Africa Day 4: Madiba and Dumisani (or The Mountain and the Prison)

Today was a work/cultural exchange day. We took an HC board member and local HC staff and families up Table Mountain and then to Robben Island.

Table Mountain revealed herself for the first time this week with no wind and no clouds. She was spectacular. The ride up and views were breathtaking. Maybe the photos will provide some insight.

On the cable car down our ride was ended with a quote from Nelson Mandela (affectionately called Madiba in South Africa). "Whether the cat is black or white, is not important, his ability to catch mice is." Good way to end one icon (the Table) and head to the another (The Prison)

Heading out to Robben Island on the ferry is alway enjoyable. Being on the island is always reflective and somber for me. Robben Island has been a prison in years past, a hospital, a leper colony and then a symbol of apartheid and struggle.

The tours are done by former prisoners and it is deeply personal. In the pictures you will see the depth of Apartheid control - even to food allotments. You will also see photos of Madiba's cell, from inside and outside and the courtyard where they exercised and labored. The lime quarry contains a pile of rocks placed by released prisoners each year they returned to honor the suffering they endured on the island.

Dumisani was our tour guide and his final words on the tour were a soul searching play on many levels. He invited us all at the end to take our "short walk to freedom". At its most surface level it was a clever quip on Madiba's book "Long Walk to Freedom". On other layers it was a reflection on how easy it is for us tourists to walk to our own freedom and how low our price has been for that freedom compared to his. A short walk indeed.

In the pictures you will see two photos in black and white. They are of the Island as seen from the Mountain and the Mountain as seen from the Island.

You would do yourself a favor to save up money to come and discover this beautiful country that bears the scars of its past and the dreams of its future. You would do well to come and laugh, play, eat, dance and socialize. You would do better to come and listen. You would do best if you came to breath it into your souls and take a piece of South Africa back with you.