Journey to Jo’burg

Author/Guide: Beverly Naidoo

Why a Booktrail?

1940s – 1990s: This is the story of love, commitment and the flowering of the human spirit against the background of South Africa’s apartheid.

ISBN: 978-0007263509
Genre: Childrens, Historical

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What you need to know before your trail

Thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro live in an isolated village in South Africa. They live a simple life with few if not amenities, so when their baby sister gets ill, they’re afraid she’ll die without proper care and attention.

Not knowing what else to do, they run away from their grandmother to Johannesburg to find their mother, who works in the city as a maid.

As they travel to her, their journey illustrates just how grim apartheid was and the every day reality of living with it in every moment of your life. The children go on a journey in more ways than one and each step relives a moment in the history of the country and shows the reality of South African life.

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Travel Guide

Apartheid

An important journey for these children in more ways than one. From their small village, they venture on a journey of over 300km in order to reach the city of Johannesburg. Each step is an obstacle of sorts. From the Bantustans (the territories set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa), the pass laws, the racism and the horror of segregation and hatred.

The contrast between their starting point and Johannesburg is shocking. Their village is poor and no more than dirt tracks. The people here are poor and black. So when these children attempt to cross the land and reach the “white land of plenty” then the opulence of the rich people’s homes is shocking.

The physical journey they undertake shows you just how they and others like them start to realise just what kind of country they live in and what apartheid actually means in the every day. However there are people they meet along the way who protect them and show them the true human spirit against evil.

Real historical events such as the uprising of students in Soweto is also explained.