Impressions of Robben Island by Taylor Ferguson

On Monday January 9, 2012 the SASA class of 2012 took a unique tour of Robben Island. I have recently learned that the tour our class received was a special experience that no past SASA classes have been privileged to. This makes our time at Robben Island even more special. While other classes went on a bus tour of the island and listened to firsthand reflections of Lionel Davis, an ex-political prisoner of Robben Island, we also toured another half of the island by foot. On this tour, we saw animals such as a turtle, a bird, more penguins, and different types of African birds; we also heard about the history of the island as a place of banishment as early as the 1600’s and saw the other buildings that were used to house prisoners during the earlier times as well as military equipment from World War II. Prior to prisoners of Apartheid being kept on the island, were people who were seen as abnormal or threats to society like the mentally and physically handicap, people with leprosy, and prostitutes were also banished to the destitute island. Off the coast of beautiful Cape Town, Robben Island is a place of gravel roads, muted plant life, and haunting memories. Memories of Lionel Davis, an ex-political prisoner shared some of his memories with us. To start he was arrested and incarcerated as a political prisoner for conspiracy to commit acts of sabotage in the Cape Town Supreme Court in 1964. He served a seven year sentence, for much of that time he was held in a single cell near where Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned. Lionel does not recall spending much time in his cell because the majority of the days were spent in the hot sun,which we have experienced first hand during our time in South Africa, performing manual labor. Their jobs consisted of crushing rock in the courtyard while sitting under the sun on the hard ground or harvesting rocks/creating walls in one of the two quarries that we saw. The work was arbitrary in terms of its function but for the guards it punished the prisoners and pushed them to their limits. The descriptions of the labor and some of the conditions reminded me of concentration camps during the Holocaust. That comparison alone identifies how history can repeat itself and how groups of people have been inhumanely treated for no other reason than fear and ignorance. While Lionel was speaking to us he emphasized how apartheid and segregation based on classified color was not simply a problem being faced by the outside world but that it continued into the prison life as well. White prisoners were treated better than Asiatics, Asiatics were treated better than coloreds, and coloreds were treated better than blacks. They were treated better and classified by different clothes given to them by the prison. For example coloreds wore shoes, socks, pants, jackets, and hats, while blacks wore sandals, shorts, and hats. The groups also ate different types and portions of food. During time in prison if prisoners were caught breaking rules like smuggling in things from their visitors, or sending letters longer than 500 words, refusing to work, or conspiring with other prisoners food was often taken away as a punishment. Lionel told us that food could be taken away for anywhere between three to eighty days. While I enjoyed hearing all of the history and Lionel’s personal accounts the biggest thing I walked away with was his ability to return to the island and the jail. I found his personal strength a reflection of the general forgiveness we have witnessed and heard about from the people of South Africa. They have truly moved forward from a time of Apartheid even though there is still so much struggle economically and much emotional hardship no one seems to hold a grudge. I think this is something that all of us have seen and wondered how it is possible when there are still so many remnants of our civil rights movement in the US that happened much earlier than Apartheid in South Africa. Of the people we have asked many seem to say that God taught people to forgive and that they are children of God. The ability to forgive is something that I idealize and hope to learn from the people during my time in South Africa. At the conclusion of our tour on Robben Island we each wrote on a rock something personal to ourselves and left it in a pile outside of the limestone quarry. This ceremony was very symbolic as Mandela left a rock in the quarry during his first trip back to the island to symbolize his growth during his incarceration and the time since. From then on others from all over have left rocks on his pile. Since the pile has gotten so big groups have formed their own piles, now the SASA class of 2012 has left their mark and symbol of our growth in South Africa.