The view out over the Karoo desert from Wapadsberg Pass represents Africa’s potential for a better future, as well as the protagonists’ commitment to fight for this. Mr. M first realized that he wanted to become a teacher at Wapadsberg Pass: gazing out over the desert as a schoolchild, he was struck by its beauty and seemingly infinite expanse. When his teacher told him about all the rivers, mountains, and peoples that he would encounter if he walked across the whole continent from South to North, Mr. M realized both the power of knowledge and the vast beauty of Africa. As a teacher, he aimed to help young people achieve their potential and fulfill Africa’s promise through knowledge. In turn, at the end of the play, Isabel Dyson comes to Wapadsberg Pass to pay her respects to Mr. M’s memory and promise to dedicate her life to helping others. This shows how she carries forth Mr. M’s sense of hope and shows that it’s up to South Africa’s young people to fulfill its potential in its post-apartheid, democratic future.
Wapadsberg Pass Quotes in My Children! My Africa!
Something grabbed my heart at that moment, my soul, and squeezed it until there were tears in my eyes. I had never seen anything so big, so beautiful in all my life. I went to the teacher who was with us and asked him: “Teacher, where will I come to if I start walking that way?”…and I pointed. He laughed. “Little man,” he said, “that way is north. If you start walking that way and just keep on walking, and your legs don’t give in, you will see all of Africa!” […] “Has teacher seen all that?” I asked. “No,” he said. “Then how does teacher know it’s there?” “Because it is all in the books and I have read the books and if you work hard in school little man, you can do the same without worrying about your legs giving in.”
He was right Thami. I have seen it. It is all there in the books just as he said it was and I have made it mine.
I’ve brought you something which I know will mean more to you than flowers or prayers ever could. A promise. I am going to make Anela Myalatya a promise.
You gave me a little lecture once about wasted lives . . . how much of it you’d seen, how much you hated it, how much you didn’t want that to happen to Thami and me. I sort of understood what you meant at the time. Now, I most certainly do. Your death has seen to that.
My promise to you is that I am going to try as hard as I can, in every way that I can, to see that it doesn’t happen to me. I am going to try my best to make my life useful in the way yours was. I want you to be proud of me. After all, I am one of your children you know. You did welcome me to your family.
(A pause) The future is still ours, Mr. M.
Wapadsberg Pass Symbol Timeline in My Children! My Africa!
