A local author celebrates Indian history in SA with new book

LOCAL AUTHOR Vino Govender has written a new book aimed at making young people aware of the history of the Indian community in South Africa.

- 

The timely book, titled Their Past... Our Future, was launched at the Pavilion Hotel in Durban on Sunday, just days before several events commemorating the 165th anniversary of the arrival of indentured Indian labourers in KwaZulu-Natal.

Govender says she wanted to write a book that is rich in information yet presented in a way that would encourage the youth to take an interest in their past.

The idea came from her interactions with young people who were unaware of their roots.

“We don't have a reading society as such; everyone’ just involved in texting and Googling. When I chatted with young people, they didn’t know much about Indian history, where their grandparents and great-grandparents came from, or what they did.

And then I thought, let me write a small book, something easily handled by them, something they could understand”