A Hippopotamus at the Table: My true story of life in South Africa at a time of apartheid 1975-78
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A Hippopotamus at the Table: My true story of life in South Africa at a time of apartheid 1975-78
A young woman, with her actor husband and baby travel to South Africa in 1975 at a time when apartheid was at its height. They travelled from the UK to Johannesburg, and then on a thousand mile journey across the Karoo to Cape Town. They lived there for over two years at a time of growing social unrest against the rigid constraints of the apartheid system. The government of the time was clamping down, enforcing rigid censorship and the strict separation of peoples. The children of the townships fermented the riots of 1976, rebelling against the oppressive rules of a hateful system. This is a story of a young family living in those times in South Africa, their attempts to bypass the apartheid system and how its effects crept up on them forcing them to leave. Excerpt from the book: ‘Waiting at the reception desk to check in, I saw the toilet signs for the first time, in both Afrikaans and English – Blanke Dames (White Ladies), Nie Blanke Vrou (Non-White Females) … the first time I had to go, I stood outside, hesitating, feeling that by choosing one I was accepting their distinction.’