He welcomed us to his home. We sat at the edges of a crowded prison cell, with cold steel bunks and an unforgiving concrete floor, and the man called it is home.

Modise, a former inmate of Robben Island, thanked our group for visiting and learning about the sorted history of the island and its inhabitants. He smiled to us. He prodded and joked because our mood was sombre and depressed. His explanation being that coming to work each day can be challenging in and of itself and that our negative expressions would not ease that burden.