The sixth week

After my busy weekend in Johannesburg I just had an easy day in school on Monday. Tuesday we did not go to school because we could join to a grade 12 geography class of Bishops to explore the wonderful Elandspad again. We were very happy that Mr Court invited us once more to have an excursion to that beautiful place. We enjoyed the boulder hopping, cliff jumping and swimming through that beautiful waterfall. It is just amazing place. 

Elandspad

Cemmie took some wonderful pictures

On Wednesday we visited the famous Robben Island. This island is located a few kilometres offshore from Cape Town. We took a ferryboat at Waterfront and within half an hour we were on the island. This island is a “World Heritage Site” and it has an interesting history. Over the centuries, the island has housed a prison, a hospital, leper colony and a military base. During the WW II. It was kind of a supply station.  

Robben Island

Prison

Ar the time of Apartheid Government it was a prison for political leaders and anti-apartheid activists. Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of the 27 years of his incarceration imprisoned on Robben Island. Current South African president, Jacob Zuma was also imprisoned on this island. What was really interesting about our tour of the museum on Robben Island was the fact that our tour guide was actually an ex-political prisoner. He told us about his personal experiences at the prison during apartheid as well as the labor the prisoners were made to do. He had very deep voice and he was talking slowly and he repeated everything three times. He explained how difficult the life of a prisoner was if had an individual cell like Nelson Mandela. He was not allowed to communicate with other people, he was not allowed to leave his cell and he was not allowed to read anything.It has also happened that some prisoners forgot how to speak because they were alone for so many years and there was no human interaction. I can’t imagine that. 

Cell of Nelson Mandela

Limestone quarry

It was quite an emotional tour and we got a real picture about their feelings. We saw the limestone quarry where the prisoners were forced to work for years. Limestone is very harmful and it can cause blindness after working with it for a long period. Nelson Mandela’s eyesight was also damaged. After Robben Island I went to Georgia’s house where we changed into our school uniforms and went to Newlands where a big Swimming Gala was organized for top swimmers. We were excellent supporters and it was lots of fun.Thursday I went to school without Steff, because she travelled with her waterpolo team to Johannesburg where the national water polo tournament was kept. On that Thursday also the exchange boys from Bishops, Maarten Kian, Fintan, Vincente and Augustine visited Herschel, so they could experience the daily school life of the Herschel girls. We walked around with them and showed the library, sport fields, swimming pool and classrooms. They als attended to some of the classes. Next week we are going to visit Bishops. That's going to be very interesting.....
In the evening I joined Elise and we went to Bishops to watch the waterpolo match of her nephew Martin. He actually lives in Johannesburg but he had a tournament in Cape Town. He was happy that we supported him. The next morning Elise also went to Johannesburg because she did not want to miss the important matches of Steffs team.Friday after school I spend the all afternoon at Bishops, because there we watched Jeff’s and Martin’s waterpolo matches. In the evening we had supper in a nice restaurant close to the Waterfront with Elise’s family. Before sleeping I packed my bag because in the weekend the next adventure was waiting for me: shark cage diving in Hermanus. 

On the ferry boat