Prison, where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his 27 years in prison. For that reason, Robben Island is iconic of the anti-Apartheid movement and is remembered not for its brutality, but as a symbol of man’s triumph over an oppressive regime.

I find it interesting that just over four years ago, the first assignment I received from the University of Notre Dame (as part of the application process) was to write an essay about Nelson Mandela. I now have come full circle and represent my alma mater in South Africa, the seat of Nelson Mandela’s struggle behind bars against apartheid. Since having to write that initial college application essay about Mandela, his story and persona have helped shape who I am and no doubt influenced my decision to come to South Africa in the first place. Visiting Robben Island and seeing first-hand the setting of Mandela’s fight was something I cannot yet adequately put to words. That being said, what follows is brief attempt.

The tour took us around the island and gave us some history. Apparently Robben Island was once a Dutch trading post and later a leper colony. As interesting as that sounds, I was more concerned with its recent history. We saw the quarry where Mandela and other political prisoners spent much of their time. There, they educated themselves and the other prisoners and, in the relative privacy of a cave-turned-bathroom, even decided ANC policy. The level of innovation and resolve of these political prisoners was incredible.

The whole experience reinforced the crushing truth that, while apartheid is officially gone, it didn’t occur that long ago. The aftermath of what happened here in South Africa can witnessed every day, whether on the faces of older generations who remember it as a way of life, the slum townships where Blacks and Colored people were forced to relocate to, or the incredible economic inequality clinging to racial lines. While it’s often easy to be seduced by the appeal of this city, easy is not always good. Visiting Robben Island helped me put things in context and see beneath the surface to further understand my time here.