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Dianna Farrus

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“I’ve come to take you home –home, remember the veld? the lush green grass beneath the big oak trees the air is cool there and the sun does not burn. I have made your bed at the foot of the hill, your blankets are covered in buchu and mint, the proteas stand in yellow and white and the water in the stream chuckle sing-songs as it hobbles along over little stones.” – Diana Farrus This is a poem by Dianna Farrus called “I’ve come to take you home” Dianna Farrus is a South African writer, poet, and story teller. Her works deals with matters of race, gender, class and reconciliation. This poem was written for a South African woman named Sara Baartman who was brought to Europe under false pretenses and paraded as a sexual object until she passed away at the age of 25 from a possible severe illness or sexual transmitted disease. This artifact is a symbolism of what my ancestors experienced and for that I appreciate the …show more content…

According to an article that I found Sara Baartman was sold into slavery to a trader named Pieter Willem Cezar she became a domestic servant to his brother. In 1810, Sara allegedly ‘signed’ a contract with an English ship surgeon named William Dunlop who was also a friend of Cezar and his brother Hendrik. The terms of her ‘contract’ stated she would travel with Hendrik Cezar and Dunlop to England and Ireland to work as a domestic servant, and be exhibited for entertainment purposes. She was to receive a ‘portion of earnings’ from her exhibitions and be allowed to return to South Africa after five years. If Sara Baartman did sign the contract could have been unable to read or write and could have been misled. She came from a cultural background were keeping records and writing is non-existent also she would not have been able to understand. It was suspected that the man took Sara for profit because his family were undergoing financial

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