Thoughts on our travels through Africa (Botswana to Sudan)

World Book Group Edinburgh, first UNESCO World City of Literature Botswana -"Maru" by Bessie Head (Score 7.0) The first few pages of this book read as if they are the traditional, descriptive type of European literature. On page 11, racialism once again raises its ugly head. It is universal, and everyone seems to look down on some-one else who is different. If I felt that this really described everyone in the world, I would really despair. On page 12 she is very scathing about missionaries. I wonder if this derives from personal experience. On page 15 we have possibly a case of nature versus nurture. On page 24 Dikeledi, the other teacher, seems to be a decent caring person who takes Margaret as she is, with no prejudice. On page 41 we read "She can be shoved out. It's easy, she's a woman". Is there any society on Earth where women are not put at the bottom of the heap? On page 73 Maru reminds me of Hogg's "Justified Sinner". His god speaks direct to him - conveniently justifying anything he wishes to do. We have a humorous interlude on page 96, concerning goats! Maru seems to be completely amoral at times, taking what he wants, and going where his gods lead him at the cost of other people. However, his actions at the end all lead towards the emancipation (in their own minds at least) of the Masarwa, so that they begin to realise that they should control their own destiny. South Africa - "The House Gun" by Nadine Gordimer (Score 7.2) I found this a very disappointing read considering the reputation of the author. After finishing it, I did not know the characters any better than I did when first meeting them. Cardboard cut-outs came to mind. The author did not seem to have made any attempt to bring them to life. It was as if the murder, and the question of whether the death sentence was, or was not, constitutional in the new South Africa were the "heroes" of the book. Gordimer seems to have very much distanced herself from the characters. As an afterword, I attended a talk on 24 August 2005 at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Leila Aboulela, Justine Hardy and Kamila Shamsie were talking. Hardy does not like books where the author does not get inside the characters. How is the reader to do this for the author? My sentiments exactly. Mozambique - "Under the Frangipani" by Mia Couto (Score 7.1) This book takes us straight into the culture and mythology of the Mucanga, and introduces us to their funeral customs. Why was the dead man buried that way? Was it ignorance of his traditions? On page 27 we have the riddle of the sphinx, with the answer being related to the three ages of man. Many passages seem to relate to folk tales. For example, on page 36 plovers control the incoming tides and the sandpipers control the outgoing tides. This is clearly an observation on the feeding habits of the two species. On page 64 we have a creation legend in which everything is created out of surplus men and women so that all are inter-related and no-one has the right to abuse animals. In many cultures hunters apologised to animals before killing them, calling them brother, uncle etc. On page 81 we find the image of the world as a fruit with a wondrous stone at the centre. On page 84 we have the legends associated with the severe storm. On page 131 - does the dew fake pearls. He jumped into the mortar, but wanted to remain intact. Zimbabwe - "Harvest of Thorns" by Shimmer Chinodya (Score 7.9) We are immediately aware that there has been a war. Did Peter lose his leg to a mine, or to an accident (see page 85). Chapter 2 opens with the immediate knowledge that the war has been over for some time - there is an ice-cream man, there are boys playing football, there are casual shoppers. There is clearly no tension and no expectation of violence. We know that the people are poor - we read about dirt roads, thin walls, corrugated asbestos sheet walls. They are poor, but not all are destitute. The house we enter has a shower. The inhabitants can read and write, so education is presumably common. We find that, while there may not be tension in society, there is certainly tension between Benjamin and his mother because of the family background. The "church" which the Trichinas join seems to bring close together the small congregation, but clearly splits them from the wider community. The behaviour of the children, with their religious name calling, is shocking. The overseer of the "church" leads a life of comparative luxury, paid for by the poor folk in the congregation. It reminds me of certain television evangelists and sect leaders with their huge mansions and big limousines, as well as the fat priests in Western mediaeval and Renaissance painting, surrounded by starving peasants. On page 103 the soldier tries very hard to provoke Benjamin into a fight. On page 146 - my sympathies till now had been with the insurgents, but the brutal murder of the farmer seems pointless, serving only as bait to bring the soldiers into a trap. The last part of the book is a very taut account of the lives of people forced together in the very difficult and dangerous conditions in wartime. They have little in common, and the terrible stress under which they live comes across strongly. The episode on page 220 with the "svikiro" is fascinating. Is she real, or just a good actress? The group seems to believe that she has powers. By the time we get to page 223, though, they seem to be having doubts, or at least trying to convince themselves that she is a fake. When does a freedom fighter become a terrorist? When he attacks and kills civilians? Does a single, never repeated act, mean that he is forever a terrorist? What about a government which burns the farms, starves the rural population and poisons the wells? They must also be considered to be terrorists, especially when they start to destroy the villages and leave the people with no shelter. The hope on the last page is ironic in view of the current situation in Zimbabwe. Zambia - "A Cowrie of Hope" by Binwell Sinyangwe (Score 7.1) On page 5 the husband's family take everything on his death, and leave the wife and child destitute. We have, of course, come upon the same thing earlier in our travels in Africa. On page 22 - the mother has already been named after her daughter. Now the grandmother is named after the grand daughter. The grandfather is the same (see page 23). On page 27 we have the first mention of Aids in any of the books so far. On page 37 we read about free education in Zambia in the 60s, 70s and 80s, but not now. Where have we come across this concept before? Oh, yes! In the UK! The whole area is clearly suffering the effects of climate change. Nasula's plot, and the in-laws farm, have been devastated. On page 50 we read "She held the reins of the conversation". This is just one of the many apt turns of phrase used in the book, unusual, but able to be understood immediately. I wonder if these idioms derive from the local language. Another example is "A colony of ants eating at the stem of her soul". This book has a happy ending. Malawi – Tiyambe Zeleza – “Smouldering Charcoal” (Score 7.3) Be warned. From page 155 to page 160 there are graphic descriptions of the horrifying tortures being carried out. We are straight into life in a poor village, with a bunch of noisy children being the protagonists at this point in the story. We move on to a journalist called Chola (he has a friend Dambo whom we await turning up). Chola has an encounter with the young thugs of “The Party’s Youth Militia” on his way to work. We discover that Dambo is a lawyer working for the government and that he has disappeared. We also learn that he had joined an underground resistance movement. The two things may not be unconnected. Chola is at lunch when he is approached by John, just back from the United Kingdom, who used to be a clerk in the office. Nothing happens. Chola is then joined by another old friend, Denga, accompanied by Mary (not his wife). John has simply disappeared (for the time being?). Chola goes to the bakery where Denga told him there is to be a strike next day since four men were sacked the previous week. Tiene is addressing the crowd. He seems to be the strike leader (is he wearing the “Star Trek red jersey?). During the speeches it becomes clear that there may be some ethnic divisions which the bosses, and possibly the government, are exploiting. Chola’s next job before finishing the day is to report on the opening of a new brewery. After handing in the report he goes home where he receives an anonymous telephone call that Dambo “can be found in the River Nkhona. Nambe, wife of Nchere whom we have already met with the children, goes to the borehole for water. It has been out of water for days and there is now a long queue since it has been repaired. The Roman Catholic church is not shown in a good light. When Nambe and Nchere’s son Ntolo falls out of a tree, severely stung by bees, she goes to the priest to ask him to take them to the hospital, eight miles away. He makes several excuses and sends her away with a flea in her ear. I feel that this episode would not be in the book unless it was a realistic and expected response, and I await the repercussions. The local party chairman sends Nambe away with a similar answer. We meet Catherine, a student who is engaged to Chola. She is waiting for him after classes, but he is late. Nchere reaches the hospital with Ntolo, after having carried him the eight miles in pouring rain, tied to his back. Now we find that Dambo has been brutally murdered. Chola reminisces about the time Dambo talked to him about how the regime serves the rich and the powerful at the expense of the masses. There are several regimes still doing that today (May 2013), and not all in Africa. Chola is at the hospital where he has gone with Dambo’s wife and others to identify Dambo’s body. Dambo’s wife has collapsed and they are in the emergency ward when Nchere arrives with Ntolo. The recognise each other from the strike meeting. Nchere has had a hostile reception from the nurses because he is dripping water on the carpet. The exhausted young doctor sends Nchere ( regretfully and humanely) to the general section since Nchere has no money for the paying section. Chola is taken into custody where he meets Nchere among hundreds of other prisoners. There have been no formal charges, and no trials. The wives try to get in to see their husbands but they, in turn, did not turn up at the compulsory dance sessions in support of the regime. Eventually many of the strikers and their wives go into exile and we see how shocking life is in a refugee camp under a system known as “the refugee industry” where corruption and theft of food and materials intended for the refugees, are rife. This book isn’t great literature though it is a reasonable story. I felt that some characters and events were introduced for no good reason except, perhaps, to add some atmosphere. I scored the book at 7/10. Tanzania - "By the Sea" by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Score 8.1) This is the story of how one man’s greed and duplicity led to rancour, anger and pain for three other men caught in the web of his deceit. The writing is dense, at least to begin with, but quickly becomes more flowing. We discover that the protagonist, an old person as yet unnamed, is a refugee from somewhere warmer, by the sea. He or she is now living somewhere cold and wet, but still near a sea. We learn that he is Mr Shaaban (an assumed name as we discover) as he thinks back to when he went through immigration, and was only allowed into the United Kingdom because he claimed his life was in danger in his own country. We begin to get some back story, such as how he came by the fragrant incense which was taken from him at immigration. He owned a furniture shop and got it in part exchange from a Persian trader who bought a table from him. We get, again, the story of the Europeans who went to other shores for whatever they could get, took over the lands, and the ways in which they treated the original inhabitants. We also see how the Europeans treat the original inhabitants when they, in turn, come to the European shores looking for succour in time of need. Shaaban hears the name Latif Mahmud, whom he knew in his past life. The next section tells us about Latif Mahmud and his life, He contacts the Social workers to find out how “the old man” is doing, and is told his name, which is that of his, Latif’s, father. We learn of his life as a boy, with his older brother Hassan, his father and his mother Asha. At one time a friend of his father, known as “Uncle Hussein”, comes to stay, always downstairs. This was supposed to be for a short while. Shaaban’s real name is Saleh Omar. His connection is that, when he was a furniture dealer, he bought a debt. When the debt fell due to be paid back he took possession of the house and contents previously belonging to Latif’s parents who had put these up as surety for the debt. We see Latif Mahmud winning a scholarship to go to the “so-called” GDR to train as a dentist. While there he manages to get to West Germany and on to the United Kingdom. The two men meet, and talk, trying hard not to quarrel and to put the past behind them. “Bartleby the scrivener” by Melville is mentioned, as he has earlier in the story, and leads to discussion of books. Latif taught the story, and Saleh first read it when he bought books from the colonialists when they were leaving before independence came. There is more, but I won’t discuss it since it would give away too much of the story and the ending. I thought this was a beautifully written book, and well worth a score of 8/10. Rwanda - "The Oldest Orphan" by Tierno Monenembo (Score 6.5) This is a harrowing book, but it is one which you should read. It highlights clearly the evils of colonialism. The occupiers interfered immensely in the development of the people of Rwanda, introducing an artificial ethnic divide so that they could divide and rule by playing one group off against the other. You don't need me to tell you of the consequences once the occupiers had left. Uganda - "Abyssinian Chronicles" by Moses Isegawa (Score 6.6) We have here a raw and earthy book. It seems obvious that Serenity's new wife Padlock suffered serious abuse at her convent school - she would not otherwise have fantasised about her treatment of her sisters-in-law. In fact we find later that it was she who inflicted this on others when she taught them. Mugezi was glad to be left behind when his parents went to the city - freedom? lack of feeling for his parents (particularly his brutal mother)? I'm afraid I found this book tedious and much too long. On page 90 there is a typical example of the purple prose to be found throughout the book - on line 2 we read "semi-volitional etc". Would a village boy, with minimal education, have known anything about the prehistory of the area, never mind fault lines causing earthquakes? Padlock has a rigid old testament view of God - every misfortune is inflicted by God to test his people, Amin is God's tool, etc. This is the worst type of fundamentalism. Where is the love of God in her scheme of things? The New Testament might as well not exist for her. Kenya - "Devil on the Cross" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Score 6.1) Presumably the composer Gatuiria's search for a national music to compose a symphony using the instruments of all Kenya's peoples is an analogy for the attempt to meld the disparate tribes into a unified nation. On page 22 Ngugi reminds us that "Literature is a nation's treasure". The book becomes novel-like towards the end when the couple are travelling towards their parents for blessings on their forthcoming marriage. However, it becomes didactic again with telling points on the problems of cultural imperialism. This is hardly "one of our centuries great novels", but is an extended parable, a political pamphlet and a manifesto, all combined - and it makes telling points about capitalism, colonialism and greed, both of the capitalists/colonialists, and of those who aid and abet them. This must be universal!! Somalia - "From a Crooked Rib" by Nuruddin Farah (Score 6.9) This girl is an innocent. Her youth and her rural tribal upbringing have certainly not prepared her for the problems of urban living, and dealing with the wiles of the people she comes into contact with. Her lack of education makes her accept her subservient role of being more or less a sex slave to her husband - but is he really her husband? Is this a scam dreamed up by Asha to entice Ebla into prostitution? Ethiopia - "The God who Begat a Jackal" by Nega Mezlekia (Score 7.4) Ethiopia has been literate for more than a thousand years, but was it commonplace, and was it all tribes? The rich are sponging off the poor, this being supported by religious belief. Organised religion, in the shape of the Sage, sponges off both rich and poor, but clearly the rich have more to give. On page 22 Aster's powers of persuasion are demonstrated - he can "chain the wind to the wall". The zealots showed "mercy" to the Amma convert by strangling him before burning his body. Yiman (through the author) cleverly highlights the excesses of mediaeval Christian armies during their crusades. I'm not sure about the cannibalism he attributes to Peter the Hermit. On page 24 the family of the Areru twins is so poor that the twins have to share their name. This is common among some cultures where twins are considered to be the same person in two bodies (see Sir James Frazer's "The Golden Bough"). On page 49 the elders left so fast that their shadows were left behind. This book is full of, presumably deliberate, anachronisms - Englishmen, cigarettes etc, so that it seems to be set in many different times all at once. Sudan - "The Translator" by Leila Aboulela (Score 8.4) On page 55, Rae sleeps soundly while "sunset and the boat floated over the Straits of Gibraltar". This is a wonderful image. On page 116 Sammar is greatly concerned over whether Rae will accept Islam so that they can marry. Accepting another religion must be an extremely difficult decision, made with great integrity. If you really believe that your religion is the only true one, is it really possible to change and to believe instead that another religion is the only true one. If you are an atheist, the same must surely apply. It may be easier for an agnostic. I don't believe that simply going through the motions is sufficient, particularly if changing to a religion which makes serious demands on its practitioners. On page 190 I was as relieved as Sammar was when she learned that Rae had become a Muslim.