Aspects of the experiences of 10 women in MK, 1976-1988

Driven by general lack of appreciation and coverage on the role that women played in the South African armed struggle, the author researched on the experiences of some of the women who joined uMkhonto we Sizwe (meaning the Spear of the Nation) - commonly referred to as MK, the armed wing of the African National Congress between 1976 and 1988. These women left the country, some at a very tender age running away from the unimaginable brutality unleashed by the apartheid security police as this became the only option left for them to seek refuge outside the borders of their motherland, to join MK in a quest to get an AK 47, come back and return fire with fire in defence of their people. The publication gives an account of these experiences - from suffering in the hands of the police and their experiences as soldiers of MK standing side by side with their male counterparts as combatants and comrades in arms in a hostile terrain in foreign land and a predominantly male environment. This publication seeks to acknowledge the courage and spirit of selflessness displayed by those women who sacrificed their teen years to rise above the triple oppression they faced as South African women.