《lesson7_mandela#39;s_garden》.ppt

Lesson 7 - Mandelas Garden V. Supplementary Reading warm but it was demanding enough to make all our muscles ache. June and July were the bleakest months on Robben Island. Winter was in the air, and the rains were just beginning. It never seemed to go above forty degrees Fahrenheit. Even in the sun, I shivered in my light khaki shirt. It was then that I first understood the cliche of feeling the cold in ones bones. At noon we would break for lunch. That first week all we were given was soup, which stank horribly. In To be continued on the next page. Lesson 7 - Mandelas Garden V. Supplementary Reading the afternoon, we were permitted to exercise for half an hour under strict supervision. We walked briskly around the courtyard in single file. To be continued on the next page. Lesson 7 - Mandelas Garden V. Supplementary Reading Visits and letters were restricted to first degree relatives. This was a restriction we not only found irksome but racist. The African sense of immediate family is far different from that of the European or Westerner. Our family structures are larger and more inclusive; anyone who claims descent from a common ancestor is deemed part of the same family. In prison, the only thing worse than bad news about ones family is no news at all. It is always harder to cope with the disasters and To be continued on the next page. Long Walk to Freedom (excerpt 2) Lesson 7 - Mandelas Garden V. Supplementary Reading tragedies one imagines than with the reality, however grim or disagreeable. A letter with ill tidings was always preferable to no letter at all. But even this miserable restriction was abused by the authorities. The anticipation of mail was overwhelming. Mail call took place once a month, and sometimes six months would go by without a letter. To be allowed one letter in six months and then not to receive it is a great blow. One wonders: What has happened to my wife and children, to my mother and my sisters? When I