In Johannesburg Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #52)

My old friend, Zachariah Molete, lived here. His father was a grocer and chief steward of my church. Not only did they help me with groceries on easy terms, but they introduces me to influential people in the township a fact which helped me to ease some of my problems. Gertrude Ntlabathi, our teacher at Clarkebury, was now teaching here. I spent a lot of time with her and it was largely due to her assistance that I completed my studies at the end of 1942. A warm friendship developed between me and Lazar Sidelsky and the numerous acts of kindness and assistance he gave me on all sorts of problems would fill a whole chapter. A very special friend was John Mngoma, an orator and well versed in Zulu history. I would listen to him for hours relating interesting episodes from our past. I still remember one dealing with the meeting between the Zulu king, Shaka, and the first white missionary to visit his kingdom. John Mngoma prefaced his story with the remark "Whites will tell you that Shaka was a blood thirsty savage who enjoyed washing his spears in human blood. Very few amongst them will agree that he was a highly intelligent man. I am going to tell you a story to illustrate that he was a gifted person." "One day", continued John Mngoma, "there came to the King two whites, one of whom was a missionary. They came for the purpose of converting the King to the Christian faith. But knowing that he was a superstitious warrior, they began their story with those aspects they believed would impress an ignorant man and reserved their real mission to the last. 'Hail Oh mighty King!' saluted the missionary. 'An empire builder of your standing requires a powerful weapon which will enable your Majesty to beat all enemies. I have brought you such a weapon, oh King, which can command thunder and with which one can kill a man at distance,' said the missionary. This was, of course, a