David Livingstone: The Wayward Vagabond in Africa

N. Kahende

Description

David Livingstone: The Wayward Vagabond in Africa is an expression of doubt about the raîson d’etre concerning the 19th Century explorers and missionaries in Africa. Led by David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer and missionary, they are said to have come to civilise “backward” Africans, which the author creatively re-imagines, arguing that it is far from the truth. Instead, their actions gave impetus to colonialism proper. In this book the omniscient narrator, Everywhere, is God’s special envoy mandated to witness history with far-reaching consequences for humanity. His investigation is to help nail David Livingstone on Judgment Day, much the same way St Peter chronicles events in the Book of Life. Read about how, Everywhere, the spirit rides on wind, walks on water, enters into his characters’ stream of consciousness and even discerns how they interpret the world around them.
The novel retraces Livingstone’s early life, from his deprived childhood in Blantyre, Scotland; his ideological evolution and training in London and his dramatic sojourn in Monomotapa kingdom, which he half-believes is his destiny. The satirical tone in the novel aptly captures that delusional aspect of Livingstone’s “God-ordained” mission to the world.

Informations

• Publié par: East African Educational Publishers
• Date de parution: 25 juin 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789966566034
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

David Livingstone: The Wayward Vagabond
AFRICAN CLASSICS SERIES
1. Secret Lives – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
2. Matigari – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
3. A Grain of Wheat – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
4. Weep Not, Child – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
5. The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
6. Devil on the Cross – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
7. Petals of Blood – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
8. Wizard of the Crow – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
9. Homing In – Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
10. Coming to Birth – Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
11. Street Life – Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
12. The Present Moment – Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
13. Chira – Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
14. A Farm Called Kishinev – Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
15. No Longer at Ease – Chinua Achebe
16. Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
17. A Man of the People – Chinua Achebe
18. T hings Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
19. Anthills of the Savannah – Chinua Achebe
20. The Strange Bride – Grace Ogot
21. Land Without Thunder – Grace Ogot
22. The Promised Land – Grace Ogot
23. The Other Woman – Grace Ogot
24. The Minister’s Daughter – Mwangi Ruheni
25. The Future Leaders – Mwangi Ruheni
26. White Teeth – Okot P’Bitek
27. Horn of My Love – Okot P’Bitek
28. God’s Bits of Wood – Sembene Ousmane
29. Emperor Shaka the Great – Masizi Kunene
30. No Easy Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
31. Mine Boy – Peter Abrahams
32. Takadini – Ben Hanson
33. Myths and Legends of the Swahili – Jan Knappert
34. Mau Mau Author in Detention – Gakaara wa Wanjau
35. Igereka and Other African Narratives – John Ruganda
36. Kill Me Quick – Meja Mwangi
37. Going Down River Road – Meja Mwangi
38. Striving for the Wind – Meja Mwangi
39. Carcase for Hounds – Meja Mwangi
40. The Last Plague – Meja Mwangi
41. The Big Chiefs – Meja Mwangi
42. The Slave – Elechi Amadi
43. The Concubine – Elechi Amadi
44. The Great Ponds – Elechi Amadi
45. The African Child – Camara Laye
PEAK LIBRARY SERIES
1. Without a Conscience – Barbara Baumann
2. The Herdsman’s Daughter – Bernard Chahilu
3. Hearthstones – Kekelwa Nyaywa
4. Of Man and Lion – Beatrice Erlwanger
5. My Heart on Trial – Genga Idowu
6. Kosiya Kifefe – Arthur Gakwandi
7. Return to Paradise – Yusuf K Dawood
8. Mission to Gehenna – Karanja wa Kang’ethe
9. Goatsmell – Nevanji Madanhire
10. Sunset in Africa – Peter M Nyarango
11. The Moon Also Sets – Osi Ogbu
12. Breaking Chains – Dorothea Holi
13. The Missing Links – Tobias O Otieno
14. I Shall Walk Alone – Paul Nakitare
15. A Season of Waiting – David Omowale
16. Before the Rooster Crows – Peter Kimani
17. A Nose for Money – Francis B Nyamnjoh
18. The Travail of Dieudonné – Francis B Nyamnjoh
19. A Journey Within – Florence Mbaya
20. The Doomed Conspiracy – Barrack O Muluka and Tobias O Otieno
21. The Lone Dancer – Joe Kiarie
22. Eye of the Storm – Yusuf K Dawood
23. Animal Farm – George Orwell
24. Stillborn – Diekoye Oyeyinka
25. Ugandan Affairs – Sira Kiwana
26. African Quilt – Harshi Syal Gill and Parvin D. Syal
27. The Dolphin Catchers and other stories
28. Black Ghost – Ken N. Kamoche
29. The Guardian Angels – Issa Noor
30. David Livingstone: The Wayward Vagabond – M. G. Kahende
David Livingstone: The Wayward Vagabond
M. G. N. Kahende
Published by
East African Educational Publishers Ltd.
Elgeyo Marakwet Close, off Elgeyo Marakwet Road, Kilimani, Nairobi
P.O. Box 45314, Nairobi - 00100, KENYA
Tel: [phone]
Mobile: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.eastafricanpublishers.com
East African Educational Publishers also has offices or is represented in the following countries: Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and South Sudan.
© M. G. N. Kahende, 2019
All rights reserved
First published 2019
ISBN 978-9966-56-434-4
DEDICATION
To:
My father
My mother
&
Timothy
Ciiru
Alex
Wambui
Njoroge and
Grace.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge Grace, who typed the manuscript, and my editor, Benson Shiholo, for his invaluable technical guidance.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
In the 19 th Century, the greatest explorer and missionary on African soil was a Scotsman by the name Dr. David Livingstone. A Surgeon, he did not bring with him a scalpel, scissors, stitching kit or any anaesthetic drugs, the basic tools of a surgeon. He carried pens and notebooks.
Livingstone transformed himself from a doctor to a spy.
Sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society which was controlled by the British Foreign Office, he made three epic journeys to Africa. In his reports, he detailed the wealth and natural resources of the land and the navigability of Zambezi River. He was also obsessed with finding the source of the River Nile. His works facilitated the colonisation of Africa.
Why a qualified Surgeon devoted his entire existence to the life of a wayward vagabond, roaming a “Dark Continent” inhabited by “savages”, “cannibals”, “uncivilised” and “backward” natives is truly a mystery.
His adventures changed the course of history in Africa, to the detriment of the lives of natives and indeed his own. This is a historical novel.
NOBODY WINS
So it has been since creation that tragedy is closely linked to wanton greed, and so it shall be till the end of time.
For the human mind is askew Driven by pleasure or pain into a foggy world where reason is submerged in murky incomprehensibles nurtured by dreams in which we all live as heroes and winners victims and villains of diabolical illusions in turns!
The carnage of destruction and the stench of death fill the void of our existence to give empty life meaning in which nobody wins both the powerful and the powerless.
For we all are damned Hapless wayward vagabonds, singing “This world is not my home” For pain, hatred and chaos rule our lives.
Why not make this world OUR SWEET HOME in true brotherhood of man, Regardless of race, creed or colour.
CONTENTS
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
NOBODY WINS
1. I AM WIRED
2. “KING DAVID”
3. TO MONOMOTAPA AND DRUMS OF WAR
4. THE REJECTION OF THE SAVIOUR
5. THE ATTACK
6. TICKET TO AFRICA
7. THE DIFFERENCE
8. THE SAVIOUR IN SLAVERY
9. VOICES FROM THE DARK
10. A BECKONING TARGET
11. THE WALLS WON’T FALL
12. MISPLACED TRUST
13. FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY
14. AN UNSAVOURY PROPOSAL
15. A MOST DIABOLICAL UNDERTAKING
16. UP THE ZAMBEZI
17. DISASTER IN THE BUSH
18. THE “CURSE” IS REVEALED
19. THE RETURN OF THE SAVIOUR
20. THE NINE LIVES OF A CAT
21. THE POISONED CHALICE
22. THE MONKEY’S DILEMMA
23. GOD’S ANGEL
24. THE LAST STRAW
25. NEVER SAY DIE
26. TRIAL AND EXECUTION
CHAPTER 1
I AM WIRED
I t was a warm tropical afternoon, when I took a walk to the edge of the forest, just before the sun retired from its laborious long lazy drift across the skies. I yearned to enjoy the serene tropical sunset and the myriad sounds of birds and animals which reach a crescendo as dusk draws near. It was hard to distinguish which sound came from which beak or mouth, as they mellowed into each other like the smoothness of beats in music of a good orchestra, conducted by a seasoned maestro.
The deep roar of lions in the savannah grassland came, riding on the waves of the wind, to join the trumpet sound of elephants in the hills, as guinea fowls, swallows, weaver birds, zebras, donkeys, cows, sheep and goats rendered their acts in the crescendo. It was moments like these which gave meaning to life, of uninhibited and undiluted joy. I lay under a fig tree which had yielded prodigious clusters of fruits which clung to branches and hung on vines, challenging birds, animals and humans to have their fill. Overripe fruits had fallen to the ground and the aroma was intoxicating. Bees, birds, ants and squirrels had assembled for a rich harvest. I swept a patch and stretched myself on the ground to fully inhale the heavenly atmosphere.
It was at that time when I was contemplating retirement from my special vocation of studying the frailty of human nature. I had hoped my findings could be useful to save the human race from assured self-destruction. Alas, I had come to the sad irrevocable conclusion that the future of man is irretrievably doomed. I was thinking of a new occupation in which to direct my energy, while enjoying nature. The Year was 1828.
As I lay under the fig tree, I cannot tell when sleep overtook me.
Into the heavenly atmosphere at my disposal, St. Peter intruded, descending from high above. At first, I thought kites, eagles and hawks were flapping their wings around me, but all of a sudden, I was blinded by the brilliance of light and beautiful colours like those of a thousand diamonds and rainbows, dancing together, as he landed.
“Don’t be afraid, and do no open your eyes,” he said to me.
At once, I noticed it was the voice of St. Peter, who guards the Pearly Gates in Heaven.
“What do you want Peter, have you come to summon me to Heaven?” I asked him.
You see, my name is Everywhere, the free soul who escaped from Heaven before my scheduled flight to earth. I was impatient. I wanted to live in Kuzania, the former Garde