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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, June 15, 2003: The long abandoned Tolstoy Farm in Johannesburg, established by Mahatma Gandhi to promote the philosophy of Satyagraha, peace and harmony, is to get a fresh lease of life with a group of Indian-origin youth volunteering to restore it. The farm, situated about 45 km east of Johannesburg, has become run down and was abandoned after the new owners took over the farm in the 1960s. “The renovation committee was established after it was found that very few children of people of Indian origin knew anything about Gandhi or the famous farm,” member of the Gandhi Remembrance Committee, Ms. Sandra Singh said. The committee is made up of 10 people comprising of Hindus, Christians, Muslims and one black African.



Singh said the endeavor is an attempt to revitalize the values of peace, freedom, tolerance and respect for different cultures that Gandhi promoted. She said when tourists come from India, one of the things they look forward to is to retrace the footsteps of Gandhi in the Johannesburg area, and Tolstoy Farm is one of the things they ask about. Tolstoy Farm in Johannesburg and the Phoenix Settlement in Durban are two of the most important features left behind by Gandhi in South Africa after he spent more than 22 years in the country in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

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