Talk by Mr. Thomas Kantha

Mr. Kantha asked each one of us several important questions: “What’s the meaning of our lives?” “What are sincere greetings?” and “What is shame?” “What are human rights?” and “What is true sharing?”

　Today I will give you a speech not as a black man or a male or a foreigner but just simply as a man.

I was brought up in a large extended family in the Republic of South Africa, I learned many important ways of thinking from my grandmother who strictly disciplined me.

Even though we were pretty poor, we shared our food with the other people in the village. All children in the village were taught to be with feelings of generosity and kindness to others by my grandmother and the villagers. The entire village was my home.

The sprit of mutual help and generosity I learned from my family and the villagers is essential for living in human society.

In Africa we have no ‘volunteers’ because every action is done in the spirit of a volunteer, without wanting acknowledgment. Everyone treats everyone else in the village like family.

An event that happened when I was eleven years old

When I traveled alone for the first time I bought the book, “The Power of Black”, although reading it by black men was prohibited at the time.

A white policeman found I was carrying the prohibited book under my shirt and threw me in jail. You can’t imagine the violence I experienced in jail. In prison they beat me all over my body; they grabbed my hair and stuck my head into a bucket filled with filthy water over and over. I almost died.

From that time on, I started taking part in political activism.

It's important to forgive

I have never forgotten even now the intense suffering of racial discrimination and violence, the pain and humiliation under apartheid.

Although I can never forget the tortures and injuries white men did to me, I think it is important for us to forgive them.

My first impressions of Japan

When I came to Japan for the first time I could only say hello, thank you and good-bye in Japanese.
I felt the difference of treatment between white men and black men in spite of the fact that we were both foreigners.In the airport although the immigration officer stamped the passports of visitors with a smile one after another, he suddenly gave me an unfavorable reaction.

When I applied to schools for a teaching job as an English teacher, black wasn’t welcomed.English speakers are not only white but also black.I was shocked by the racial prejudice in Japan.

Finding discarded wheelchairs

While living in Japan, I found wheelchairs still in good condition thrown away at the dumping ground and I thought they could probably be still used. Now I keep collecting rejected wheelchairs, repairing them into perfect condition. I send and donate them to physically challenged children in the Republic of South Africa while working as an English teacher.

The cumulative total of wheelchairs I have shipped so far is nearly 4000.

In Africa there are still a lot of children who need wheelchairs.Everybody, please look at this flower.This is called a flower even if one petal is removed from it.But what do you call handicapped or disabled humans? The children are the most important treasures for me.