Tolstoy Farm, which became the headquarters of Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha campaign in South Africa, is being revived with support from the Indian government to help visitors understand the important role played by the place in his life. The first phase of a "Garden of Remembrance" at the farm in south of Johannesburg was officially opened by High Commissioner Ruchi Ghanashyam of India, during a function on Monday to commemorate Gandhi's 69th death anniversary.
Ghanashyam said that as soon as she arrived in South Africa she wanted to see Tolstoy Farm which she had learnt about at school. "I was very disappointed and very disheartened to see that this place which played such an important role in Mahatma Gandhi's life, which was important enough for educators in India to consider it necessary for children to learn about this place, was so inaccessible and so badly kept," Ghanashyam said.
"Now facilities have been built for a caretaker so that Tolstoy Farm can be preserved for posterity to help visitors recall the important role that Tolstoy Farm had played in Gandhi's life," Ghanashyam said, explaining that further development plans were in the pipeline. Although a number of committees and individuals had over the years made attempts to revive Tolstoy Farm, lack of funding and bureaucratic procedures made the task difficult.
Kirti Menon, a great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, who was present at the function said it was somewhat ironic that a man committed to non-violence had his life ended by violence. "Tolstoy Farm began as a place of refuge in the early 1900's, and the need for places of refuge still remains true in many different countries, so we have to believe that there are still people who draw inspiration from the life of Gandhi and will continue to provide a safe haven and refuge," Menon said.
"We should all become warriors of peace, warriors of non-violence and warriors of truth, because if we don't take that, then our world will be sad place," she added. Essop Pahad, one of the speakers at the function said: "It is very important for us to understand and accept that South Africans had made a great contribution towards making Gandhi himself understand and come to terms with what it means to engage in mass action."
He also said that a 'Wall of Remembrance' should be built at Tolstoy Farm to acknowledge the heroes and heroines of the freedom struggle from the time of Gandhi. "We should start with the names of those South Africans who participated in the first Satyagraha campaign here in South Africa to liberate our country from the yolk of colonialism, racism and apartheid," Pahad said
