The Indian community is being urged to trace their indenture roots, as South Africa commemorates 157 years since the arrival of Indentured Indians to the country.
On this day in 1860, the SS Truro along with 342 Indian immigrants departed from Madras and arrived at what was then known as Natal.
To highlight this milestone, the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre at University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Westville Campus will host an open house on Saturday the 25th of November. The South African freedom charter and ship records from the indenture period will be just a few historical documents on show.
Senior Librarian at the centre Thiru Munsamy says, “There was an idea from advisory board members that why don’t we use this opportunity to have an open day at our centre. Since this also marks the 16th of November when the first ship arrived at Port Natal, why don’t we host this like a heritage month or tracing your routes this month.”
Munsamy says the entire department is a showcase, so there’s nothing for us to actually take out or exhibit, so when you walk in, you already walking into an historical department.
