| Author: | John Behardien | ISBN: | 9780993516931 |
| Publisher: | Duncurin Publishing | Publication: | March 1, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | John Behardien |
| ISBN: | 9780993516931 |
| Publisher: | Duncurin Publishing |
| Publication: | March 1, 2017 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
ESCAPE FROM APARTHEID TO A BETTER WAY OF LIFE
As an excited young man my father, like just about everyone else, ran down to the sea front in Cape Town, 1923 to catch a glimpse of HMS Hood, the most beautiful and most powerful 'battleship' that the world had seen. He told me when Ii was a youngster that everyone was amazed that day at who could have designed and built such a ship and then sent it for the view of others. It was almost an invitation to a better land with a better people. Some years later, then as a seventeen-year-old desperate to study medicine and to escape the full-on strictures of apartheid, it was clear where his future lay. He never looked back and was amazed at the people and their way of living that he found upon arriving at Edinburgh University not that far from the yard that had built Hood.
I am sorry that British people cannot see themselves through his eyes, perhaps just for a day, as they would and should be very proud of the people they would then see and also their contribution not just to the home nation but also across the wider world. The perceptive among you will realise that his origins did not begin in South Africa but much further afield, in fact on the other side of the world.
This book, then, is about something of that story and the wonderful people, patients and freinds that he and I have been honoured to have known and work with in this time in Britain and Manchester in particular. It's dedicated to all those wonderful patients that I have known and worked with over the years as a GP and more than a few of these, if he were still here, my father would still recognise. We do hope that you enjoy something of the story and journey within.
ESCAPE FROM APARTHEID TO A BETTER WAY OF LIFE
As an excited young man my father, like just about everyone else, ran down to the sea front in Cape Town, 1923 to catch a glimpse of HMS Hood, the most beautiful and most powerful 'battleship' that the world had seen. He told me when Ii was a youngster that everyone was amazed that day at who could have designed and built such a ship and then sent it for the view of others. It was almost an invitation to a better land with a better people. Some years later, then as a seventeen-year-old desperate to study medicine and to escape the full-on strictures of apartheid, it was clear where his future lay. He never looked back and was amazed at the people and their way of living that he found upon arriving at Edinburgh University not that far from the yard that had built Hood.
I am sorry that British people cannot see themselves through his eyes, perhaps just for a day, as they would and should be very proud of the people they would then see and also their contribution not just to the home nation but also across the wider world. The perceptive among you will realise that his origins did not begin in South Africa but much further afield, in fact on the other side of the world.
This book, then, is about something of that story and the wonderful people, patients and freinds that he and I have been honoured to have known and work with in this time in Britain and Manchester in particular. It's dedicated to all those wonderful patients that I have known and worked with over the years as a GP and more than a few of these, if he were still here, my father would still recognise. We do hope that you enjoy something of the story and journey within.
