Kaffir Boy

Kaffir Boy: A Autobiography--The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane

Amazon Description:

"Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa's most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopelessness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor and humiliation to win a scholarship to an American university. This extraordinary memoir of life under apartheid is a triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable degradation. For Mark Mathabane did what no physically and psychologically battered "Kaffir" from the rat-infested alleys of Alexandra was supposed to do -- he escaped to tell about it."

My Thoughts:

Heartbreaking and powerful, Mathabane's childhood is recounted in this autobiography. At times, it is almost too painful to read about the horrors of life for his family. Living in shocking poverty, they do what is necessary to survive each day. I put myself in the position of Mathabane, a starving child who doesn't understand why he is starving. I put myself in the position of his Mother, not being able to provide for my children and being helpless to change that. It's hard to even imagine, but so painful to even try.

This story is about Mathabane's individual experience in South Africa. It is about apartheid, family dynamics, cultural differences and finding faith.

Every child is born pure; when young Mathabane starts to realize that his circumstances are tied to hatred and racism, it brought me to tears. This young man had the strong will to survive and change his circumstances through education and hope. So many millions of others have not been so luckly.

Admirable and emotional, I highly recommend.