Robben Island... at last

After my ‘Little Mermaid’ gathering I celebrated Bobbi’s and Isabel’s (Bobbi’s friend from Germany) birthdays. Their birthday is on the same day as the great Nelson Mandela's birthday who turned 90 last Friday, but I will get back to this man later on.
We went out for karaoke for Bobbi’s and Isabel’s birthday. It was a night of GREAT fun. I had such a blast and this night was so needed to boast my energy level.

These coming weeks are going to be hectic for me. It’s not only because my last weeks are due here, but also because YFC has got a lot of visitors coming. Two teams; one from the USA and one from the UK are here for three till four weeks. It’s a summer project; teams come over to do ministry for a couple of weeks and see for themselves what YFC is up to. For me it means: a lot of cooperation, planning and helping out. Truthfully; I did not planned this for my last weeks here in Cape Town, but it is here and I have to deal with it. The other thing is that new volunteers will arrive during this time as well. The volunteers’ houses are crowded at the moment, so it will be a challenge to try to find a place for everybody. These hectic times in Cape Town have made me counting down the days lately… it’s not that I want to go home, but at the moment I do feel that I’m ready to leave. Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE Cape Town and YFC, but my energy level is just very low at the moment and I just need to find a way to recharge myself for my last weeks here.
Fortunately I’m going to spend some time with Claudine (Emelio’s wife) this weekend. We’ve been trying to plan this for a long time, but it never happened, because I always needed to do something elsewhere. I’m really looking forward to hang out with her and Carla-Ann (the cutest baby of Cape Town!). It will be a good place and time for me to recharge myself.

The other reason why I’m ready to leave now is that I’ve visited Robben Island last Tuesday. People who know me also know there are four people that I truly look up to ever since I was a young girl: Princess Diana, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The legacy that they have left behind (and are still leaving behind) on our world has been tremendously important and admirable to say the least. Their way of reaching out to the world is something that I truly look up to. Nelson Mandela is the only one out of the four who is still with us on earth and although he just turned 90, his influence is still so important for the world and especially for South Africa.
I live in the area Blouberg in Cape Town. Bloubergstrand is the closest place to Robben Island. My house is about 7,5 kilometers away from Robben Island and I haven’t visited the Island till this week. My housemates know that I’m fascinated by this Island, because I’ve spend hours and hours on our latch just looking at this Island. It is just so amazing to me that the Island is so close and yet so far away. My mind often wonders off to the period when Mandela was hold captured on the Island. I just wonder if the people who lived at Blouberg during that time even knew about what was going on on the Island. It’s just truly mind-blowing for me.
Last Tuesday was my moment of truth; I finally sailed out to Robben Island. After a very shaky, but very fun ferry ride I arrived on the Island. Million of thoughts crossed my mind. I actually recognized a lot of things on the Island from pictures and movies (like Goodbye Bafana). It was all very surrealistic for me. We started with a tour on the bus around the village on the Island. It was very interesting to stand face-to-face with the places where Mandela and so many others have been hold captured in history. The Lime Quarry was very impressive for me. It is the place where many political prisoners, like Mandela, worked. The Quarried lime was used to resurface the Island’s roads. The harsh white light that reflected form the quarry walls made a lot of the prisoners lost their sights. The Lime Quarry was more than a work place, it is a place that presented opportunities for communication and comradeship for the prisoners, since they are isolated from one another in the prison confines.
In February 1995 more than 1000 ex-political prisoners gathered together again on Robben Island. Nelson Mandela picked up a rock and placed it down near the entrance to the Lime Quarry. The men who were present followed his action and together they created a pile of stones that from then on marked as a memorial to their years of struggle and hardship. It is one of the things that I’m proud that I was blessed enough to witness.

After the bus tour I got a tour through the Maximum Security Prison. Derek Bison (not sure if I spelled his name right) is one of the ex-prisoners of Robben Island and he was my guide. I was amazed by his stories. Everything he told me, I’ve read about, but to hear the stories coming from him was so much more special and realistic. I won’t say that he is bitter about what has happened to him, but the pain that he once felt was still showing.
Walking through the different sections of the prison was very impressive for me. I know that it’s not possible to try to find sense in the apartheid period of South Africa, but my mind still tries and just can’t seem to understand how such things could have happened.
As a ‘treat’ of the tour I got to see prison cell number 5 of B section… Nelson Mandela’s cell. His cell isn’t any different from the other cells in B section, but knowing that he was held captured in that cell for years makes it a special moment for me to have been able to see it. I looked through the window of his cell and just wondered how many different thought has crossed his mind during the years that he stayed in this cell.

I know I’ve been going on and on about Robben Island, I’m sorry about this, but it’s truly a big deal for me. I’m grateful that I’ve been there now. My view of Robben Island back at the Blouberg has increased its value by so much. I know that Robben Island is not just about Nelson Mandela, but my admiration for Mandela has nevertheless grown so much more. It was a great experience that I would never change for anything in the world.

I guess that’s enough from me for now. ;-) I’m going to get back to my hectic life in Cape Town.

Lots of love,
Bao-Nhi