The day started with a township 
tour where I learned that District Six (a community in central Cape 
Town), a mixed neighborhood with blacks, coloured, indians, and whites was completely destroyed during the apartheid days. The government named District 6 a "whites only" community and forcibly 
removed the "non-whites" to rural areas outside of Cape Town. Just recently, as a means of restitution, the government has offered to move back the original people who lived in District Six before the apartheid laws took affect. We toured the Cape Flats, the dumping grounds of apartheid, and danced with school kids, tasted the local brew in a shebeen, and met a witch doctor (see photo). I have to admit I wasn
't a big fan of this tour because our guide, even though he was a local, made it feel like we were at the zoo, watching the animals from the safety of the van. After my other township experiences, I prefer getting up-close and personal with the locals, hearing their stories and connecting with the people through the use of my lens. I have fought against white domination,
and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
- Nelson Mandela
In the afternoon, we jumped on a boat and headed to Robben Island, where Mandela and other political prisoners of the apartheid era spent much of their priso
n life. This was high on my list of things to do in Cape Town and it made Mandela's autobiography, "A Long Walk to Freedom," come to life. I was surprised to learn that this island has a long history, for the past 400 years Robben Island has b
een used to banish, isolate, and imprison outcasts such as
lepers, and political prisoners. Today, the island is seen as a national symbol of freedom and liberation and exposes the strength of the human spirit to triumph over hardship and adversity. Our tour guide was a former political prisoner who was imprisoned for treason and made the experience all the more real with his personal stories of prison life.
n life. This was high on my list of things to do in Cape Town and it made Mandela's autobiography, "A Long Walk to Freedom," come to life. I was surprised to learn that this island has a long history, for the past 400 years Robben Island has b
een used to banish, isolate, and imprison outcasts such as
lepers, and political prisoners. Today, the island is seen as a national symbol of freedom and liberation and exposes the strength of the human spirit to triumph over hardship and adversity. Our tour guide was a former political prisoner who was imprisoned for treason and made the experience all the more real with his personal stories of prison life.
2 comments:
Africa and its people have certainly gone through many hardships and will probably continue to struggle. We, as privileged humans, find it hard to grasp. Looks like your eyes were really opened to the injustices that the people of Africa, as well as, other civilizations contend with every day. Many of them have come a long way even in their struggles. We are truly fortunate.
Yes, the South African human spirit was what moved me...
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