Dear Groundbreakers,
Today we celebrate humanity. As Christians we believe that all people are created by God, we have equal rights and responsibilities. We should treat each other with dignity, respect, love and care regardless of our status, social or cultural background.
Let's reflect on humanity and God's involvement in our lives through the poetic word's of King David:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
(Psalm 139:13-18)
Your BCYD
If you want more information regarding this public holiday read below:
21 March [Human Rights Day]
The
Bill of Rights contained in the
Constitution is the cornerstone of democracy in South
Africa.
The Constitution provides for the
establishment of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
The aim of the Commission is to promote respect for human rights, promote
the protection, development and attainment of human rights, and
to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in SA. The
SAHRC was launched on 21 March 1996, 35 years after the fateful
events of 21 March 1960 when demonstrators in Sharpeville were gunned down by
police.
The Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952
extended Government control over the movement of Africans to
urban areas and abolished the use of the Pass Book (a document
which Africans were required to carry on them to ‘prove’ that
they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’) in favour of a
reference book which had to be carried at all times by all
Africans.
Failure to produce the reference book on demand by
the police, was a punishable offence. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) proposed an
anti-Pass campaign to start on 21 March 1960. All African men
were to take part in the campaign without their passes and
present themselves for arrest.
Campaigners gathered at police stations in
townships near Johannesburg where they were dispersed by police.
At the Sharpeville police station a scuffle broke out. Part of a
wire fence was trampled, allowing the crowd to move forward. The
police opened fire, apparently without having been given a prior
order to do so. Sixty-nine people were killed and 180 wounded.
In apartheid South Africa this day became known as
Sharpeville Day and although not part of the official calendar
of public holidays the event was commemorated among
anti-apartheid movements.
(http://www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/holidays.htm#21march)
