Robben Island ~ Lawbreakers, Lunatics & Lepers

Life in a Leper Colony. What would it be like? Separated. Left to die, alone. Banished.
Our family recently visited Robben Island. Home for lepers, ‘lunatics’ and ‘lawbreakers.’
Sign in the photo says: Leper Graveyard

The Church of the Good Shepherd was Anglican and built for lepers.
No pews, lepers would stand or lay on the ground.

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Political prisoners were kept in maximum security. Murderers, thieves and rapists were in medium security. Our guide pictured here is Cepo Ingozi ~ his name means gift & king. He was a political prisoner sentenced to 10 years but served five, he was released 1 year after Mandela.

As you may know Mandela’s cataract surgery was complicated by his non-working tear-ducts destroyed while laboring in the quarry. Prisoners were told to dig a whole one day, and the next fill it back up.
When they would reieve a letter from loved ones, each part of the letter would be marked up and illegible except for the greeting and goodbye.
Mandela’s exact cell is pictured below. The cells were smaller than the dog kennels.

Nelson Mandela went on to become South Africa’s first democratically elected president and a global icon battling injustice and raising the flag of equality and human rights.
It was a very sobering trip to Robben Island however we were on a very nice tourist boat that drops you right into a souvenir shop. Not pictured.