Tuesday was our arts day and we went to the green market, the gold museum and a diamond store. We learned about he significance of gold and adornment across Africa. At the diamond store we learned about the process of mining and cutting diamonds. We learned all about the clarity and size and the amount of hours that goes into the production of a single diamond. In the afternoon we went over to school and the pottery teacher spent the afternoon with us working on a clay project – elephant themed that should be ready to take home when we leave Saturday.
Robben Island
Wednesday we went to the harbor and played at the aquarium for a while the we boarded the ferry out to Robben Island – the prison where Nelson Mandela stayed for 27 years. It was fascinating and depressing to visit the island. The guide on our bus tour around the Island was very informative and he showed us the quarry where the prisoners worked and talked to us about the two different correctional facilities, one for the convicts and one for the political prisoners. We walked through the prison for political prisoners led by a former prisoner. It was disturbing and inspiring both at the same time to walk in and out of the cells many of which had a placard with a narrative by the the person who was in the cell – often for up to 20 years. We walked around the courtyard where Nelson Mandela buried his manuscript for his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom which he wrote on scraps of cement bags and smuggled out with his visitors. Some of the older kids seemed subdued and got the significance of the struggles and injustices this prison represented – some of the younger kids seemed more intrigued by the drivers dreadlocks and the penguins on the island. Amazing to realize that apartheid ended in 1994 and Mandela was elected president – all of the kids on this trip were born after 1994……
After Robben Island we headed up to school and met up with some of the host families and their friends and we played cricket and had a braai (BBQ).
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