Autobiography launch
Margaret River-based South African writer Ginn Fourie, pictured, is celebrating the release of her autobiography at a free public event on Sunday.
Although the public launch will be a light-hearted affair at the Margaret River Lifestyle Village, the book details Fourie’s harrowing journey since the murder of her 23-year-old daughter in Capetown in the dark days of the early 1990s.
Titled The Lindi Tree: An Autobiography of Hope, Fourie’s work delves into her own history and the birth of her daughter Lindi, who was killed in a politically motivated attack during the chaotic years after the repeal of Apartheid in 1991 and before South Africa’s first general elections in 1994.
Black gunmen killed Fourie’s daughter and four others in the reprisal attack, although the victims were innocent civilians, with Lindi a graduating engineering student.
While she was emotionally devastated by the crime, the author’s story does not end there.
A Supreme Court trial in 1994 gave her the chance to meet Brian Madasi, the man who shot her daughter at point-blank range in what was dubbed the Heidelberg tavern massacre.
Numerous other racially motivated killings occurred during this period, including by government forces. The book outlines Fourie’s reconciliation with Madasi and members of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army, including a treasured invitation to leader Letlapa Mphahlele’s “homecoming” ceremony in Limpopo Province after his release from jail.
“The idea was to put down your spear and put on civilian clothes again and adopt a civilian persona,” Fourie told the Times.
She met Letlapa at his own book launch nine years after her daughter’s murder.
Her spiritual beliefs and experiences helped guide Fourie through the difficult process of coming to terms with the murderers’ actions, and she reconciles this in the book by exploring the attackers’ own upbringings and experiences to reveal the “split” nature of the South African psyche.
“My mission statement was to extend God’s grace to every person I met,” she said.
“The intensity of the experience (of grief) remains, but the terrible pain leaves.
“The experience of conciliation with (my daughter’s) killer has been a huge help in moving that pain.”
Fourie moved to Margaret River in 2015 and said the book documented her story so other people could understand hope was possible in the bleakest of circumstances.
Bill Bunbury and Margot Edwards will host the launch and all are were welcome to attend at 9am sharp. For details, contact fourieginn@gmail.com.
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