Ours is a history of sojourner
In search of a better life
Our community vibrates with life,
Ga-Pila!
For centuries we’ve been on the road
On a train of ox-wagons
Hollowing trucks
On feet!
The tracks that brought our grandparents to Sandsloot,
Cannot be wiped from our memory.
Traversing the Limpopo mountains
Under inviting valleys and streams
We settled on Vaalkop!
We have been bruised by laws that ignored our humanity,
Brutalised!
When we’d found solace in Vaalkop,
The clarion call came
Make way for encroaching platinum fields!
Right at the dawn of a new South Africa
We found ourselves on the road to a new village
Sterkwater!
Broken but not defeated, we resolved to give our children and children’s children a better life
For decades all we’ve tried is to rebuild
Our covenants are spelled in blood.
We’ve found solace in this place, Sterkwater!
Embraced the warmth of its arms.
With all its tribulations, we have made a choice.
To selflessly lay a solid foundation for future generations.
We will not be victims
We will not wallow under the past!
We have a vision of a shared life too.
We are together creating new realities.
The scripts we are writing are our own.
The scenes we act out we imbue with spirit.
We are greater than our appearances too.
Since we stand inspired by our resolve
That we will be better as a community.
Ga-Pila, the land beating with life
This time we put our arms together
To strive to be the change we want to see!