Day 2: Today I Sat in a Jail Cell

Today's excursion was to Robben Island.  Robben Island has historically been used as both an asylum for mental ill, a quarantine of sorts for lepers, and a prison, and most people know it as the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, although it is just one of the locations where Mandela was held during his 27 years of imprisonment.



(The ferry we took to Robben Island)





The initial portion of the tour was a bus tour that took us around to tell us about different locations on the island.


(The Motoru Kramat, built to commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Motoru, Prince of Madura, who was exiled to the island in the mid-1740s and died in 1754.  The Kramat is considered a sacred site of pilgrimage for Muslims.)





(Limestone (Quarry where prisoners were forced to break and carry rocks.  Prisoners were not provided with eye or mouth protection and typically suffered eye and lung problems as a result of the time they spend in the quarry.)

(This rock pile was started by Nelson Mandela during a return trip to Robben Island following his release.  Additional former political prisoners added rocks to the pile, and they all made a promise to return each year and add to the pile.  The last year rocks were added to the pile was 1995.)

There are numerous photo opportunities around Cape Town, an acknowledgment to the numerous tourists that frequent the city.  Following the bus tour, and before the walking tour started, we stopped to take a photo as a class.





(Entrance to the prison complex)

I wasn't entirely sure how well I would handle this portion of the trip, although I was initially excited to visit the island, which is now a museum and historical site.   One of the things that I processed fully on the ferry ride to the island is how much I value freedom; the ability to do what I want and go where I choose as I see fit.  For this reason, even visiting jails as a part of my various jobs has been something I have actively avoided and felt a fair amount of trepidation about when I had no choice but to go.

Our tour guide for the walking portion of the tour was Derrick Basson, a former political prisoner who served 5 years at Robben Island before being released. Mr. Basson works as at tour guide at Robben Island because jobs were very scarce upon his release and also because he wants to ensure that the stories of the political prisoners continue to be told.   As you walk into the prison complex, there is a large photo of the last political prisoners released from Robben Island.





Inside this cell block, there were numerous posters with information about the prison and prisoners during Apartheid.








(Black prisoners [negatively referred to as Bantus] were fed very differently from Colored [non-Black but also non-white prisoners] and essentially malnourished by the prison administration.  Contrary to intentions to further isolate and ostracize Black prisoners and make them jealous of Colored prisoners, Colored prisoners often shared their food with Black prisoners because they realized the administration was trying to build a wedge between them.)



We walked into a large communal jail cell where Mr. Basson spoke with us for about 30 minutes about the realities of imprisonment during Apartheid.  It took me a few minutes to realize that were were in the cell with the door closed, and it took a bit of internal work on my part not to panic.  It was very surreal being in the cell, even though it was a relatively large one, and realizing that the door was closed and every window was barred.  What brought down my anxiety was the recognition that while I would likely be sitting in the cell for 20-30 minutes, men like Mr. Basson had been in these cells for years, sometimes decades.  It was a sobering thought, but it helped me refocus on the topic at hand.








As we walked to the cell block that contained the individual cells, Mr. Basson spoke to me individually, because he wanted to read my shirt.  He had questions about who the people were who were listed on my shirt, so I named them for him and explained who they were.  He told me that he was able to go the the Civil Rights museum in Birmingham, Alabama as a representative of Robben Island museum, so he knew who Coretta (Scott King), Rosa (Parks), and Maya (Angelou) were.  It was a cool moment for me and one of many moments that created a connection between me and the South African people.



We walked through the cell block were Nelson Mandela was held, and I got to take a picture next to the cell.  I was struck by how small the cells were, and we had been told during the bus tour that the dog kennels on the island are larger than the cells the prisoners were held in.  Seeing the cells firsthand really put that into perspective and I got very emotional thinking about the ways in which humans oppress other humans, and more specifically, the way Black people, throughout the diaspora have been oppressed by white people.


I managed to hold it together while we were in the tour group in the jail, but once we dispersed at the end I sat on a rock and just cried.  Human suffering hurts me to my core, and being at Robben Island really drove home for me how similar the Black South African experience is, historically and currently, to the Black American experience.  I made a statement on day one of the trip that I wanted to understand how South Africans keep going, how they get out of be in the morning having had the experiences they have, and today was the moment that I realized they do it the same way we do here in the states.  It's painful to realize what we've been through as a people, but I appreciate the resilience and the optimism that we show every day that we keep moving forward in spite of oppression, racism, poverty, police brutality, etc.

I am thankful that the organizers of our trip, EducoAfrica, decided to follow up the Robben Island visit with our first trip to the Langa Township and Guga S'Thebe, the community cultural center there.  I desperately needed something lighthearted and fun to balance the seriousness and heaviness of Robben Island.  As the saying goes, "Music has charms to soothe the savage breast," and as a life-long musician, the drum circle we participated in was just the charm I needed!

My classmates and I played Djembe drums and xylophones, and learned multiple rhythms as well as songs in isiXhosa, one of the native languages of Black South Africans (those who don't speak isiXhosa as their first language speak isiZulu).

I started playing the xylophone and the drums in 4th grade when I was 9, and I'll admit that I never considered that the instruments I played throughout school had cultural significance and relevance for me.  It was very emotional for me to have that lightbulb go on as I sat in this drum circle, and was yet another connection for me.

I found myself completely restored after spending time at Guga S'Thebe, and I also found my pockets a bit lighter after purchasing ceramics handmade by the youth who take classes at the center and art and jewelry from local artisans there.

This second day in Africa has been an emotional one, with very strong positive and negative emotions.  I'm thankful to be in a place where I feel comfortable enough to feel and express my emotions, instead of feeling compelled to suppress them.  I got to feel the catharsis of crying, laughing, singing, drumming, all of the ways that throughout my life I have expressed myself.  It's nice to be able to feel strongly and emote strongly, and to feel peace during and after the expression of those emotions.  Today was a great day!

Camielle