On May 28th,
Our journey to the church took us from the suburbs of Cape Town, which are much like the suburbs of a European city, out of the city, and into
the black townships that are located 3-5 miles outside town.
We woke up in our apartment and got ready to visit J.L. Zwane Presbyterian Church for the first time. (Karen had been there in 2003) .
Our journey to the church took us from the suburbs of Cape Town, which are much like the suburbs of a European city, out of the city, and into
the black townships that are located 3-5 miles outside town. 
We arrived at the church 
(after getting terribly lost) in the morning and were welcomed by the Senior Pastor, Rev. Spiwo Xapile
and the Associate Pastor, Edwin Louw
. After a brief tour, we were off to Robben Island, with Lumi, Pastor Spiwo's son, to see the famous prison off the coast of Cape Town where, during Apartheid, the government imprisoned political prisoners, and where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years.
(after getting terribly lost) in the morning and were welcomed by the Senior Pastor, Rev. Spiwo Xapile
and the Associate Pastor, Edwin Louw
. After a brief tour, we were off to Robben Island, with Lumi, Pastor Spiwo's son, to see the famous prison off the coast of Cape Town where, during Apartheid, the government imprisoned political prisoners, and where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years.Our journey to Robben Island proved to be an interesting one. Very few of us on the boat used to get us to the Island had any belief that it would ever make it there. The seas below Cape Town are rough and this boat looked rather small for the conditions. 
Our fellow tourists were the truly interesting aspect of the trip though. They were black workers from the farms outside of Stellenbosch (wineries mostly). The owner of the farm had paid for them to go to Robben Island.
Our fellow tourists were the truly interesting aspect of the trip though. They were black workers from the farms outside of Stellenbosch (wineries mostly). The owner of the farm had paid for them to go to Robben Island.
We learned that the workers on these farms are incredibly poor and have little access to education. For the most part, they spend their entire lives on these farms/wineries and have little idea what is going on in the rest of the world.
Many of them also suffer from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome because, during Apartheid, the owners of the farms would pay the workers with the bad wine from their farm instead of money and so there alcoholism developed into a very deep problem in those communities.
Once on Robben Island, 
we learned a great deal about the dynamic of Political Prisoners under Apartheid: How they were treated, how people were deteremined to be political prisoners.
we learned a great deal about the dynamic of Political Prisoners under Apartheid: How they were treated, how people were deteremined to be political prisoners.After we returned to Cape Town, we said good bye to Lumi to get home to our apartment, to figure out how to buy groceries for dinner that night. We ended up with Ostrich burgers and green beans: a great meal.
Rev. Chris Bullock
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