Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

Yes I am aware that this post is two days late. I had homework to do and therefore only completed half of the posting before we left and then have been in airports and on airplanes for the last 18 hours without wifi most of the time. So there will actually be one more post after this one.

2/10/18
     It rained last night. While this would not be an important news worthy discussion for many of us around the world for Cape Town it was a big deal. The rain was a little more than .25 inches but was still a cause for a slight degree of jubilation. There is a drought here and an anticipated Day Zero when the city expects to not have any water in the taps to run. Residents are allotted 59L of water per day and two minute showers, and due to following this guideline DayZero was actually pushed back a few weeks. Here in Cape Town even the restaurants in tourists traps like the mall we visited today have been forced to shut down their bathrooms and guests are required to use the mall bathroom as it has the necessary setup for efficiently saving water. There was a sign on the bathroom door that guests had to actually go into the mall to use their restroom. Other places that we have visited including the airport on arrival just had hand sanitizer at the sinks. Being my mother's child, therefore meaning I am almost always ready for the apocalypse, I packed extra  wetwipes, face cloths, and cleansing wipes in preparation for this leg of the journey.  It is a not so gentle reminder of the impact that not taking care of our environment and mismanagement of environmental resources especially when your rainy season is typically only one season a year can have.

Today was the final full day of our journey and we spent it traveling to Mandela's cell. We also had a closing dinner in one of the coolest restaurants I have ever visited.

Robben Island Tour

While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil, a triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness, a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness. ~Ahmed Kathrada, 1993

   Could you have looked at someone who abused and misused you based on authority and then forgiven them and even invited them into your new life. Mandela did just this and his capacity to forgive people who literally tortured him and not walk away angry is one of the characteristics that made him loved and respected by people around the world. He did not spend his entire sentence on Robben's Island, just 18 years.
   Today we embarked on the Robben Island Tour. This included a ferry ride followed by a walking tour through the different areas of the prison and to see Mandela's actual cell. Being able to stand on the deck and watch Robben's Island coming into view was a mesmerizing and humbling experience. Robben Island is approximately 1000 acres in size according to one of the guides. Toyer our tour bus guide also further clarified the discussion from a previous day about the classification of color. Some were too dark to be colored and too light to be black which is when the pencil test was done, the thickness of the lip was assessed, and finally the width of the nostril was looked at to determine which classification you belonged to if you were not white.

food ration explanation

     This island was only reachable by boat and in order to further alienate prisoners and not give them access to anyone from their former lives this was the ideal place to imprison them. Water was brought in by boat and was rationed out meaning it was often depleted before the next shipment came in. There is no water problem currently on the island because they have a desalination plant and solar systems in place for energy. In the last year 140000 liters of diesel were saved. Food was also rationed and what blacks and colored received was different.
     Robben Island was intended for political prisoners because it was decided that these prisoners should not be able to access the general population. Today there is actually housing for workers on Robben Island if they choose to live here. There are twelve former political prisoners that function as tour guides within the actual prison. According to our tour guide, Dede, a successful escape never occurred. Dede described for us his exit into exile and his eventual capture and being charged with treason at the age of 19. Many of the activists went to safe houses to escape being captured but continued to do the work of the movement. When the government was unable to root out the "agitators", their families suddenly became targets of intimidation. He initially escaped to Tanzania, Angola, and Zambia before being captured when reentering the country posed as a soccer player. He was sent to Johannesburg and physically and psychologically tortured for six weeks in an effort to find other agitators before being arraigned for treason.
     This is the place where the government sent the "clevers", those people who could light the ember towards change. Our guide through the actual prison was a former Robben's Island political prisoner whose job is now to tell the story of his arrival , imprisonment, and release from the prison. The last political prisoner was released in April 1991.
    Many argue that prison guards were prisoners within the system as well. They were only carrying out the orders that they were ordered to in order to continue to provide for their families. As incomprehensible as it is for many of us in a "free society" the parallels between these prison guards and those in Auschwitz and the other concentration camps are blatant. Could you forgive them?

Gold Restaurant

Cape Malay pea and potato samosa, Zambian sweet potato cakes, Algerian ginger and cashew briouats

     Gold Restaurant  is an awesome multisensory experience that is all about sampling the tastes of Africa.  We were greeted at the door by the character in my picture who scared a few of those in our party when it started moving suddenly. There are traveling African dancers, the puppets,  and drummers who rotate throughout the establishment  singing, dancing, and drumming to tell a musical story. The meal is 14 courses that changes every season to incorporate traditional African dishes from all over the continent. Our menu for this evening included foods from South Africa, Egypt, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Morocco, Cape Malay, Algeria, Namibia, Ghana, and Zambia. Each item was brought out in small quantities for the table to share as the performers rotate through the different spaces in the restaurant.

     As part of our final night we also got to celebrate the birthday of one of our jewels. At my home church when I moved to the Maryland area anyone over 65 was called a Jewel and it is a habit that even after having been gone from that church for 5 years is not a habit I have broken. Happy Birthday Bruce!

Cape Town photos