Children's literature and its educational impact

Letter From Naledi to Her Grandmother

Dearest Grandmother:

Last month, the Dineo got very sick so Tiro and I went to find Mma in Johannesburg. I'm not sorry that we went because we were so afraid about the baby, but in other ways, I am very shocked by some of the horrible things that I discovered about the way things are. Part of me is angry that nobody ever told me too. I just can't believe how mean white people are to us and I don't understand how these things can happen to people.

Black people aren't allowed to ride the same buses as white people, even when they are going to the same places and even when the white busses are empty and the non-white busses are so crowded. Tiro and I didn't know that and we tried to get on the wrong bus. I was so shocked when the white bus driver yelled at us. He even called us stupid in front of everybody.

I discovered that we will have to carry a pass when we get older and that we could even be sent to a prison farm just for forgetting to carry our pass with us. That also scares me because I sometimes forget things. Do you carry a pass all the time? How come nobody ever told us about these things before?

We couldn't go straight home even to take care of the baby, because Mma's Madam wouldn't let her leave until after her dinner party. How could she think that her silly party was more important than the baby? I wondered if she would have cared about her party if it had been her baby who was sick instead of Dineo and why she didn't care enough to let Mma go home right away. She wouldn't let us stay with Mma either because she said the police would get mad if we stayed overnight in Parktown. So, Tiro and I had to spend the whole night by ourselves somewhere else until Mma could take us home the next day.

The Madam was so mean about everything. She said that Mma could go home to take care of Dineo but she said that Mma was "inconveniencing" her and that if she didn't come back in a week Madam would fire Mma. Doesn't she care that we would have no money to live if that happened?

Why do we have to work so much harder than white people and for so little money compared to them? Why do we have to live so far away from Mma? Why is it alright for Mma to live in Parktown only to work for Madam but not otherwise? Why does Mma have to wash outside like an animal when she works and clean for Madam indoors all day long? Why can Mma use Madam's indoor water to clean Madam's things but not to wash her hands that she uses to wash Madam's things? Why are things this way instead of the right way? I don't understand the explanation that this is "just the way it is" without asking why? Are there any white people who aren't like this? Do they care about us? Or about what is right and what is wrong?