5 Chapter 4 Truth Force

Chapter 4 Truth Force When he finished his work on the court case in Pretoria, Gandhi felt that he still had a job to do. “Thus God laid the foundations of my life in South Africa, and sowed the seed of the fight for national self-respect,” Gandhi wrote. In 1894, Gandhi set up the Natal Indian Congress so that Indians could be involved in government. Gandhi was becoming a leader in the Indian community. Indians had very few rights in the colonies and territories in South Africa. They had to

pay extra taxes. They could not walk on public footpaths. They could not go out after nine at night without a permit. They were told that the only legal marriages were between Christians, so their own marriages were considered invalid. They were not allowed to vote for their leaders.

Gandhi remembered one night when a police officer shoved him off a sidewalk: “Once, one of these men, without giving me the slightest warning, without even asking me to leave the footpath, pushed and kicked me into the street.” In 1896, after three years abroad, Gandhi returned to India. It was not easy for him to leave his important work with the Natal Indian

Congress behind. But Gandhi wanted his family to join him in South Africa. So Kasturbai, a nephew, and his two sons, now ages nine and five, made the return trip with him. Once they arrived in Natal, Gandhi insisted they dress in uncomfortable clothing, such as stockings and shoes, and use utensils, such as knives and forks, like most Indians in South Africa. Kasturbai did her best to follow her husband’s wishes in running her new South African household. But she did not always agree with him.

Gandhi and Kasturbai’s family grew as they welcomed two more sons, Ramdas and Devdas. Gandhi kept working as a lawyer. But he never stopped working for the rights of Indian people living in South Africa.

In 1899, the Boer War began between the Dutch Boers and the British. Gandhi felt the best way to get the British to treat Indians well was to support the government. He put together an Indian ambulance corps with more than a thousand volunteers. They collected soldiers from the battlefield and nursed them back to health. But this loyalty did not pay off. The British government continued to limit Indians’ rights.