(audio file 1) Two Brothers Soweto is the name of a town in South Africa. It is an enormous ghetto for Black people. Marcus and John Ndanga lived in Soweto. They were brothers and they looked exactly like each other. Marcus and John were identical twins. They were fourteen years old and they went to the same school. It was a school for Black children only. There were lots of children in the school. In fact, there were too many. The classes were very big, sometimes thirty or forty children. It was hard to learn. It was hard to concentrate. There were not enough books, and the classrooms were very old and small. Marcus and John liked to learn, but they did not like their school. - 1 -
Marcus and John stood in the playground. It was dinnertime. They were standing with some of their friends talking and laughing a lot. Just like young people all over the world. Marcus looked over at John. His brother was not laughing or smiling. John looked sad. What s the matter, John? Marcus asked. I was thinking about Susan. I really miss her. She was always in a good mood. She was so happy, and everyone liked her. It s not fair. She should be here, with the rest of us. I know, I miss her too, we all do. Susan should not have gone to the demonstration. Demonstrations are very dangerous. She should have stayed at home, and kept out of trouble. John looked angrily at Marcus. Susan wasn t a trouble-maker. You know that. She was shot in the back. She was running away from the trouble. Susan always hated violence. Marcus knew his brother was telling the truth. The demonstration was peaceful. It was a demonstration by school children. They wanted more books and more teachers. They wanted a better education. The police had attacked without warning. Four children had been shot dead - 2 -
and; many were wounded. The police kicked them and hit them. They even used rhino whips on them. A rhino whip cuts through the skin like a sharp knife. Everyone in Soweto knew what had happened. Everyone was angry. Violence made things worse. Everyday there were more killings. Soweto was like a time-bomb ready to explode! After the killings, things changed at school. The children stopped working. They went on strike. Many of them no longer came to school at all. School was no longer important. What was happening in the streets was important. Soldiers came to the school and they told the children to keep out of trouble. They said trouble-makers would be punished. They would be sent to prison. They also risked being shot. Just keep off the streets and don t get into trouble. In many schools there were soldiers. They made sure the children did their work. In the afternoon, Marcus and John had a history lesson. They learned about 1066. In 1066, William of Normandy invaded England, and the English king, Harald, was killed. An arrow hit him in the eye. John hated history lessons. He hated to learn about White kings and queens. He wanted to learn about his history. The history of Africa, not the history of the Europeans. He whispered into Marcus ear: How can I think about the past? My friends are being killed now! Marcus could hear that John was angry. Now, John was always angry. Susan had been his best friend. They used to talk a lot. Susan was a very intelligent girl. Her father was in prison. He had been in prison for many years. Now Susan was dead, she would never become a doctor like her father. John had changed. He was bitter and angry, and he had stopped his school work. Marcus had to drag him to school every day. We have to work hard, John. We have to get good exam results. I want a good job. I want a future, Marcus said. You re crazy, Marcus, We won t get good jobs. The good jobs are for the Whites. We don t have a future. We are the slaves, slaves in our own country. - 3 -
The history lesson was over. John did not remember a word, and he did not want to. School was over for the day and he was glad. John stood up and left the classroom. Marcus sat in his chair alone in the empty room. He was thinking and he was worried. The two boys started to walk home. They walked slowly, because they were thinking. Marcus and John were young, but sometimes they felt very old. They did not feel like children anymore. Seeing killing changes people. Death makes people old. It was hard to live in Soweto because Soweto was not a normal town. So many people had been killed, and everybody knew someone who had been beaten or tortured or even shot. Violence was becoming a way of life in Soweto. Marcus and John walked past the cinema. It was showing a Western with Clint Eastwood. It was called, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It was a classic film. Marcus and John had seen it before. For a moment the two boys forgot about Soweto. I d like to see that film again, John said. So would I. It s really good. There s lots of action, and they don t talk too much. Let s ask mother for some money when we get home. I like Clint Eastwood. I wish I could shoot like him. One day I will, John said. The boys smiled at each other, and walked onwards. Suddenly Marcus stopped walking. He stood and listened. He could hear shooting. Come on, John. Let s get home quick. John did not move. Then he started to - 4 -
walk towards the sound of the gunfire. Marcus ran after him and grabbed his arm. Marcus shouted at his brother, Where do you think you re going? Mother will hear the shooting. She will start to worry, you know how she is. Remember we promised her we wouldn t get into trouble. You promised her, John said. He looked like he was going to say more, but he did not. He did not say another word. He just turned around and headed for home. Betty Remembers Marcus and John arrived home and they told their mother about the gunfire they had heard. Put the radio on. It ll be on the news, Mrs. Ndanga said. Marcus switched on the little transistor radio, and listened. It was five o clock and the news came on. A deep voice said, The security forces broke up an illegal meeting this afternoon. They came under fire from terrorists. After a short gun-battle ten or eleven terrorists were found shot. The security forces had no casualties. The area is now quiet, and calm has returned to the streets of Soweto. Mrs. Ndanga said, Switch the radio off and go and do your homework. I don t want to hear anymore. I hate all this violence, all of this horrible killing. We are all Christians in this house, and we must trust God. He will remember his Black children. He will remember all the dead, and one day he will give us our freedom. We must all wait for that wonderful day. We have to wait, and we have to pray. Violence will get us nowhere. Now go and do your homework. Yes, Mother, the two boys quickly said. Betty Ndanga was a little woman with short grey hair. She had a kind face and her eyes were big and bright. She was little, but she was strong and she worked very hard. She was a cleaner in a local hospital. It was a hard job and the pay was not very good. Her life was hard. She was alone with two boys. Betty had been alone for a long time. Betty was - 5 -
a proud woman, and she was never bitter. She accepted her life because she had faith in God. She believed God loved all his children, Black and White, rich and poor. In God s eyes everyone was equal. There were three important things in Betty Ndanga s life; her two sons, going to church, and her job. Betty Ndanga s husband was dead. He had been a miner in the world s deepest mine. It was also the world s most dangerous mine. It was a goldmine, and John Ndanga s job was very difficult. The conditions in the deep mine were terrible. Mr. Ndanga was lucky because he could go home every day. Many of the other miners came from other countries, like Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. They could not go home after work. They only went home once a year. One day John did not come home. Mrs. Ndanga went to the mine where she asked about her husband. She was told the bad news. There had been an accident, and John had been killed. Betty Ndanga was sad, but she was not surprised. She used to say to her husband: John, the gold is covered in blood. It can never be cleaned. It is the blood of Black men. Your job is so dangerous. Every day when I see you go, I wonder, Will I ever see you again? I know, Betty. I know my job is dangerous, but I have to have a job. No job - no money. We ve got two sons. What will happen to them if I earn no money? Betty Ndanga just said, I know too, John. I know too. I just wish your job was safer. I don t know what I would do without you. I need you. I don t want to live alone. I pray every day. I ask God to keep you safe for me. That was ten years ago. Betty had been alone for ten long hard years. Soon her two sons would try to find work, but it would be hard. At least five out of every ten were out of work in Soweto. But, Betty Ndanga would never let her sons become miners! - 6 -
Betty watched her two sons going upstairs. An hour later Betty came up and asked them if they had done their homework. The boys said yes, but it was not true. John had not done his homework. He had not done it for weeks. Betty did not know this and Marcus thought, What will happen when she finds out? Dinner will be ready soon, Betty said. Afterwards you must go straight to bed. We all have a very busy day tomorrow. Yes, Mother, said the boys. Betty Ndanga looked at her twin sons. They looked just like their father, Betty smiled to herself. She had two fine sons. She felt very lucky. The Changes It was a beautiful morning. The air was clear and the sky was blue. Up above, the yellow sun was shining. Marcus crawled out of bed and called over to his brother: Wake up, John. It s time to get up. We mustn t be late. If we are, Mother will be very angry. All right, all right, John said. I m coming, don t rush me. Marcus knew his brother s ways. John turned over and went back to sleep. Marcus ran over to John s bed and pulled all the covers off. John sat up at once. See, I m wide awake. I have been for hours! But your eyes are still closed! Marcus shouted. Oh yes, of course. My eyes are still asleep, but the rest of me is awake. Marcus threw a pillow at John. It hit him in the face. Then John threw a pillow at Marcus. Soon it was total war! The two brothers had a really good fight, and they enjoyed themselves enormously. - 7 -
At last the boys came downstairs. They were dressed in their best Sunday clothes. The clothes they wore to church. Their mother was sitting waiting for them in the kitchen. Good morning, Boys. You are only half an hour late. Now come and eat your breakfast. I want you both to be very good today. Today is a very sad day and not a day for games. It is not a day for jokes and it is not a day for trouble. Remember, if you get into trouble I will be very angry. You both know that nothing on earth is worse than my anger. The two brothers looked at each other. They knew it was true. Betty Ndanga continued: We are going to a funeral where we shall see some children buried. Four children just like you. They were young and they were foolish. They should have stayed in school. I don t like strikes or demonstrations. I ve never been on strike in my life. Strikes and demonstrations are not for children. Now we will never see them again, not until we join them in heaven. They were not trouble-makers, Mother. They were murdered. Two of them were shot in the back of the head, John said. I know, John. I know what happened. We all know, and it hurts us all. We have to be careful. Getting excited won t help. We must all keep calm, and not do anything to provoke the police. We have to wait. Wait for what, Mother? Shall we wait until we are all killed? Mrs. Ndanga looked at John. She was very, very angry. She had never, ever heard John speak to her like that. Her boys always did what she told them, they always agreed with her. They always listened to her and they were always polite, good boys. What was happening? Things were changing, Soweto was changing, South Africa was changing. Now, her boys were changing, too. Betty Ndanga felt afraid. What would happen in the future? What other changes were waiting? What we need are guns; lots of guns. We have to fight back! shouted John. - 8 -
Marcus looked at him. Marcus looked into a face exactly like his own. It was like looking into a mirror. Marcus was five minutes older than John and he always thought of John as his Little Brother. Sometimes he felt five years older than John. John was quick. He was the fastest runner in the school, and he never liked to wait for anything. He liked action and he liked to do everything now. John liked football, but Marcus liked chess. The boys were really very different. No, Marcus said. I don t think guns will help. They are not the whole answer. We will only get killed faster. The Whites have the best army in all Africa. They are too strong for us. Remember what our teacher said? He said they have the atomic bomb, too. They could drop one on Soweto and we would all be killed. We have to wait. We have to plan and think. We have to wait for the right time, and then attack and attack and attack. The weak have to be cleverer than the strong. Betty Ndanga looked and listened to her boys. They talked so strangely and she did not understand everything they said. Her boys did not talk like boys anymore. They were no longer children, they were young men. Mrs. Ndanga felt angry, but she did not know what to say. She thought to herself: The violence and the killing have changed them. My two little boys are no more. Nobody spoke, they sat in total silence. It was strange. They all felt that something had happened, but they did not know what. Nothing would ever be quite the same again. Soweto is Marching The Ndanga family left their home. The road outside was full of people. They looked to the left and to the right. As far as the boys could see there were people, thousands and thousands of people. All Soweto was marching, over 30,000 people were on the move. They were singing songs and some were shouting slogans. Some of the songs were old - 9 -
African songs, some were church songs. There were new songs, too. Songs about freedom and liberation, and songs of solidarity. There were hundreds of banners saying things like, Freedom Now!, Justice, Democracy Today!, Free Nelson Mandela! and A.N.C.... Mrs. Ndanga and the boys joined the crowd and started to march. Betty Ndanga saw lots of people she knew. She saw her priest who was an old man with short white hair. Good morning, Mrs. Ndanga. It s nice to see you. You have your two fine sons with you. Hello, Boys, I don t see you in church anymore. You used to come all the time. Now you only come on Sunday. What is the matter? We always come on Sundays. We haven t got the time to come on other days because we ve got lots of school work to do. I m sorry, said Marcus. The old priest looked at the two boys. He liked them. Once they had been his favourites. They sang in church. They read their Bibles every day. Now he hardly ever saw them. He had known them since they were little babies and he had watched them grow up. But the boys had changed. Many, many of the young people had changed and it irritated him, and it also made him feel sad. They had turned their backs on Jesus. All you young people say the same thing: We haven t got time. The truth is you don t want to come to church. All you want to do is make trouble and talk about freedom and politics. What do you know about freedom and politics? You are only children, only children. You don t even know what the words mean. You will get into serious trouble and end up in prison, then you will ask me to get you out. Then you will remember the silly old priest. I know, Father, said Mrs. Ndanga. Young people today aren t like we were. They want everything now. They don t want to wait for anything. They have no respect. I don t know where it will all end. Who has told them about politics? We never heard anything when we were young. - 10 -
We just worked hard and went to church. I don t understand the young any more, and I don t want to! Betty Ndanga and the old priest looked at each other and they shook their heads slowly. Then they said goodbye to one another, and parted. It was a very hot day. The sun was strong and the air was full of dust from thousands of marching feet. It was good to march and to be together. Marcus and John felt happy and strong when they sang with the others. Thousands of voices were singing one song and it sounded as if they sang with one voice. The voice of a giant walking through the land. The boys saw lots of soldiers and policemen, all heavily armed. Many of the policemen were Black. The Whites took the police from one tribe and used them to attack another tribe. Now anyone who worked for the White regime was in danger. Their houses were attacked and they were even killed. Marcus did not like the killing, but he understood why it happened. It was part of the revolution. It was a war. The regime had to be destroyed, and those who helped the White regime were enemies. It did not matter if they were White or Black. It was not a question of colour, but of whose side you were on. - 11 -
The Black policemen looked very nervous. Everyone knew who they were and what they had done. No one would forget their faces. There were many tanks standing on the street corners. Their guns pointed at the marchers. Marcus felt like someone was holding a knife at his throat. It was a bad feeling. The White soldiers watched them march by. The soldiers were waiting, waiting for orders, like soldiers always do. (audio file 2) The Young Revolutionaries (audio At last they reached the graveyard. The marchers stopped singing and stood in total silence. No one moved and slowly the dust settled. Everyone was waiting, waiting for someone to speak. Then suddenly they heard a voice over the loudspeakers. Brothers and Sisters, welcome. This is a sad day for all of us. Today we bury our dead. Four families have lost children, and we are all sad. We will remember who shot them and why. They died for freedom. We ask for freedom and the regime kills our children. We ask for justice and they answer with bullets. We demand human rights and they slaughter us like animals! One day we will no longer ask for freedom we will just - 12 -
take it! Much blood will flow. That time is near, but I pray it will never come. I am a man of God. I am a priest and a Christian. I hate violence. There must be another way to freedom. Let us pray together now. Let us pray for our freedom. The Whites must give us freedom soon, or it will be too late, and our beautiful country will drown in a river of blood! The young priest stopped speaking. Tears rolled down his face. He closed his eyes and bowed his head and prayed with all his heart. Thousands of people in the crowd started to pray as well. Betty Ndanga prayed too. She prayed for a peaceful future. She prayed for her two fine sons. She prayed for everyone, for Black and for White. Suddenly a young man ran up to the microphone. He grabbed it and started to shout. His voice was full of fire. Comrades! The time has come! The years of waiting are over! We shall have our freedom today! Down with tyranny! Down with slavery! We shall get our country back, but we must fight for our freedom. No one will give it to us, so we must take it. The battle will be hard and some of us will not see victory. But in the end we will win and we will be free. History is on our side. Remember, it is better to die as a free man, standing on one s feet, than to live as a slave on one s knees! For a moment there was silence. The shock waves spread through the crowd. Then, suddenly, the crowd gave a huge roar. Thousands and thousands of young men and women started to cheer, shout, and clap. At last with one voice they began to shout one word, Freedom, freedom, freedom. Betty Ndanga did not shout with the young. Betty felt afraid. The sound of so many angry voices was frightening. Betty looked over at Marcus and John. They, too, were shouting and cheering. Betty felt even more afraid. The anger of the young was real. Mrs. Ndanga closed her eyes and prayed even harder trying to block out the sound of freedom. After ten minutes the chanting of freedom stopped. The crowd became still again, and the bodies were slowly lowered into the dry ground. They - 13 -
would not be seen again, but they would not be forgotten. For the people of Soweto they were four more martyrs. The mass funeral was now over. Mrs. Ndanga stood talking to some friends. Marcus and John went up to their mother and John said: Can we please go home now, Mother? Yes, you can. But be careful, there are lots of police and soldiers about, and I don t like the look of them. Go straight home and don t get into any trouble. If you see other boys throwing stones, don t you start. That s the quickest way to get into trouble. Are you listening? Do you both understand me? Yes, Mother, we understand. We won t do anything wrong. Good, I m glad to hear that. I ll be home later. I just want to have a little chat with my friends over at the church. Tank Attack Thousands of people were now leaving the huge graveyard. Once again the dust started to rise into the air. Marcus pointed up at the sky and said to John, Look, it s an army helicopter. They are spying on us. I don t like it. There are so many soldiers around. Something is going to happen, I m sure of it. There s a strange atmosphere. I can feel it in the air. We should have stayed with Mother. Over there, said John. On that little hill. There s a tank and the gun is turning this way. Slowly the tank s turret turned. The big machine-gun moved up and down. As the boys looked at the tank it started to fire! Ra-ta-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta-ta. The tank was firing into the huge crowd of people! Without any warning it had opened fire! All around Marcus and John people were screaming. An old man next to John was hit. He fell to the ground and John looked down at him. John wished he hadn t! He wanted to help, but - 14 -
it was no good. John could see it was no good. The old man was dead. The heavy machine-gun bullet had hit him in the face. John had never seen a person die before. He had never seen so much blood. It was a horrible, terrible thing to sec. John turned away, he bent over and was violently sick. Now there was panic all around. People were running in every direction. They did not even know where they were running. They just wanted to get away. They wanted to be safe. But where was safe? The firing seemed to be coming from every direction. Come on, said Marcus. Let s get out of here. This is a massacre! He led the way, and the two brothers ran out of the graveyard. I knew this would happen. I knew they would attack. I hope Mother is safe, Marcus said. What shall we do, Marcus? John asked. Marcus thought for a moment, then he said. We can t do anything. We had better get home as fast as we can. It s too dangerous to try to get to the church, Mother is probably inside the church, and she ll be safe there. The stone walls are solid like a castle. I m sure she ll be all right. They won t attack the church. Don t worry, John. She always says, Keep out of trouble. She knows how to look after herself. I m sure of it. - 15 -
John was not sure that Marcus was right, but he hoped that he was. Marcus smiled at his brother, and hoped that he was right, too. The two boys moved off. They could hear the tank firing behind them. The road was full of people trying to escape. Marcus and John stopped by a shop. It was a butcher s shop. The brothers were tired and out of breath. They needed a rest. For a while the boys relaxed. The shooting had stopped and they felt safe again. Suddenly another tank started to come up the street towards them. The tank opened fire and the people in the street stopped moving. They just looked at the tank watching the flames come out of the gun. Then all at once they turned around and ran. They ran back up the street, back to the graveyard and the other tank! We re trapped. There are tanks in front and behind us. It s totally hopeless. We re going to be killed. Everyone s going to be killed! shouted Marcus almost hysterically. John looked at his brother. He looked very scared, and he was shaking. Marcus was usually in control. He always had the right answers in school, but now he didn t have any answers and he didn t know what to do. Now John had to lead. Now John had to think of something and it was hard! He looked around but couldn t think of anything to say! John was angry with himself. He kicked the glass - 16 -
door of the shop hard. The glass door smashed into a thousand pieces and John walked through the opening into the shop! He turned and said to Marcus, Come on, Marcus. Don t just stand there! We ll go through the shop and get out the back way. Maybe we can get home that way. If we stay here we re finished. Marcus just said, Mother wouldn t like this. Then he followed John into the butcher s shop. It was dark in the shop and it was cool. The two boys went into the back of the shop. Marcus looked at the meat hanging on big metal hooks. There was sawdust on the floor and in places there was blood. There were pigs, and cows, and sheep, and they were all dead. He didn t like it. The butcher s shop was too much like the street outside. John opened the back door, and stepped out into the daylight. The air smelt better than in the shop, and Marcus was glad that he was outside again in the fresh air too. I can smell tear-gas, said John. Marcus sniffed the air. You re right, it s tear-gas. I can hear shooting as well. It s not over yet. We have to get home, Marcus said. And remember, John, don t tell Mother about the glass door. All right, all right. Don t worry so much, Marcus. It was only a door. Worse things have happened today. We have seen people killed! Keep on Running! The two brothers started to walk along the road behind the shop. Now the two boys felt safe. They had survived, and it felt good to be alive. Marcus and John looked at one another and smiled. Suddenly they saw a small tank in front of them. It was only about thirty metres away. The soldier on top pointed at them, and shouted something they did not understand. Marcus and John turned and started to run. They ran as fast as they could. John was in front of Marcus leading the way. John - 17 -
could run faster than Marcus. The tank came after the boys. Marcus was getting tired and he had a pain in his side. His chest felt like it was going to explode. Somehow Marcus kept on running. He knew that he had to keep moving. If he stopped running he was finished! Marcus followed John. John ran to the right, then to the left, then right again. Still the green tank came after them. There was no escape, and no one to help, and Marcus could hear the tank getting nearer! John looked over his shoulder at Marcus. Marcus screamed at him: Don t look back! Don t stop! Keep on running! No matter what happens, keep moving! It s our only chance! John heard the sound of a machine-gun behind him. He felt the bullets fly past his ears, but he did not look back. He kept on running, and he hoped that Marcus was still behind him! Up ahead there were two small roads, one to the left and one to the right. There was also a high stone wall. I think I can climb over. If I jump as high as I can, I could grab the top and pull myself over, John thought to himself. John ran straight at the wall. Faster and faster he ran. Then he jumped and his hands grabbed for the top. John held on to the top. He only thought of one thing - getting over the wall. John dragged himself up, and up, and then over. He dropped down to the ground. He had done it. He was over the wall! He was safe! John sat on the ground, with his back against the stone wall. John opened his eyes, and looked to the left, and then the right. Marcus was not there! Marcus was still on the other side of the wall! John stood up. His whole body was shaking. What had happened to Marcus? Why hadn t he climbed over the wall? John did not want to look, but he knew that he had to. He had to know what had happened. John s hands were hurting like hell. He looked down at them. They were cut and bleeding. How had that happened? John looked up at the high stone wall. Now he understood. The wall had broken glass all along the - 18 -
top. He had not even noticed when he climbed over! Very carefully, John climbed to the top, and peeped over the wall. Marcus was ten metres away, lying on the ground. He was slowly crawling towards the wall. Marcus was not dead! He was alive! He was holding his left leg. He had been hit. Marcus reached the wall, looked up at John and smiled at him. What happened to you? John asked. Where is the tank? How come you re alive? Help me over this wall and I ll tell you. I don t like it out here. The tank may come back this way. We ll be safer on the other side of the wall. John helped his brother over the high stone wall. Be careful of the glass on top, John said. It s very sharp. As soon as he was on the other side, Marcus told John his story. They shot at me, but the bullets missed. They hit the road beside me, and a piece of stone flew up and hit me in the leg. I fell over and I didn t move. I wanted them to think I was dead. The tank drove by me and they shot at me again. The bullet was only five centimetres from my - 19 -
head! I ve never been so scared in my life! I was so lucky. It was a miracle. When I looked up the tank was gone, and I was alive! John looked at Marcus leg. It was bleeding and it looked bad. How do you feel, Marcus? Can you walk? I m all right. I think I can walk. The wound in my leg looks horrible, doesn t it? But don t worry, John, it isn t as bad as it looks. Your hands look much worse. Don t worry, we ll get home. We can make it. Listen it ll soon be dark. When the night comes we ll go, and the darkness will protect us. Let s just wait for the dark to come. I feel so tired, John. I need to rest for a bit. Marcus lay down on the ground and in a moment his eyes were closed. John watched his big brother sleeping. Then he looked up and looked around. John saw that they were sitting in an enormous, beautiful garden. It was very strange. It was full of flowers and green plants. John had never seen such a beautiful garden before, and never in a place like Soweto. He wondered who lived there. It felt good to be in the garden and it felt safe. Nothing could hurt them in the garden. John felt very happy. He looked down at Marcus again, and slowly his eyes closed too. The Journey Home The two brothers slept for hours. When they woke up it was dark. Where are we? Marcus asked. We re in a beautiful garden. There are lot of plants and flowers, it must be a special place. One day we ll have to come back here. We can take Mother with us, she d love it here, John said. God! said Marcus. What about Mother? Do you think she got home safely? I hope so, Marcus. Come on, let s get home, and we ll find out. We can t stay here forever. John helped Marcus to his feet. They moved carefully through the strange garden. It was very dark, and it was hard to see where they - 20 -
were going. After about five minutes they came to another high stone wall. It was not hard to climb over because there was no glass on the top. On the other side of the wall there was a road. The two boys went to the left and walked for half an hour. Every time they saw soldiers or police, they hid in the bushes. Sometimes they heard shooting. At last they came to an area which they knew. Now they were not far from home. All the time the two boys thought about their mother. Would she be waiting for them? It won t be long now, Marcus. We ll soon be home. Marcus and John walked up to their front door. They both hoped that their mother was there. John opened the door and helped Marcus in. They could smell dinner cooking and hear their mother working in the kitchen. She too was safe. Marcus and John looked at each other and smiled, she was safe! Where have you boys been? I ve been very worried. Lots of people have been shot today. It was a massacre. I ran into the church and prayed with all my heart. I asked God to protect you. My prayers have been answered. Betty Ndanga looked at Marcus leg. Then she looked at John s hands. I don t want to know what happened to you. You are home safe and that is the most important thing. I won t ask any questions. You re not little babies anymore, I can sec that. I know that. You have your own ideas and that is only right and proper. I will clean your wounds and everything will be all right. I will see to that. Afterwards we ll have a nice dinner, and you two won t have to do the washing-up! Betty Ndanga smiled and looked at her two fine sons. Then she started to laugh. She was so happy. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. Marcus and John began to laugh, too. It was good to be home. Slaughter in Soweto by Michael Windsor Kaleidoscope 1998-21 -