Youth Day is celebrated to remember the children that tragically lost their lives in one of the darkest moments of South African history - the Soweto Uprisings in 1976. Children from various schools in Soweto gathered to protest the introduction of Africaans as a mandatory school subject. It is estimated that as many as 20,000 children participated and were in turn met with unthinkable police brutality.
According to official records 176 children died but it is alleged that the figure could be as high as 700. Among the first students to be shot dead were 15 year old Hastings Ndlovu and 13 year old Hector Pieterson. The famous shot of Hector Pieterson being carried away will haunt South Africans forever.
Due to police efforts to cover it up it is hard to find out exactly how many children were shot in the back as they were running away, but there were many.
The uprisings were, in many ways, the beginning of the end for Aparthied and we have the bravery of those young people to thank for the eventual end of a dark and shameful period in South Africa's history.
We decided to make the most of a beautiful autumn day and go for lunch in Kalk Bay at a lovely place called The Courtyard which I had never been to before but can highly recommend, the menu was one of the best I've seen in a while in terms of vegetarian options.
With full bellies we then set off on a walk along the coast line to Muizenberg and back before settling in for some serious puzzle time at Pia's house.
It may not look like much but that's two solid hours of searching for straights and corners and splitting the rest into colour piles. My brain hurt by the time I left.
I got home looking forward to a reasonably early night only to get an impromptu visit from a.....friend. We'll leave it at that for now I think! 😉
