Sarvodaya: the Gandhi House.
In 1904, at the age of 35, Mohandas Gandhi became a property owner in South Africa, with a title deed to his name. The 100 acres of land, at a purchase price of £1,000, was made possible by his successful legal practice in Johannesburg.
The attorney’s development thus far had been shaped by cities – Porbandar, Rajkot, Bombay, London, Durban, Pretoria, and Johannesburg. With his new purchase, Gandhi sought to transform the Natal countryside in a significant way, and, in turn, this place would shape him in substantially different ways from the urban environments to which he had become accustomed.
The property lay 15 miles (24km) from the city of Durban. It could be reached by taking the North Coast railway line with an exit at the seventh station, Phoenix. From there, was a further journey by foot for two-and-a-half miles (4km) through dirt roads. Situated along the Piezang River in Victoria County, and purchased in two separate plots from two white colonists, the land was undeveloped, unoccupied, and covered by long grass.
Along it were a number of fruit trees with the only built structure, a modest hut. Within four years, 60 residents resided there – families with husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, and Gandhi’s own wife and children. He called it a "little village".
