Child of Africa
Page 37
Joss smiled. ‘I’m happy for you both, but don’t you even think of leaving us any time soon. I am not ready to lose you from my life, not for a great many years to come.’
‘I am not planning on going anywhere any time soon.’
‘Glad to hear it. You realise that Sophia and I are going to miss them both terribly when they leave our house?’
‘No need to rush them out. I was thinking I could move into one of the staff lodges while we build a better family home for us in my village, then we can move out all together into a brand new home, me, my son and his grandfather, but only once we find you another nurse.’
Joss laughed. ‘I don’t think that Lwazi would want to be called a nurse.’
Ndhlovy touched his cheek with her trunk, and then turned westward and began walking out of the stable area with her baby close behind her, ambling towards the moringa grove.
Joss thought back to when she had been the size of her baby, and how much had happened since then.
To him.
To Ndhlovy.
To his whole Yingwe River Lodge family.
He smiled.
He was home, where he belonged.
FACT VS FICTION
Fact: Baobab Tree Orphanage is loosely based on a real place: Khayelihle Children’s Village, Bulawayo. The company running it is Australian Churches of Christ Global Mission Partners Limited, and they do amazing work with HIV-positive children.
Fact: Mass graves: In March 2011, a mass grave of over six hundred bodies was found in a disused mine shaft at Chibondo Gold Mine near Mount Darwin, one hundred and ten miles from Harare. The event was used as political propaganda by supporters of President Robert Mugabe.
Saviour Kasukuwere, the government minister of black empowerment, is quoted to have said: ‘Forensic tests and DNA analysis of the remains won’t be carried out. Instead, traditional African religious figures will perform rites to invoke spirits that will identify the dead.’
Many believe that some of the bodies were much more recent than the government claimed. An estimated twenty thousand civilians were killed by Mugabe’s soldiers in the Gukurahundi; many of those victims still lie in unmarked graves.
Fiction: The placements and discoveries of these graves in my book are fictional, as is the involvement of the British Commando unit and the ICC in identifying these sites.
Fact: The decline of many of Africa’s national parks is just one of the environmental conservation issues that the African Parks Network, an international non-governmental organisation, attempts to address in ten parks over seven different countries. It is not mentioned in this book and is just one example of the amazing organisations that are trying to help the African wildlife.
Fiction: Africa Wildlife In Crisis (AWIC) is not a real company, but there are many companies out there who are investing time and money into Africa’s wildlife that is in peril.
Fact: Youth camps with formal militia training operated by the Zimbabwe Government were in existence in the early 2000s.
Fiction: My youth camps belonging to a private individual within Zimbabwe.
Fact: Recovering service men and women used to compete in the Ironman, or the American Warrior games; today, many compete in the Invictus Games, started in 2014, and the patron of which is Prince Harry.
Fact: More than 140,000 of Africa’s savannah elephants were killed between 2007 and 2014, one-third of the total population. On average, one elephant is being poached every fifteen minutes. It is estimated that wild elephants will be extinct within twenty-five years.
Fact: Rhinos are listed by CITIES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) as critically endangered. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were approximately one million rhinos. In 1970, there were only 70,000. Today, there are around 28,000 rhinos surviving in the wild.
GLOSSARY
assegai
A traditional spear, used for fighting. (Bantu)
bakkie
A South African word for a pick-up truck, a ute in Australian English. (Afrikaans)
bama
Mother. (Tsonga)
basop
Beware, mind, take care. (Ndebele, adapted from the original Afrikaans word pasop)
boma
A fenced area used to keep animals enclosed. Also can refer to an area used for outdoor meals and parties. (Swahili)
cheelo
Demon. (Tsonga)
Chete Safari Area
Situated on the shores of Lake Kariba between the Senkwe and Muenda rivers. It is a controlled hunting area and one of Zimbabwe’s most rugged concessions.
chipembele
Rhinoceros. (Shona)
Chizarira
National Park
A large national park found in Northern Zimbabwe.
dagga
Weed, cannabis. (Southern African)
doppies
Shells from spent bullets. (Afrikaans)
domba
Monster. (Tsonga)
duggaboy
A buffalo. (Southern African slang)
Eish
Wow! What? Expression of surprise. (Bantu)
gillie
A person who goes fishing with you, loads the hook, guts the fish and does all the fishing things, allowing you to just catch the fish. (Zimbabwe slang)
Gukurahundi
A 5th Brigade operation carried out between 1983 and 1987. Suspected anti-government elements among the Ndebele community were identified and eliminated, and the people involved were given indemnity by the ruling government. (Shona)
ikanka yabo
Their jackal. (Ndebele)
ikhaya
Hut/house. (Zulu, Ndebele)
incelwe
A BaTonga woman’s smoking pipe. (BaTonga)
inkosana
The chief’s (boss’s) son. As long as the chief is still alive he will continue to be called inkosana, no matter how old he is. Only when the chief dies will he be called inkosi. (Ndebele)
inkosi
The (chief) boss. (Ndebele)
intale
A BaTonga men’s smoking pipe. (BaTonga)
kaffir
The word kaffir has now evolved into an offensive term for black people, but it was previously a neutral term for black southern African people. Also was used as a term for ‘non-believer’, referring to the black people not being of Christian upbringing. (Southern Africa)
kaross
Blanket made from animal skins. (Zulu/Ndebele)
knopkierie
An African club. These are typically made from wood with a large knob (wood knot) at one end with a long stick protruding from it. They can be used for fighting or throwing at animals during hunting. Ideal size to also be used as a walking stick. (Afrikaans)
koppie
Also kopjie or kopje. A small hill rising up from the African veld. (Afrikaans)
kraal
An area where animals are kept, usually found inside an African village/settlement, and usually circular, with barricades to keep the stock inside. Can also refer to an African cluster of huts. (Afrikaans but commonly used in South Africa)
Kukala Ku
Chilyango
A death ritual where the surviving spouse, usually the wife, sleeps in the house with the dead person for a night, covered in maize meal. (BaTonga)
Kuyabila
The poems of God. (Tsonga)
laager
An encampment formed by a circle of wagons/ vehicles. (Historical South African)
lobola
An African tradition of an arranged payment between a groom and the bride’s family, in exchange for their daughter. Can be paid in cattle or cash, and the higher the lobola, the greater value the bride holds in the groom’s eyes. This payment is the groom’s way of thanking the parents for raising a good daughter. It is still applicable to many South African traditional weddings. (Zulu)
madomba
Monsters. (Tsonga)
mana
Stop. (Northern Ndebele)
middle mannetjie
The dirt bump in the middle of the two tyre tracks in the road. (Generally accepted Southern African slang)
Matusadona
National Park
A large game park in Northern Zimbabwe.
metse
Mat. (Tsonga)
mielie
Maize. (Afrikaans, generally accepted Southern African slang)
mukulana
Brother. (Tsonga)
mukwa tree
Pterocarpus angolensis/bloodwood tree, a teak tree that appears to bleed when you cut it.
muti
Traditional medicine in Southern Africa. It can refer to medicine in general. Also spelt as umuthi (Zulu). (South African slang)
mywee
Short for my wena – translates roughly to ‘Oh goodness’. (Zulu)
N’Goma
Traditional healers within the Nguni, Sotho, Tswana and Tsonga societies. (Tswana and Tsonga)
Ndebele
An African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages. Spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe. Also referred to as Northern Ndebele, isiNdebele, Sindebele, or Ndebele.
Nehanda /
Nyamhika
Neranda
Shona god. Nehanda, originally Matope’s sister-wife, possessed supernatural powers. She became a guardian spirit, and could transfer her spirit and inhabit other bodies. Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana was considered to be the female incarnation of the oracle spirit Nyamhika Nehanda, and considered to be the grandmother of Zimbabwe. Some people, both male and female, claim they are Nehanda reincarnated because Shona people believe in spirit possession. (Shona)
ndende
Father. (Chitonga)
Ngi ya bonga.
Kuhle uku bu
se khaya.
‘Thank you. It feels good to be home.’ (Ndebele)
Nguni
Nguni cattle are known for their resistance to diseases, and characterised by their multicoloured skin, that can be many different colours and patterns, but their noses are always black tipped. Can also refer to a people of Africa, including the Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Hlubi, Phithi and Ndebele.
nyama
Meat. (Ndebele)
nyami nyami
The Zambezi river god also known as the Zambezi snake spirit. (Tonga)
panga
A large bush knife, like a machete, once used generally to cut sugarcane, commonly used as weapons. (Swahili)
penga
Mad. (Generally accepted southern African slang)
pepe
No. (ChiTonga)
Puma, asi
hambe
masinyane
‘Get out, come with me quickly.’ (Ndebele)
riempie
Ropes made with animal hides. (South African)
rondavel
A Westernised version of the African-style round hut with a pitched thatch roof. (Afrikaans)
sadza
A thick maize meal porridge, the staple food in Zimbabwe of the African people. (South African)
shebeen
A tavern with a predominantly black patronage, not always legal in its activities. (General South African term)
Sibusisiwe
Blessing. (Ndebele)
sjambok
A leather whip, it used to be made from rhino or hippopotamus hide, but is now made from plastic. Used as a fighting weapon in South Africa. (Afrikaans)
skabenga
Used to describe a criminal or a shady person, rascal, scallywag. (General South African term)
spoors
Tracks, usually left by animals. (Afrikaans, used generally in southern Africa)
suka pangisa
‘Move your arse.’ (Ndebele)
Tarisai
‘Here it is, take a look, everybody see this.’ (Shona)
thula
Quiet. (Zulu)
tokoloshe
Really bad spirit. A tokoloshe can resemble a zombie, or a poltergeist, or a gremlin, any demon-like thing. A tokoloshe in this book refers to something evil. (Shona)
totsei
Thug or robber. (Sesotho slang)
Tribal Trust
Land (TTL)
Now referred to as Communal Lands. Small scale and subsistence farming are the principal economic activities in Communal Lands. The farms of Communal Lands are traditionally unfenced and Communal Lands have resident traditional African chiefs who are supposed to see that the community as a whole is looked after.
travois
A rough A-frame made for carrying something on and dragged behind a donkey or person. (Sesotho slang)
tshama
Sit. (Tsonga)
twalumba
Cheers, thank you. (ChiTonga)
umfama
A young boy. (Ndebele)
umntwana
Little child. (Ndebele)
uxolo
‘Sorry, excuse me.’ (Northern Ndebele)
windgat
‘Wind-arse.’ Typically a man behaving badly, boaster, gas-bag, windbag. (Afrikaans)
woza
Come. (Ndebele)
yebo
Yes. (Zulu)
yingwe
Leopard. (Xitsonga)
zama uku xolisa
‘Try saying please.’ (Ndebele)
ZESA
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority. (Xitsonga)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As I write more books, more and more people seem to be involved with making all the magic happen.
Forever in debt to Ray Somerville Coleman (Grampie) for the stories he wrote of his life as one of the last Native Commissioners in Rhodesia. I have used these for inspiration and authenticity. To my Wilde cousins for allowing me access to these Coleman family files – thank you!
Dave and Pat Tarr, for sharing the story of your baby elephant with me, which inspired part of this story. I hope you love the ending I gave it!
Gary Fonternel, as always, for everything flying and military based; if there are mistakes, they are mine.
Royal Marine Commando Alistair Burton, for the inspiration of the returning hero. In 2010, I visited Zimbabwe, and this story began cooking in my head. Al had just returned from Afghanistan. I’m so grateful that you returned whole and healthy to continue to live an amazing life. I know you will never read this book, but I hope one day it’s an audiobook and you can listen. Thank you for answering my million questions on everything commando. Mistakes are all mine, not yours.
Skinny Wood, for your Ndebele translations, as always.
Isaac Kalio, who is a guide for Wilderness Safaris in Zambia, whom I have never met, for help with Tsonga words that I couldn’t find on the net, and for answering my messages always, no matter where he was in the bush on safari, on his little mobile phone. I appreciate the dedication to Africa, her people and wildlife, and your help.
James Gifford Photography, for your amazing pictures of the fishing leopard, who I just couldn’t resist writing into my book. Thank you for sharing those pictures with the world in Travel Africa magazine, and then continuing to share your expertise on Facebook with me and my readers.
Philip Hatzis, founder and partner of Tri Training Harder LLP, who chatted with me about all things regarding running and training for a triathlon competition, even though he was on holiday ‘down under’. Much appreciated.
US Army Combat Medic, Sgt (ret.) Adam Hartswick, an amputee veteran who served in both Iraq and then Afghanistan, where he was wounded, for all his frankness about post-traumatic growth (PTG) or benefit finding (so the opposite of well-known PTSD), and all things humorous about being an amputee, including various sex positions and how your prosthetics can pinch ‘your boys’. Any mistakes in this book are mine as he has tried his best to make my hero’s life as close to real for an amputee as we could.
Michael Stokes, for his amazing photographs that made me want to write abou
t a beautiful wounded warrior.
Robyn Grady and Gayle Ash, for cheering this book on, and who are always with me every step of the way.
Alli Sinclair, stable sister and friend, who’s always at her computer, no matter the time, to chat, inspire and kick my butt, even after midnight!
Agent Alex Adsett, for being there when I needed help, and always helping me smile through everything, no matter what.
The team at Harlequin Mira, as always: Rachael Donovan, Annabel Blay, and the amazing cover fairy gods at Squirt Creative. Thank you.
Kylie Mason, patient editor extraordinaire, for the hard work in helping make this story the best it can be.
My sons Kyle and Barry, for just being the best young men a mum could ask for.
Barry, for doing my mud maps this time, much appreciated by me and my editor! (And the drinks you place on my desk randomly too, ensuring I’m not dehydrating.)
Last and most importantly: my darling husband, Shaun, whose constant belief in my abilities is an amazement to me. Thank you!
If you loved Child of Africa, please turn over for a taste
of T.M. Clark’s previous bestseller