Living life every day in fear of the race that controls one's country, results in an unhappy life style. In the autobiography, Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane, a true story about a South African boy informs others of the life he lived and the damage it created. Throughout the autobiography Johannes and his family struggle to deal with apartheid because it affected their family, their education they received and their daily lives. Apartheid in South Africa strongly affected families.
             First, apartheid greatly destroyed the family in South Africa. Many families split apart because of apartheid. The fathers from tribal families would move to Alexandra to make money to send back to their wife and children at the tribal reserves for support, which separated the members of the family. Many tribal families only saw their husband/father only ever once in awhile usually to deliver money. If apartheid did not have such ridiculous rules then the families would stick together and not have to suffer. Death took the lives of many because parents could not afford enough food and clean water to keep themselves and their children in good health since they could not get high paying jobs. Due to apartheid and keeping passes, the police arrested and place Johannes's father in prison. Since his mother cannot get a permit she brings in no money for the family either. At this time Johannes constantly searches the neighborhood for scraps of food from willing givers. Mathabane writes, "Each day we spent without food drove us closer and closer to starvation. Then terror struck. I began having fainting spells. I would be playing when suddenly my head would feel light, my knees would wobble, my vision would dim and blur and down I would come like a log" (37). These experiences typically happened a lot as well as stomachs enflaming from lack of nutrition as a result of the apartheid rules. When one parent got caught with their p...