A fighter. That is what Mrs Rajani Kumar, the founding principal of Delhi’s prestigious Springdales School, has been. English by birth, Mrs Kumar came to India way back in 1946 with her marriage to a freedom-fighters’ family. Nourished on democracy and anti-fascism – as a child she had been brought up with anti-colonial ideals — her marriage and her presence in pre-Independence India contributed to an awakening in her a spirit of freedom. “I was married into a nationalist family and its members were all dedicated freedom fighters.”

Independence came and in 1955, Mrs Rajani Kumar started Springdales. She conceived it as “a school where school children would be inculcated in the values of a humane caring society. They would be taught to carry on the legacies of the Indian freedom struggle, Gandhiji and Nehruvian politics,” she says. Little did she realize then that she and her school students would be instrumental in providing hope and courage to a movement that changed the course of history of South Africa. The recognition that Mrs Kumar’s contribution to the South African freedom movement was genuine and solid came from none other than the Government of South Africa: she was the sole Indian among the international guests who were honoured at the inauguration of the Freedom Park Garden of Remembrance in Pretoria, on March 8, 2003. The Garden will be a national heritage destination for peace and humanity, dedicated to the unsung heroes and heroines of the freedom struggle.

For Mrs Kumar, the South African freedom movement brings back memories of the Africa Club she set up in her school in 1971. In the beginning, stalwarts from the African Nationalist Congress (ANC) in exile like Oliver Tambo, Moosa Moola, Mrs Agnes Msimang and many others, visited the school and spoke to the children. “Their speeches,” remembers Mrs Kumar, “kept the children absolutely spellbound. They were so emotionally charged and they wanted me to do something.” So, the Africa Club was started. For well over 30 years, says Mrs Kumar, “we were in the forefront of the solidarity movement for freedom in South Africa.” The ANC provided a lot of information on what was going on in the country. “If somebody was on Death Row or there was an uprising in the country, we were one of the first to know about it in India,” says Mrs Kumar. The children collected thousands of signatures for the release of political prisoners, staged dramas, wrote poems, painted pictures… we created an awareness about what was going on in the country,” she recollects.

The contribution of the school children enthused the ANC so much that the commemorative volume, Dhanyavaad India, which was brought out as a tribute to the heroes and heroines of India who supported the liberation struggle of South Africa recorded, “What these children did was very special. History couldn’t record enough and the newspapers couldn’t write enough to tell the world of their contribution. In fact, all ANC leaders made it a point to come to these schools and witness the passion of these students for the cause of the South African people.”

The fight for freedom is over in South Africa but Mrs Kumar and her schoolchildren still relive those passionate moments. The day Springdales never forgets every year is July 18, the birthday of Nelson Mandela. From 1971 to this day, the children prepare a birthday card and send it to him. On his part, Nelson Mandela acknowledged the contribution of Springdales and paid his greatest tribute to the school by hanging up a painting done by one of the school’s students depicting the new South Africa comprising the black, brown and white population, right above his office desk. “He is a great hero for us,” says Mrs Rajani Kumar.