Last Day - Robben Island and Home

What can I say??? What an amazing adventure we have had and I cannot believe it is our last day already. Seems like just yesterday we were all boarding a plane, a bit nervous of what was ahead of us and now it is coming to a close.

We started our day quite early - packing up our things and bringing our suitcases down for the last time and loaded them on the bus.

After breakfast, we headed off to the Waterfront to board our Yacht for the ride over to Robben Island. Luckily the water was calm and the ride was smooth. Once we arrived at the island, we boarded a bus to take us over to the prison where our guide, a former inmate there, gave us a tour of the prison. He talked about the harsh and sometimes inhumane conditions they lived in. He talked about the disparity in treatment depending on your race, whites and coloreds were treated better than the blacks. We saw the cell in which Mr. Mandela was held as well. From the prison, we made our way around the island, seeing a couple of churches and a school and a breathing taking view. We also saw the quarry where the prisoners, like Mr. Mandela and Walter Sisulu, mined limestone. Now at the quarry is a rock pile - the first rock was placed by Mr. Mandela and then one by each other prisoner and diplomat who came to a reunion after Robben Island was closed. A quote by Cristo Brand sums up the feeling of Robben Island: "The legacy of Mandela is here on Robben Island. This prison has been turned into a place where people come and learn about how we can all get along. Mandela got what he was fighting for and he created a place where we can all live in harmony."

Some other facts about Robben Island - it used to be a leper colony and had a large hospital there. One of only 7 Kramats in South Africa is on the island - the Moturu Kramat, a sacred site for Muslim pilgrimage on Robben Island, was built in 1969 to commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. Moturu, one of Cape Town's first imams, who was exiled to the island in the mid-1740s and died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine before leaving the island.

After our tour, it was back to the boat and the mainland. Then the goodbyes started as our group separated with Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, the Midwest, some of the national kids and Maryland left for the airport. Tears flowed - and continued to flow as our group got smaller and smaller as our respective flights took off.

In the end, THANK YOU for sharing your children with us. They were all amazing, smart, compassionate, intelligent, caring, witty young adults. We will all be forever changed having experienced this together. Can't wait to see you all again in the future. Keep us leaders updated on what you are doing. We know you are going to do amazing things in your lifetime. What a privilege this has been.