Book Commentary about Africa
Tears of the Giraffe
(The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency) set in Botswana
“I came to Africa twelve years ago. I suppose I had the usual ideas about it – a hotchpotch of images of big game and savannah and Kilimanjaro rising out of the cloud. I also thought of famines and civil wars, potbellied, half-naked children staring at the camera, sunk in hopelessness. Coming to Africa … I think that I can say that I had never been happier in my life. We had found a country where the people treated one another well, with respect, and where there were values other than the grab, grab, grab which prevails back home. I felt humbled, in away. Everything about my own country seemed shoddy and superficial when held up against what I saw in Africa. People suffered here, and many of them had very little, but they had this wonderful feeling for others. When I first heard African people calling others - complete strangers – their brother and sister, it sounded odd to my ears. But after awhile I knew exactly what it meant and I started calling people rafiki (friend).”
“African adults have grown up happier … as they had seen Africa become independent and take its own steps in the world. But what a troubled adolescent continent had experienced, with its vainglorious dictators and corrupt bureaucracies. And at the same time, African people were simply trying to lead decent lives in the midst of all the turmoil and disappointment.”
“It was a social duty to employ domestic staff, who was readily available and desperate for work. Wages were low – unconscionably so, … but at least the system created jobs.
(The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency) set in Botswana
“I came to Africa twelve years ago. I suppose I had the usual ideas about it – a hotchpotch of images of big game and savannah and Kilimanjaro rising out of the cloud. I also thought of famines and civil wars, potbellied, half-naked children staring at the camera, sunk in hopelessness. Coming to Africa … I think that I can say that I had never been happier in my life. We had found a country where the people treated one another well, with respect, and where there were values other than the grab, grab, grab which prevails back home. I felt humbled, in away. Everything about my own country seemed shoddy and superficial when held up against what I saw in Africa. People suffered here, and many of them had very little, but they had this wonderful feeling for others. When I first heard African people calling others - complete strangers – their brother and sister, it sounded odd to my ears. But after awhile I knew exactly what it meant and I started calling people rafiki (friend).”
“African adults have grown up happier … as they had seen Africa become independent and take its own steps in the world. But what a troubled adolescent continent had experienced, with its vainglorious dictators and corrupt bureaucracies. And at the same time, African people were simply trying to lead decent lives in the midst of all the turmoil and disappointment.”
“It was a social duty to employ domestic staff, who was readily available and desperate for work. Wages were low – unconscionably so, … but at least the system created jobs.
posted by McLeanstoAfrica | 9:32 PM
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