Robben Island




 Robben Island was a maximum security prison for male, non-white prisoners during apartheid.  Nelson Mandela is pictured above during his time on Robben Island.  He was on Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment.  Similar to Alcatraz,  Robben Island is close to the city, but separated by enough water to create a natural escape deterrent.

Below, you see A typical cell and the prison yard.

Our guide was a former political prisoner who was a part of the Soweto Student Uprising in the 1970s.  Bridget surprised him by greeting him correctly in Setswana.  Those Peace Corps years come in handy.

The Apartheid regime made the mistake of placing all of their political prisoners on the same island.  The inmates learned from and taught each other, so they would be ready to make a change when the opportunity arose.

Although Robben Island has beautiful views, it was a horrible place that tried to steal people’s humanity. However, in many cases they were unsuccessful as Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s President and created what some consider the best constitution in the world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Designing Your Career

Image
The final course that we have completed through Stanford University’s online program is Designing Your Career.  As Counselors at CCP, career counseling is one of our daily duties.  Getting new information and learning different approaches is always valuable. This course is a simple set of instructional videos and exercises designed to provide direction on how to approach a career search.  While much of the information presented is not new to us, some of the exercises and videos will be useful with our students once we return to CCP. The main approach of this course is a focus on building, and using, connections.  The statement is made that for every one job posted to the outside world, there are four more available to workers on the inside of an organization.  How to connect through networking, conducting information interviews, and how to use your elevator conversation are some of the topics addressed.  These are all great additional resources for our stud...
Read more

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Image
We are in San Juan, Puerto Rico completing our volunteer experience with CRESPR.org in the Bucare Urban Garden.  This organization is all about the maintenance and recovery of the dunes on the island of Puerto Rico. Through the growth and planting of mangroves and other native plants, the dunes can be kept in place.  So, we are doing some gardening. Yes.  They are superpositive. Nothing wrong with sitting on a compost bucket while waiting for the gate to open. The edge of a green sanctuary made possible by CRESPR.org. The skate park above was the foundation of a condominium.  It was never completed and the adjacent land has become a green sanctuary with hundreds of plantings done by B.U.G. This is one of the leaders of CRES, Juan. Yvette is the other leader. They both volunteer their time and don’t get paid. This is hard work but they say it’s their hobby.  Old San Juan is a beautiful city.  The history of Spanish conquest is a central part of Old San Juan....
Read more

San Pedro, Chile

Image
San Pedro de Atacama is a town in a desert in Chile.    The town itself feels like a tourist town with restaurants and gift shops and tour companies galore.  However, it is in an amazing place with geisers, mountains and desert sights that make it an incredible place to visit. On our first day we hiked the Pukara de Quitor, a precolumbian archaeological site that was a defensive bunker used to protect against invaders. The next day, we were up at 4:30 am to catch a ride to the Tatio Geisers for sunrise. We explored the Valle de la Luna, which has some great desert formations.  But, I wouldn’t say it looks like the surface of the moon. We caught some beautiful sunsets, which is a standard desert pastime.  At the best locations, everyone comes out for the show. The next day we tried to go to Laguna Cejar and Dos Ojos, but we were unsuccessful. There was some weird thing about the times we went. So we went to Laguna Chaxa and Cejar the next day at the right times. ...
Read more