Thursday, April 19th, 2007
Meeting a Political Prisoner
Miranda just talked about our visit to Robben Island, so I thought I would add one more photo just to highlight our tour guide: a former political prisoner. I must say that I feel lucky to have met this man. He spent more than six years on Robben Island as a prisoner under Apartheid rule. He was open about his experience and answered every question we asked. At one point, while following him down a dark hallway, I noticed that he was quietly whistling.
“Were you allowed to whistle when you were here?”
He looked back somewhat surprised that I had heard him, smiled and said “oh no, they’d never let us do that.”
At another point, we were lead through a room that use to serve as an office. Our guide mentioned that, as a prisoner, he was never allowed to enter this room. As he stepped through he doorway he admitted that it “makes me feel good every time he walks through here now.”
As the tour finished, we learned more and more about his experiences, both the horrible, graphic descriptions of prisoner abuse by guards and the lasting friendships that he made with other prisoners. To our surprise, our guide told us that he is one of 250 people who live on the island today as a member of the museum staff. It struck me, and likely many of my fellow tourists, as quite a mental accomplishment to return to the island that imprisoned him for so long.
I feel lucky to have met him. Below is a picture of our guide as the tour concluded. He walks on the outside of the prison walls to meet the next group waiting to hear his story.
