The
Secret Thread: Personal Journeys Beyond Apartheid
by Deborah Ewing has been published by UNISA Press.
Ewing took up the challenge of 'mapping' The Secret Thread many years ago,
tracing the stories and footsteps of the hundreds of grantees of the Christian
Fellowship Trust. The CFT was founded by Dr. Beyers Naude with the support of
British businessman Sir Derrick Bailey in 1964.
Sir Derrick (brother of Jim Bailey of Drum
Magazine), believed that direct confrontation with the Apartheid Government
would not bring change. Instead, he thought the key to challenging apartheid
was through the Dutch Reformed Church. The idea was to use travel as a
transforming experience, more powerful than indoctrination, to drive a 'Trojan
Horse' into the citadel of Apartheid theology.
The CFT travel grants exposed individuals,
black and white, initially within the DRC and later other denominations, to
people and situations that questioned everything they had been taught about
race and religion. The tours, on which grantees travelled as couples and stayed
in homes rather than hotels, provided opportunities for reflection and respite,
for confrontation and solidarity.
(Deborah
Ewing)
The
Secret Thread refers to the ‘legally subversive’
network that spread across South Africa to the UK, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Germany and to Namibia. In South Africa, Ilse Naudé wove this
thread, meticulously organising the itineraries and contacts of those who would
travel - over a period of 30 years - so that they would be able to meet
liberation leaders in exile and activists on the run without putting themselves
or others at risk. In London, CFT Secretary Alison Harvey not only managed the
grantee tours but ensured that their perspectives reached the ears of community
leaders and decision-makers. As a result, CFT was instrumental in organising
the programmes of the International Commission of Jurists in South Africa, and
arranging parliamentary visits to Namibia to ‘hear the cry of the people’ as
the South African government delayed independence.
The
Secret Thread is a collection of connections
between people. Sometimes it is the shimmering filament of an idea shared
across continents. Sometimes it is the instant bond between strangers standing
side by side in a crisis. Sometimes it is the whisper, the scribbled note or
the handshake that starts someone on a journey through humanity.
Tribute must be paid to Dr.Beyers Naudé who
at 87 years old in 2002 reviewed the manuscript for The Secret Thread page by page. Credit must also be given for this
project to the then editor of Unisa Press' Hidden
Histories Series, Raymond Suttner, who first saw the value of publishing
the story of the CFT, and to the current Unisa team under Tshego Sehlodimela
who saw it through.
Ewing first came to South Africa for the
Anti-Apartheid Movement as an undercover journalist during the 1988 State of
Emergency and shortly after joined the Christian Fellowship Trust committee in
London. She returned to SA in 1993 as a peace monitor for the Ecumenical
Monitoring Programme headed by Dr Beyers Naudé. In 1994, Deborah gave up a new
appointment as head of the Women's Environmental Network in London, to work on
democracy education in KZN for the months leading up to the 1994 elections -
and stayed for 24 years. She worked for many years as a journalist, child
rights activist and HIV treatment activist. She lives in Durban and is
currently Advocacy Manager for sexual and reproductive health rights at the
AIDS Foundation.
Jane Argall is a research, writing and
editing specialist, who has edited several important biographical works,
including Albert Luthuli : Bound by Faith
by Scott Couper, Theophilus Shepstone and
the forging of Natal by Jeff Guy
and the just published A Life in Letters:
Selected Correspondence of Denis Hurley with Paddy Kearney and Father Philippe
Denis. Argall has been involved with the process of writing up the story of
the CFT since it started. In 2003 she travelled to the UK to go through the CFT
archive held by Alison Harvey. She first met Ewing during preparations for the
1994 elections and since 2003 has worked extensively with her to realise the
publication of The Secret Thread.
The launch of the book was opened with a
song by Reverend Danny Chetty who shared his involvement with the CFT. He was
part of the CFT network in SA and the UK. This included briefing grantees on
the situation on the KZN South Coast and explaining how what was described as
black-on-black violence in the media was orchestrated by the apartheid State. Rev
Chetty consulted often with Dr Beyers Naudé, discussing how 'Everyone can play
a role in eradicating evil, one chip at a time - the Christian Fellowship Trust
was chipping away at the block of apartheid.'
Published by UNISA Press, The Secret Thread comprised 360 pages
and is priced at R356. ISBN 978 1 86888 904 4. Order enquiries to Cedric
Sissing on email: cedricatadams@gmail.com or phone 082 873 2702
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