• Author / Uploaded
• Jorge Gabriel Delgado

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ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

Cry Freedom

STAGE 6

6 Any white authority – police, government, army. 7 The idea that Biko might have a house, a job and a Mercedes, while the whites lived in the townships.

Before Reading TALKING ABOUT THE COVER

• What connections can you make between this picture of a thoughtful black man and the word ‘freedom’ in the book’s title? • Do you think this story will be about black people who are free, or who have given up hope of freedom, or who are fighting for freedom? • In which countries of the world could this have happened?

BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES (PAGE 108) ACTIVITY 1 BEFORE READING

1 Yes 2 No 3 Yes 4 Yes 5 No 6 Yes 7 Yes 8 No ACTIVITY 2 BEFORE READING

CHAPTERS 6 TO 9 WHILE READING

The true statements are numbers 2, 3, and 6. The others might be rewritten like this: 1 In terms of natural resources, South Africa is one of the richest countries in Africa. 4 Most black people are still poor, and it will probably take quite a long time to change this. 5 Some whites have left South Africa, but many have remained.

While Reading CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 WHILE READING

1 Acceptable answers: A woman holding a baby in her arms in front of her wrecked home; two policemen beating a boy; an old man sitting in an armchair, with broken walls around him; a policeman with a whip chasing a girl; a bulldozer smashing through a tiny kitchen. 2 Because the government did not want the town to become permanent. 3 Woods did not believe that black people should be allowed to vote, and he accepted the laws that forced blacks and whites to live in separate areas, but he did not like police brutality against black people. 4 Because she thought that Steve Biko was one of the few people who could still save South Africa, and that Woods should find out what Biko’s opinions were. 5 Some men and women were painting the walls while others were putting up partitions. Some girls were sewing and two older men were making children’s toys.

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE 6

CHAPTERS 3 TO 5 WHILE READING

1 What . . .? Organizations where black and white people could work together. 2 What . . .? Whether Woods had spent any time in a black township. 3 Where . . .? From churches, from abroad, from black people, and from some companies. 4 Why . . .? Because if he got caught outside his banning area he would go to prison. 5 What . . .? They worked as domestic servants for white families. 6 Who . . .? The white man. 7 Why . . .? Because they didn’t want to be put into white society; they wanted to do things their way. 8 What . . .? How to live together. 1 Woods, to Ken Robertson, about Tenjy Mtintso and Mapetla Mohapi, who had just become reporters for his newspaper. 2 Mzimbi, to the crowd at the football match, about the white government. 3 De Wet, to the two detectives, about Biko, because he didn’t want any marks on Biko when he appeared as a witness in a trial. 4 Biko, to the State Prosecutor at the trial, giving an example of how his call for ‘direct confrontation’ need not involve violence. 5 Wendy, to Woods, about Kruger, the Minister of Police. 6 Woods, to Kruger, the Minister of Police, about Biko. 7 Kruger, to Woods, about the Afrikaner belief that South Africa was their country, built by their hard work. 8 Woods, to Lemick, about Kruger, who had sent his policemen to demand from Woods the name of the witness. 9 Biko, to Woods, about how he came to the rugby game, avoiding his police minders. 10 Biko, to Lemick, about the warrant to search Biko’s house for dangerous documents. CHAPTERS 10 AND 11 WHILE READING

Possible answers: Mapetla was the first to be arrested. Tenjy was arrested next, on no charges, and a week later Mapetla died in prison. The police said he had hanged himself, but Woods knew this was not true. At the inquest

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CRY FREEDOM

CHAPTERS 12 TO 14 WHILE READING

1 Black crowds attacked police stations and huge fires were lit every evening. 2 Because his lips were swollen, there was a huge lump on his forehead, and bruises around his eyes. 3 Because he wondered how people would react to a white man at the funeral. 4 Sorrow, anger, pride, determination. 5 Woods wanted to go to America to talk about Biko and force the government to have an inquest. 6 To meet with more than one person at a time, apart from members of his family; to write anything; to enter any printing offices; to leave the district of East London. 7 Because a few minutes after he started using his typewriter, the police burst into the house. 8 He wanted Biko’s life to be remembered, and he wanted to do something to change the way South Africa was governed. 9 Because Mary and Duncan were sent T-shirts containing something in the material which burnt the children’s skin. BEFORE READING THE REST OF THE STORY

Open answers. Encourage discussion of Woods’ best course of action.

11 Because they had to fly 500 kilometres over South Africa, and the South African Government demanded that all planes leaving Lesotho landed in South Africa before going on. 12 By arranging United Nations passports for the Woods family and by sending Monyane to accompany them.

After Reading ACTIVITY 1 AFTER READING

Acceptable answers to this cloze passage are any words that have an appropriate meaning and fit the grammar of the sentence. Students might like to check each other’s work and discuss alternative answers. Some alternatives are given below. Biko was right. Black people know how we whites live, but we have no idea how black South Africans live. When we went to the township, there were nine of us in the taxi. I sat in the back, wearing somebody’s hat to cover my hair. I was so squashed that I couldn’t even move my hands. We drove around, watching the crowds of people until the evening rush was over. Then four of us went on foot down the side streets. The place (township) is full of violence. Gangs of youths (boys, men) walk the streets. Most women work as domestic servants, so they see their children (husbands, families) only on Sundays. Biko took me to eat with a black family – twelve people living in four rooms, with no electricity, and they have to fetch water from an outside tap and heat it on the cooker. We sat and talked about the differences between black and white societies (communities), and I tried to understand their anger (despair) and their bitterness. I realize now that I have never understood the feelings of the black community. ACTIVITY 2 AFTER READING

CHAPTERS 15 TO 18 WHILE READING

1 He disguised himself as an Irish priest, Father David Curren, using the priest’s passport, dyed his grey hair black, and didn’t wear his glasses. 2 Because everyone would be having parties and drinking and the police would not be so careful. 3 Because the house was bugged and the police would know that Woods was leaving. 4 He hid on the floor of the Mercedes, covered with a blanket. 5 Because the river was too deep and too fast. 6 Tami Vundla drove him in his car. 7 Because he was driving with Moses. 8 To the beach. 9 Because at ten o’clock he had to phone Wendy at her parents’ home in Umtata. 10 Because she didn’t know whether he had reached Lesotho or not.

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE 6

Students can complete the conversation how they like. Possible responses might be: WOODS: Hello, Steve. Did you finish that article last night? BIKO: No, I’m sorry, I didn’t. WOODS: Why not? What happened? BIKO: Well, I was working late when suddenly someone banged on the front door. WOODS: Were you expecting anybody? BIKO: No, I wasn’t. So I quickly gave the pen and the papers I was working on to Ntsiki. WOODS: And then? BIKO: I opened the front door a crack and pretended I’d just woken up. WOODS: It was the police, I suppose. BIKO: Yes. Lemick, and my two regular minders. WOODS: What did Lemick say? BIKO: He said he had orders to search my house for dangerous documents.

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CRY FREEDOM

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

Tenjy said the bruises on Mapetla’s neck were caused by the security police pulling a towel tighter and tighter round his neck until he became unconscious. No one was blamed for Mapetla’s death. Then Biko was arrested because he was stopped at a road-block outside his banning area. The doctor who saw Biko in prison found him deeply unconscious and very badly injured. The police put Biko in the back of a Land Rover and drove him to the police hospital in Pretoria, which was a thousand kilometres away over rough, country roads.

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

WOODS: Did he have a warrant? BIKO: Yes, he did. So I asked him to bring it to the window so that I could read it. WOODS: But what did you do with the papers? BIKO: Well, while I was reading the warrant, Ntsiki put an extra nappy on the baby and put the papers inside! WOODS: Very clever! And did they search the house? BIKO: Yes. In the end I let them in. They used torches to search the house, but they didn’t find anything. ACTIVITY 3 AFTER READING

The government accused black leaders like Biko of being terrorists, but Biko thought the government itself was guilty of terrorism. He wanted black people to confront the problems of society and to build a sense of their own humanity. But although he called for direct confrontation, he meant a face-to-face challenge of ideas, not violent action. He did not believe that violence was the solution and he wanted to influence the government by the force of his arguments. ACTIVITY 4 AFTER READING

Open discussion. Encourage discussion of the motives of those who collaborate with violent political systems. ACTIVITY 5 AFTER READING

Free writing. ACTIVITY 6 AFTER READING

4+9+11 3+8 5+14+1+13 7+15+2+12 16+10+6 After Woods had waved goodbye to Tami, he walked to the iron gate at the start of the bridge, but it was locked and there was no one around. Suddenly a Land Rover came down the hill very fast, and stopped right in front of him. Woods saw with relief that it was the postal service, and not the police, and when the driver offered him a lift across the bridge, he accepted gratefully. No questions were asked about Woods’ passport, and although a frontier policeman asked Woods what was in his bag, he did not ask him to open it. Then Moses drove slowly across the bridge, crossing the frontier out of South Africa, and Woods saw ahead of him the wet green hills of Lesotho. ACTIVITY 7 AFTER READING

Open answers. Encourage discussion of the risks of fighting against political injustice. This could be extended into some project work on South Africa, with students finding out and presenting information on the changes that have taken place in the country.

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE 6

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CRY FREEDOM