Ginn Fourie (left) and Letlapa Mphahlele (right). Photo: Photo courtesy of Howard Grace.
Beyond forgiving
Howard Grace reflects on a story of tragedy and hope
South Africans Ginn Fourie and Letlapa Mphahlele form an unlikely team: a white Christian woman and a black atheist man. One has suffered directly from the actions of the other, but both have been victims – and risen beyond their pain. What brings them together is a profound story of tragedy and hope. For me it is a story that relates not only to the Quaker Peace Testimony, but also to the basis upon which ‘believers’ and ‘non-believers’ can find common cause.
In 1993, during the apartheid era, Letlapa, then director of operations for the military wing of the Pan-Africanist Congress, ordered reprisal massacres in response to the killing of black school children. Ginn lost her only daughter in one of these. She later forgave Letlapa.
