No Future Without Forgiveness

Entrance to Robben Island

Nelson Mandela's Cell

Yes, I'm in Africa!

Hello All! This weekend has once again been full of interesting historical sights around the Cape Town area. On Saturday we went to District Six which was the most diverse community in Cape Town and during apartheid experienced forced demolition in order that whites could build their houses there. A lot of history and culture was lost during this period and there is an old house turned museum that we visited to get a history of the area. We also went to the Castle of Good Hope (bet ya didn’t think there was a castle in Cape Town!). It’s more of a fort than a castle, but it was still fun to see the oldest building in all of South Africa. We also went to the Slave Lodge that remembers slavery in South Africa as well as other parts of the world. We at lunch at this place called the Tea Room which is in a beautiful garden right outside St. George’s Cathedral (Desmond TuTu’s church). Mom, remember that café because we are going to eat there when you visit. It was beautiful!
Today was the real treat though. Today we boarded a ferry and rode for 25 minutes away from Cape Town to Robben Island. Now, many of you may not know the significance of Robben Island, but it is where THE Nelson Mandela was held in prison for 18 years of his life. We saw his holding cell (number 7 in B block) and the garden he planted in the courtyard. This was the same garden where he hid the papers from his work The Long Road to Freedom. He had a friend smuggle it out when he was about finished that it could be published and given to the world.
Now, you might think that this was all pretty amazing to see this stuff, and it was; but the real highlight of the day was that our tour guide was an ex-prisoner on Robben Island! Every single tour guide on the island used to be an inmate on the island. Don’t worry, we were safe—they are all ex-political prisoners, not convicts of heinous crimes. By choice, they chose to come back and actually live on the island with former wardens (there is a community of about 150 people) and give tours every day. I asked him why he not only was ok with coming back, but chose to go back and live where he was imprisoned for so many years. He simply replied, “There is no future without forgiveness. We wanted peace and democracy and retaliating and remaining angry at those who threw us in prison gets us nowhere.” That was about the point that my jaw dropped to the floor and I had to be shaken back to reality. WHAT?? This ex-prisoner had so much wisdom and such an incredible mindset and outlook on the situation. All I could do was stand in awe and hope that I would be able to do the same thing given those circumstances. Wow….just wow…..chew on that for a bit….