Facing up to the
injustices of the past
T
By Davina Patel
he Dalai Lama once said that the fabric of society is
kindness. Without kindness, compassion and care for
individuals, society cannot succeed and develop. So how
do communities repair when violence leaves scars? South
Africa is an example of a country torn apart by wars, colonialism,
slavery and Apartheid, but one woman’s story of forgiveness gives
hope to a nation still living with the effects of war.
‘Without forgiveness there can be no future for a relationship
between individuals or within and between nations’ – Archbishop
Desmond Tutu.
South African Ginn Fourie, a mother who lost her daughter to
Apartheid in the Heidelberg Tavern massacre in 1993, has forgiven
the man [Letlapa Mphahlele] who ordered the fatal attack. Her
story of forgiveness and reconciliation shared in Beyond Forgiving,
has ins