"Madiba is my real father"

Today, I went to Robben Island with Nimtaz. Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was held there for 18 years. He was a member of the African National Congress, which had been banned under the apartheid government. I read his biography this past year and it was a really fascinating book. The Long Walk to Freedom was written during his time in Robben Island on teensy bits of paper because it was obviously banned to write  biography of the struggle during the actual struggle. Our tour guides today consisted of one man who had been a currier for the Pan Africanist Congress and another man who had spent time in Robben Island for being a political activist. The first one gives the tours of Robben Island to foreign dignitaries and met Obama a few years ago before he became President. Both tour guides were FULL of information. The leaders of the struggle were kept separate from the younger rebels to stop any influence the older men may have, but the prisoners found ways around this, including serving tennis balls filled with notes between the courtyards. We were shown Mandela's cell, which is very small.
I also went up Table Mountain again and got a totally different experience. The first time, it was beautiful and bright. Today, it was so windy and there was a little bit of a cloud cover. It was still breathtaking. And I went and dipped my toes in the Atlantic at Camp's Bay, a little town outside the city.
What's so interesting about the culture here is that people a little older than me lived through some of the worst parts of apartheid and people my parents' age basically lived through the entire thing. Everyone has this amazing respect for Mandela and the entire struggle. Their political ideology is all about reconciliation. Forgive and move on. It's the Three M's Method: Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi. Madiba is Mandela's clan name and what people call him affectionately. I overheard a man on top of Table Mountain saying that his father had been imprisoned on Robben Island. Naturally, I followed and eavesdropped. He said his "real" father had been. "Madiba is my real father." I'm not the most political person around, but I do know that I can't say that about anyone in our government..
Tomorrow, I meet my classmates, housemates, and roommate! I am so excited that they finally get here. It seems like I have been here forever, while it also feels like my experience here hasn't even started. I can't wait to meet them!

I'm trying hard on the pictures! Don't give up hope yet!