Robben Island is a small, flat island off the coast of Cape Town where political prisoners were held during Apartheid (probably the most famous prisoner being Nelson Mandela who spent over 20 years on Robben Island). The island has a long history as a leper colony, World War II training facility, and prison, but it wasn’t until 1961 that the first Apartheid political prisoners arrived (and 1991 that the last political prisoners left).
When I came to visit Bridges Academy last spring, I was a bit humbled by how little I knew about Apartheid – and still am. In the airport on my way back to Egypt, I went on a hunt for a readable book to teach me more about the recent history that created the unbalanced social strata that still exists today. After a long, critical book search, I came across More Than Just a Game : Soccer vs. Apartheid, a book about the Makana Football Association that was formed by prisoners on Robben Island. The book explained a bit of the history of Apartheid, blended into the context of the prisoner’s passion for soccer.
Most of the prisoners on Robben Island were highly educated and had been leaders for political groups fighting for a freedom and equality in South Africa. The prison contained people who have become doctors, lawyers, scientists, and the presidents of South Africa. The white guards did anything they could to degrade and demoralize the prisoners. They gave common law prisoners authority over the political prisoners (sometimes as guards), allowing them more privileges like better food and jobs on the island. When the political prisoners were first brought to the island, the common law prison facility was too small to house the huge influx of prisoners, so they were forced to work long hours in the limestone quarry breaking off rock that they would later use to build their own prison. Food rations were allotted based on race: Whites, coloreds, and blacks would all be given different amounts of food in the prison with the black food portion being the smallest portion with the least amount of nutrition.
To combat the dehumanizing attempts by the guards, the prisoners pulled together to form a soccer association. The organization of soccer on Robin Island is pretty unbelievable – until you consider who was doing the organizing. They had negotiated with the prison for years, consistently bringing up their case as to why they felt the game of soccer was important to life and work on the island. With each request usually came a punishment, but eventually the prison gave in and allowed them the privilege. There were individual clubs that involved managers and contracts, trading, schedules, tournaments, and awards. Most prisoners on the island, and guards for that matter, became loyal fans to the different clubs. The prisoners had fashioned goal posts out of driftwood and would carefully maintain the field that they worked so hard to attain. Teams would train and discuss strategies quietly in their cells at night or out in the quarry during the day.
Soccer on Robin Island provided the prisoners with the opportunity to exercise not only their bodies, but their minds. They were able to assume similar roles that they had played before life on the island by organizing, strategizing, negotiating, and networking. The prisoners wanted to make sure that every prisoner on the island had rights and opportunities and that everyone was treated equally – especially since they had been denied these rights in every other way on the island. The prison guards would sometimes use the right to play soccer against them by randomly deciding that soccer would not be taking place on certain weeks. The prisoners would then use their right to play as a sort of hunger strike – to forfeit their rights so that the prison could not use it against them.
Anyways, read the book. It’s fascinating. Apparently there is a movie as well, but I haven’t seen it yet.
About 3 weeks ago, Cece, Leeanne, Maia and I had the chance to take the Grade 8 class to Robben Island. The grade 8 class is pretty notorious for being the toughest bunch for teachers to handle, so we were looking forward to the chance to hang out with the students in a context outside of school (Especially in a context where we didn’t have to be their teachers, but were fellow students). Jenni dropped us off at the water front where we walked around with the kids and had a little photo shoot while we waited for the boat to take off. We then boarded the boat for Robben Island.
As we pulled out of the harbor, the boat’s safety video came on, followed by a video on the history of Robin Island. As soon as we left the harbor area, we didn’t hear any of it because everyone was yelling and laughing hysterically as the boat rocked like mad through the choppy water. We had a couple full barf bags by the end of our trip. Most of our kids were not used to being on a boat…
When we got to the island, we jumped on a tour bus that took us around a quick tour of the island that took us past the leper graveyard, the first prison, penguins, some of the structures established for the guards and their families on the island, and the limestone quarry that the prisoners had spent years of their lives working in (even long after the second prison had been built). Apparently, many of the prisoners had permanent damage due to the massive amounts of chalk dust they had to breathe in every day. The guide said that Nelson Mandela can’t cry because his tear ducts were clogged and injured during his time in the quarry.
After our bus tour, we took a tour of the second prison (the one built by the prisoners themselves). Our guide on this portion of the tour was a man that had been a prisoner himself for “crimes against the state” in the 1980s. He showed us the prison blocks where 20-40 prisoners would live together, the kitchen where large vats of food were thrown together, and the solitary prison cells where more “dangerous” prisoners were kept alone (like Nelson Mandela). Most of these prisoners were the leaders of political organizations.
I think our students enjoyed the chance to get out and see a part of Cape Town they had not been to before. I don’t know that they were severely impacted – but hope that as they learn more about Apartheid that it will sink in a bit more and that the images from Robben Island will stick with them to understand what people had to go through to fight for their freedom. Our students come from the townships that are the result of Apartheid. The townships were created to separate the blacks, colored, and white South Africans – creating more poverty, and therefore violence, a lack of quality education, and a breeding ground for AIDS. All of our students are orphans, mostly due to AIDS and other challenges of living in the townships. A lot has changed since the end of Apartheid, but there are many issues that continue as a result. Even the fact that a 4 white teachers were able to take 8 black students on a field trip and hang out with them as equals probably could not have taken place 20 years ago. I feel very privileged to be able to play my tiny part in the positive changes that are taking place.
