In Soweto, South Africa, around ten thousand black schoolchildren marched in a column more than half a mile long on June 16, 1976, to protest against the Bantu Education Act and apartheid. The peaceful march was brutally crushed by police officers. Hundreds of young pupils were shot dead, thousands injured.
Jerry is a contemporary witness. He was there in 1976 when the children took to the streets to protest against the injustice and oppression of the apartheid regime. This regime had passed a plethora of discriminatory laws that deprived the South African majority of basic civil and human rights. One of these was the Bantu Education Act. This stipulated that Afrikaans and English were the languages of instruction in schools. The background to this was the regime’s view that black Africans would only find work as servants for whites. In this respect, it was considered necessary that their language was also spoken. Locally spoken languages such as Zulu were banned.
The pupils were protesting for their right to be taught in their own language. When the police arrived, they immediately opened fire on the pupils.
Jerry was one of them. Together with friends, he hid during the brutal crackdown. They had barely found refuge in an empty hut when a hand grenade flew through the door. To protect his friends and himself, Jerry took the grenade and threw it outside in a high arc. The projectile exploded and tore off half his arm up to the elbow.
His friends and Jerry survived. When Hugo Tempelman met Jerry, he was so impressed by the young man that he hired him immediately. Jerry has been supporting Hugo’s work ever since. He paves the way for new ideas, mediates in disagreements and negotiates with the tribal elders. On the initiative of the Hugo Tempelman Foundation, Jerry was given a prosthetic arm. His work and commitment are more than appreciated.
Today, June 16 is a public holiday in South Africa. Even today, African children still need support. More than 40 years later, good education is still not a matter of course in rural South Africa. The Ndlovu Care Group and the Hugo Tempelman Foundation are actively working to change this.
