Who was Alan Paton? -- excerpt from Edward Callen's Introduction to 1987 edition -

While teaching  .  .  .  Paton wrote and discarded two novels of white South Africa.  (Through a shared interest) in summer camps for disadvantaged white youths - he met Jan Hofmeyr - who was to become South Africa's most prominent liberal statesman - 

.  .  .

In 1934 Hofmeyr held cabinet portfolios  of Education and the Interior.  .  .  .  When supervisors were sought -- to transform existing reformatories into schools - Paton applied and was offered Diepkloof - a large black reformatory that housed 400 boys aged 9-21 

Its buildings were old - Mahatma Gandhi had been jailed there in 1913 - sanitary arrangements were primitive -

-- boys were locked in 20 to a cell - with a container of water and a bucket for bodily needs -

in 3 years Paton was able to transform the place -

in 1946 he undertook a tour of penal institutions in Europe at his own expense - while doing so, in Norway, in an hour before dinner, he was moved to write the lyrical opening of Cry the Beloved Country -

(the rest is history, as they say.)