Braving the cold in prayer

Krish Gokool, kneeling, with members of the community offering prayer near Addington Beach. A GROUP of senior citizens from the Aryan Benevolent Home in Chatsworth braved the rain last Thursday to offer prayer to their ancestors near Addington Beach.

After a flame was lit, each of the senior citizens, together with the chairman of the 1860 Heritage Centre, Krish Gokool, took blessings.

“They sacrificed and gave their lives for us. I salute them,” said Mack Mackardoij, a member of Food For Life.

“They contributed in every aspect towards building South Africa to what it is now and more importantly, they set the foundation for us.”

Mackardoij, who is in the process of tracing his family tree, said he was recently informed that his forebears were from the north of Gujarat.

“We want to know more about our roots, so we are trying to garner as much information before we make contact with family in India.”

Hajra Badat said her grandparents instilled the importance of education in her father, who did the same to his children.

Gokool, who has been commemorating the day annually, said: “My dad was a member at the Indian Settlers’ Association, which was formed in 1960, and I was 16 when I joined them to do a small prayer in honour of our ancestors. I liked the thought of keeping our roots alive, so I decided to continue with the tradition.”

He continued: “We always meet at the beach between Addington and uShaka because it’s the point where the ships that carried our forefathers anchored.

“In the low tide, our forefathers, their families and children had to walk to shore from the ships and were then quarantined for a month in Bamboo Square (behind uShaka) to ensure they were not carrying any illnesses. Afterwards, people from sugar companies and farms would go there on ox wagons to take their ‘workers’ away.”

He said the indentured labourers earned peanuts but managed to keep their homes running.

“They pushed their children and educated them, so they would not have the fate they had. And we still see it now in our communities where our kids are doing exceptionally.”