Robben Island
Robben
Island. The island where the great Nelson Mandela spent fourteen years of his
life, along with many other political prisoners. On Thursday the exchange group
took the ferry from the Waterfront to Robben Island to take a look at the
conditions in which all these prisoners lived. We took a bus through the whole
of the island, with a tour guide telling us about the island. He asked people
on the bus, including me, where they were from and then talked about the
influence of their country on the freedom, or the opposite, of South-Africa.
Holland was presented as both a good influence and a bad influence on South-Africa.
I notice that a lot of people blame the Dutch for some bad things that happened
in the past, and when I tell people I’m from Holland, this subject is brought
up very often. When the bus arrived at the prison precinct, the bus stopped and
we went into the prison area. A fellow ex-prisoner of Nelson Mandela told us
his shocking stories about his time at Robben Island. Ten years to be precise…
His stories were very impressing. In a bad way. He told us that the security
guards had broken his ribs, beat him up too often and used his private parts as
an ash tray. He told us more about the way things worked in the prison. The
prisoners weren’t allowed to write anything about the conditions in the prison,
so they used their lawyers to get letters with this information through to
their families and friends. Also, the black people didn’t get prison uniforms or
warm jerseys for in winter. These clothes were given to the colored and Indian prisoners.
Many more interesting stories were told. From the island, we got a lovely view of Table Mountain. On the ferry back I got very sea sick,
because there was a lot of wind, which caused the ferry to shake very badly. As
soon as we arrived at the Waterfront, I was fine. We had lunch at the
Waterfront and looked around for a bit. We went back to school with the
Herschel bus, which we always use for trips. After school Elise, Pipa (Chilean
exchange girl) and I went to Cavendish. Cavendish is the mall where we usually
go after school when we have to wait for our host parents to pick us up.
Cavendish is on walking distance from school. At Cavendish, Elise and I had a
second earring pierced, which was very exciting… Tomorrow we are going to hike
up Table Mountain.
Robben
Island. The island where the great Nelson Mandela spent fourteen years of his
life, along with many other political prisoners. On Thursday the exchange group
took the ferry from the Waterfront to Robben Island to take a look at the
conditions in which all these prisoners lived. We took a bus through the whole
of the island, with a tour guide telling us about the island. He asked people
on the bus, including me, where they were from and then talked about the
influence of their country on the freedom, or the opposite, of South-Africa.
Holland was presented as both a good influence and a bad influence on South-Africa.
I notice that a lot of people blame the Dutch for some bad things that happened
in the past, and when I tell people I’m from Holland, this subject is brought
up very often. When the bus arrived at the prison precinct, the bus stopped and
we went into the prison area. A fellow ex-prisoner of Nelson Mandela told us
his shocking stories about his time at Robben Island. Ten years to be precise…
His stories were very impressing. In a bad way. He told us that the security
guards had broken his ribs, beat him up too often and used his private parts as
an ash tray. He told us more about the way things worked in the prison. The
prisoners weren’t allowed to write anything about the conditions in the prison,
so they used their lawyers to get letters with this information through to
their families and friends. Also, the black people didn’t get prison uniforms or
warm jerseys for in winter. These clothes were given to the colored and Indian prisoners.
Many more interesting stories were told. From the island, we got a lovely view of Table Mountain. On the ferry back I got very sea sick,
because there was a lot of wind, which caused the ferry to shake very badly. As
soon as we arrived at the Waterfront, I was fine. We had lunch at the
Waterfront and looked around for a bit. We went back to school with the
Herschel bus, which we always use for trips. After school Elise, Pipa (Chilean
exchange girl) and I went to Cavendish. Cavendish is the mall where we usually
go after school when we have to wait for our host parents to pick us up.
Cavendish is on walking distance from school. At Cavendish, Elise and I had a
second earring pierced, which was very exciting… Tomorrow we are going to hike
up Table Mountain.
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