Sol Rachilo

Nostalgic Waves from Soweto. Poetic Memo Sol Rachilo

Soweto during the 1970s was riven with violence and brutality, the brunt of which was borne by the young people of that period, who took the lead in the struggle against apartheid oppression. Himself a product of the era, Sol Rachilo turned both to science and to art as he strove to depict the atmosphere and the emotions of the people of those tumultuous times. Not relying solely on his own deeply engraved memories, he spent 18 months researching the events which swirled around the Morris Isaacson High School, a magnet for the activists and intellectuals of the time. The book especially highlights the happenings of 1976 and 1977, two years of strife in this politically charged township which was the home of all the founding fathers of what Sol calls, ìour cherished freedomî ñ Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Nthato Motlana, Desmond Tutu, Mothopeng and Sobukwe.