tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57015390179266115642024-03-12T16:29:15.121-07:00The Journey HomeBack to Angola - a book about a reluctant conscript and a 1500km bicycle ride from Cuito Cuanavale in Angola to Tsumeb in Namibia.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-85236378671695184052015-10-27T00:49:00.001-07:002015-10-27T00:49:28.508-07:00War Ghosts<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">At first it is the red-tipped stakes I see rising about a metre from the
white Angolan sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A double row of them
marks a narrow corridor of death snaking through the bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I see that between the stakes lie partially
uncovered anti-tank mines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty-eight
years ago I was a soldier on the frontline of battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the frontline is still here and the mines
fight on like a lost regiment, not knowing that the war is long over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the mine-clearing NGO, the HALO Trust
that forms today’s opposing army as they painstakingly find and destroy the
mines, making the land safe for the people of Angola.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"><i>Read the full story of this year's visit to Cuito Cuanavale on my travel blog: <a href="http://morrystravels.blogspot.co.za/">Wandering not Lost</a></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8tqe_AlWEkOqBNWlVoHmi3_5odOy9MRPTVxs2Wyn_Twn-CCRRcqdAmaRBnIf_TYEusGJeBdJfz237PcNb-2cIRW26fNxX3ytMtymEq_RgLIjTCJcfOIus1cYdRnTpRT0QfFrM1Q_ofIIP/s1600/12A+Tank+Tumpo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8tqe_AlWEkOqBNWlVoHmi3_5odOy9MRPTVxs2Wyn_Twn-CCRRcqdAmaRBnIf_TYEusGJeBdJfz237PcNb-2cIRW26fNxX3ytMtymEq_RgLIjTCJcfOIus1cYdRnTpRT0QfFrM1Q_ofIIP/s640/12A+Tank+Tumpo.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-31845973831215692572015-05-07T02:07:00.000-07:002015-05-07T02:07:01.049-07:00Jozi sojurnI've always said that an armoured vehicle is the most appropriate transport for the roads in Johannesburg. Well now I've got a tank, of sorts. The old Mercedes Benz I've been loaned while I'm up here is a close relative of a Second World War panzer. It's wide, and a bit scraped, maybe as a consequence, and it's slow. Or perhaps that's the way I drive it. You hit the accelerator and count to three before anything happens. Just before the anything happens there's an alarming clunk as the transmission system wakes up and does it's thing. My friend tells me the panzer has handled a 4x4 mountain pass better than his Land Rover. Impressive, yes?<br />
<br />
There is positive side to driving a slow, scraped tank. When my signal to change lanes is met by the usual Gauteng driver response, which is to hit the accelerator to close the gap, I can slowly ease in my preferred direction anyway. The sight of the lumbering, slightly bashed panzer is enough to intimidate the driver of the shiny SUV. I wave a friendly thank you and receive a one fingered salute in return. Happy Days!<br />
<br />
I've been doing some last minute preparation for this expedition. Buying benzine for my stove because I couldn't bring it on the plane from Cape Town. A bulb of garlic and some dried mushrooms to add to my food supplies because I forgot to bring them. Some toiletries, also forgotten. Added to some other business and seeing some old friends, it's been a bit crazy.<br />
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Tonight I'll leave this vibrant, colourful, aggressive and energetic hub of the South African economy. I'll leave the weaving anarchic taxis and the status symbol cars and lable conscious perfectly coiffed Hyde Park shoppers, and the traffic light beggars and the hawkers. I'll be on the long, slow road north in a people carrier full of people I don't know towing a trailer loaded with motorbikes. <br />
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Sometime in the morning we'll cross the border into Botswana. From there the long, slow and very straight road across the Kalahari to Maun.<br />
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All I have left to do is to return the panzer to it's generous owner. Then the road beckons.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-69033268063261711282015-04-30T04:30:00.000-07:002015-04-30T04:30:09.674-07:00Angola Expedition 2015<div>
So I'm off to Angola again. Perhaps not as reluctant as when I was a conscript. But not with the same excitement mingling with anxiety and even fear that I took with me in 2012. I've been there. And I've been there again. A journey that put to rest the last of the ghosts from the war. A new relationship was formed with the place and this time I met people. I had a deep meeting with the Cuban, Roberto. A man who had been an enemy soldier in 1987. We had no language to explain to each other the depth of our connection. Yet we were able to let each other know in ways way beyond words, the importance of this meeting for us both. A deeply and touching and affirming meeting between two human beings whose countries put them on a battlefield to kill each other. We resolved something for each other. I left in tears. I left with peace.</div>
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So why go back again? I could say that I'm going back to support another former conscript and Angolan war veteran. And that is true. But he's capable of doing his trip without me. He and his buddy from back then and the other friends who are riding along with him on their 'adventure motorcycles'. I'm going back because I'm always up for an expedition and the possibility of adventure. And I'm always up for spending time in the bush. I'm going to give what support I can to these other former conscripts. I'm going along to enjoy the huge Botswana skies, the endless bushscapes, the beautiful rivers of the Caprivi and Angola. Most of all I'm going to enjoy meeting all sorts of wonderful people. Travel without meeting new people is, after all, a sterile business.</div>
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We start with a long road trip from Gauteng to Maun in Botswana. I'm travelling with my old MK friend Patrick again. So the journey will be a meandering affair, at times 'pushing' hard with hours on the road, and other times lingering with friends and connections old and new. We hook up with the bikers and then head to Rundu in Namibia. Then to the border crossing at Katwitwi and on to Menongue and Cuito Cuanavale.</div>
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As with all travel, each journey is different. Even when it is to the same place. I look forward to sharing my journey with you once again.</div>
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Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-84860400983150827122014-12-11T05:33:00.001-08:002014-12-11T05:33:54.175-08:00No Place for Triumphalism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjucEnEdysDbdpjXQjR4uoEAxa1ZwdtrOcuR0gbMXkmlFBQz4HPd20H_Ml8duxoWVLmfBjN90t98nV8AyD6xgAHkFpOzqW0WqsmzAqvutS-ba9zsI8xbrupn-JdjtmYtFIsRs1U6fcv0_6Q/s1600/APC+and+Bike2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjucEnEdysDbdpjXQjR4uoEAxa1ZwdtrOcuR0gbMXkmlFBQz4HPd20H_Ml8duxoWVLmfBjN90t98nV8AyD6xgAHkFpOzqW0WqsmzAqvutS-ba9zsI8xbrupn-JdjtmYtFIsRs1U6fcv0_6Q/s1600/APC+and+Bike2.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
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As I took this photograph, I wondered who died here. On the road from Cuito Cuanavale to Menongue there were many such wrecks. Someone, somewhere, is likely to know the story behind each one. A story likely to include fear and death and grief.<br />
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I tried to be respectful of these places. Particularly as I was part of an invading army all those years ago. Someone's son or brother or husband died here. <br />
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I was reminded of the need to tread lightly when I was showing some slides to an audience which included former liberation movement soldiers. Afterwards one man told me that he had lost a close family member during an ambush on this road. He was in an APC like the one in this picture. This could have been the very vehicle in which he died. The man said the photograph had upset him, raising feelings of grief and perhaps the trauma of his own war experiences.<br />
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For those of us who have returned to the war-places of our youth, it is good to remember that this is no place for triumphant poses next to the burned out wrecks of 'enemy' vehicles. Instead, these should be places for deep, human reflection.<br />
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<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-11148555229806286042014-11-25T07:32:00.000-08:002014-11-25T07:32:00.961-08:00War and Moral Injury: Beyond the Concept of PTSD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/BJWZyZun27g?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
When I first read Jonathan Shay's idea of Moral Injury, a lightbulb went on. This is what had been missing for me. The clinical 'disorder' : PTSD, didn't really fit for me. But 'moral injury' described this feeling of being troubled by the past.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-64674379311576753822014-10-26T01:17:00.002-07:002014-10-26T01:17:48.911-07:00Finding Peace on the Road of Death<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnvX-hNppJBtufIfEDHu5FXWJki7yO3qUg-AoBUKV2r5ed3TAKwUVvy8VFgsBR4CDfPZrJRiitKJqo1M08-Z1cQah9NSYOfi9OspqfjH_dpQ8yfgqOuEX0kOCKOrm7Y5Gz7soOlCg9FqE/s1600/Paul+riding+in+Angola+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnvX-hNppJBtufIfEDHu5FXWJki7yO3qUg-AoBUKV2r5ed3TAKwUVvy8VFgsBR4CDfPZrJRiitKJqo1M08-Z1cQah9NSYOfi9OspqfjH_dpQ8yfgqOuEX0kOCKOrm7Y5Gz7soOlCg9FqE/s1600/Paul+riding+in+Angola+(2).jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a></div>
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In full flight. On the road out of Cuito Cuanavale. Starting the 190km journey to Menongue on what some called 'The Road of Death'.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-10114872024329753012014-10-20T08:01:00.001-07:002014-11-25T07:56:47.377-08:00An interview and some footage from Angola<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A previous link to this video was removed. Hopefully this one will stay intact!Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-59828920006014272282014-10-18T03:43:00.002-07:002014-10-18T03:43:35.905-07:00John Maytham of 567 Cape Talk reviews Back to AngolaHave a listen to what John Maytham says about Back to Angola:<br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/primediabroadcasting/book-review-17-october-2014">Click to Listen</a>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-90501273036295461122014-09-02T06:17:00.000-07:002014-09-02T06:17:19.611-07:00Mortar Firegroup Rescues 32 Battalion element<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"> <i>Some stories didn't make the book. I had enough material to contextualise my bicycle ride. Here's a story that was left out.</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAfwwnLfUu5wKlNu1RGA6q_0DCDbylS0PuaOP88JJcHKMm0s3l7hPCQtS1FwD2R5SrYSRko0uZ0iq4W5AY2hys8eirzuSIOrhy5GjXcVz1mk_cqbtm6BbESTK1bmiRsd7nOtE6g9dvitH/s1600/Deon+and+John+from+inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAfwwnLfUu5wKlNu1RGA6q_0DCDbylS0PuaOP88JJcHKMm0s3l7hPCQtS1FwD2R5SrYSRko0uZ0iq4W5AY2hys8eirzuSIOrhy5GjXcVz1mk_cqbtm6BbESTK1bmiRsd7nOtE6g9dvitH/s1600/Deon+and+John+from+inside.jpg" height="318" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">The battle group has laagered in some hilly terrain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again it amazes me how a big formation of
armoured vehicles seems to melt away into the bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the camouflage nets are pulled over the
Ratels it becomes difficult to see them and often I have walked close to a
platoon’s position without noticing their vehicles until I was quite close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Ratel 81s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are lined up twenty metres apart and facing in
the same direction in case we have to come into defensive action but this seems
unlikely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The corporal tells us to
relax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stand for a while looking out
at the hills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rounded and lush with
thick,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>green -forested slopes they offer
us some protection from the enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps it is the novelty of seeing hills after so much time spent in
the relatively flat and densely wooded bush that gives me this good
feeling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it is because it may be
more difficult for the MiGs to find us here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The rainy season has started and there are clouds hanging low over this
high ground and for some reason it reminds me of a scene from a Vietnam War movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw Platoon last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went with my friend Steve while we were
home on rare long pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were about to
be sent to the Border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Dad came with
us and wanted to know our thoughts, now that we were soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I couldn’t relate to these celluloid
soldiers and I had no experience of war.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">I don’t muse on this for long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This war that I’m in is so far removed from war in the movies that I
don’t even try to find a connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead I walk over to my number three’s seat and dig out today’s open
rat-pack from the storage bin in the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I want to have a snack:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a dog
biscuit and cheesy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before I can bite a
hole in the cheesy there’s a shout from the corporal’s vehicle:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Kom by jou wapens!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the other men have wandered off to catch
up with friends in the other platoons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Morris, Andersen!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fetch the other
manne, we’re coming into action!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
gives no explanation and the urgency of his order is enough to get me running
in the direction some of the missing crews walked in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’re not far away and soon we are all
running over the uneven ground and back to our vehicles.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">The four crews quickly align mortar barrels and bearing and elevation is
put on the sites and there’s no need for me to remove charges because we are
firing just within our four and a half kilometre range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t have time to dwell on the nature of
the danger, though the thought flashes through my mind that maybe our laager is
being advanced upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our bombs are
quickly in the air and they must be on target because there are no corrections
and we’re told to keep launching those bombs as fast as we can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it’s over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As suddenly as we came into action we’ve been
stood down.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">There was no warning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The target
was so far away that I heard no shots or engine sounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a while the action is a mystery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, at a briefing, we find out that an
element of 32 Battalion had been surprised by some FAPLA tanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wanted support from heavy artillery but
the G5s were engaged in bombarding a more important target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An 81mm mortar is useless against a tank but
we were the only support available so we were brought into action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The FAPLA force was on top of the 32 element
so our bombs were landing amongst our own troops but the situation was so
desperate that their commander insisted that we continue the bombardment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The FAPLA soldiers were so surprised by the
sudden deluge of our high explosives that they stopped advancing long enough
for the 32 Battalion soldiers to make good their escape.</span></div>
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-42455397311230602412014-08-26T02:55:00.000-07:002014-08-26T02:55:58.501-07:00Artu and Lourenso: Did you survive the war?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMTDK_GIu6z9fQFaRT2ETMuk178x7Uj6yN56_nxki1hQ8RUzAM8RQyKhQxIAZ9aBRtJbyrLmqZKWiQn6LbvFFprqPcRa3Es0cL22h6nh_X4W0aV2XzBVuCYacZS7fhVvYDI_PwTCSAjWO/s1600/Paul+and+Unita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMTDK_GIu6z9fQFaRT2ETMuk178x7Uj6yN56_nxki1hQ8RUzAM8RQyKhQxIAZ9aBRtJbyrLmqZKWiQn6LbvFFprqPcRa3Es0cL22h6nh_X4W0aV2XzBVuCYacZS7fhVvYDI_PwTCSAjWO/s1600/Paul+and+Unita.jpg" height="457" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">The two boys couldn’t
have been much older than 17.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps they
were younger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their uniforms were
shiny-black in places where sweat had mixed with dirt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our uniforms were dirty too, with fear -soaked
dust.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">They patrolled around
our defensive laager.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">Some of the guys
examined the AK47s the two UNITA men carried and found them to be rusting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rains had started and there was no oil
for their rifles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guys took out
their cleaning kits and scrubbed off the rust and polished the barrels and
oiled those AKs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">We laughed with them
and shared food from our rat-packs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
took a photograph of our scruffy, dirty little band.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just boys deep in the bush and out of our
depth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frightened.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">Artu and Lorenzo, did
you survive the war?</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-7465089620505728072014-06-19T07:38:00.000-07:002014-06-19T07:38:44.743-07:00My Angolan Peace Map - a short video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/EL4ggbt13O4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-14258186126446407182014-05-14T00:53:00.001-07:002014-05-14T00:53:56.378-07:00Back to Angola reviewed in The Witness by Anthony Stidolph<br />
An excerpt from the review:<br />
<br />
<i><b><br /></b></i><br />
<i><b>"There are fine passages describing his travels. The crazy driving along
rough, potholed roads, the still-threatening minefields, the rusting
monuments to the war, the occasional feelings of isolation and
loneliness in a country where few speak English —all these should be
wonderfully recognisable to readers, whether they have made a similar
journey or not. </b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b> Morris seems to have encountered nothing but friendliness and kindness, even from
the war veterans he once fought against, on his 1 500-kilometre journey.
Indeed, the only really sour note he hit is when he crossed back over
the border and found himself being lectured by a recalcitrant old white
in a bar.<br />Full of action and adrenalin, anger and compassion, philosophy and
humour, Back to Angola is an honest and affecting account of one man’s
search for resolution and meaning."</b></i><br />
<br />
To read the full review <a href="http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=117650">click here.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-72894479817003530822014-05-12T05:56:00.000-07:002014-05-12T05:56:22.650-07:00PODCAST: Listen to my radio interview with Michelle Magwood of the Sunday Times<br />
<br />
<a href="http://magwoodonbooks.bookslive.co.za/blog/2014/05/12/podcast-my-chat-with-paul-morris-on-his-new-book-back-to-angola-a-journey-from-war-to-peace/">Podcast of my interview with Michelle Magwood of the Sunday Times</a><br />
<br />
I talk about the war, by bicycle journey and writing Back to Angola.<br />
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-28874211253500689932014-05-06T08:20:00.002-07:002014-05-06T08:20:53.770-07:00Review of Back to Angola Here is a snippet from the review of Back to Angola by Jenny de Klerk. It appeared in the Johannesburg newspaper the Saturday Star (3 May 2014). It is available online on the <a href="http://artslink.co.za/">Artslink</a> website.<br />
<br />
Click here for the full review: <a href="http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=35372">http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=35372</a><br />
<br />
"As he cycles, Paul muses, recollecting those days in the bush, telling
vivid stories of his time in basics, his training, his mates, life on
the front line, the terror of the battle on the Lomba River. These are
interspersed with his roadtrip experiences, the places, the people, the
isolation of being alone with only a few words of Portuguese, battling
to share and be understood.<br />
<br />
This is a personal account, honest, intelligent, thoughtful and
extremely well written. Paul, a psychotherapist by training, brings
insight and context to his journey, reflecting on childhood, the
moulding of society, expectations of manhood, trauma and the
consequences of war."Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-85226029411081850862014-04-23T03:49:00.000-07:002014-04-23T03:49:11.181-07:00Voices of Africa website features an extract from Back to Angola<br />
<i><b>The Mail and Guardian's <a href="http://voicesofafrica.co.za/around-angola-on-a-bicycle/">Voices of Africa</a> website features an extract from Back to Angola today. Click on the link to read a little about the hospitality I received deep in the Angolan bush. Here's a taster:</b></i><br />
<br />
"As I move further into the floodplain, I come to the first of several
river crossings. A series of channels cut the road. If I were on an
unloaded bike I would simply ride across, but I don’t want to risk a
soaking, especially because of my camera equipment. A more critical
consideration is that a fall could result in injury. I get off the bike
and take off my shoes and socks. The water is cold and clear and I can
see what I’m placing my bare feet on as I wheel the bike across. On the
other side I lay the bike down and put my shoes and socks back on. I
repeat the process again at the next crossing.<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_5792" style="width: 442px;">
<a href="http://voicesofafrica.co.za/media/uploads/2014/04/Road-to-Cuchi.jpg"><img alt="The road to Cuchi. (Pic: Paul Morris)" class=" wp-image-5792 " height="288" src="http://voicesofafrica.co.za/media/uploads/2014/04/Road-to-Cuchi.jpg" width="432" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
The road to Cuchi. (Pic: Paul Morris)</div>
</div>
There’s a man walking next to the road as I put on my shoes after a
third crossing. As we talk I realise how weak I am. I struggle to form
words and can’t seem to think straight. I’m in worse shape than I
thought I was. I sit for a while on the side of the road, feeling
frustrated at my slow progress. Hauling myself to my feet, I walk over
to a little ford and kneel next to the river to splash my face. I feel
like lying in that cold water and letting it wash away whatever poison
is debilitating me.<br />
The sun is lowering in the west. I’ve long resigned myself to the
fact that I won’t make Cuchi. I’ve been pushing myself, but I can’t go
on like this for much longer. It looks like I’m going to be spending the
night in the bush. I start riding again and as I crawl along the broken
gravel I scan the bush for a potential campsite. I haven’t seen many
landmine signs on this road, but the lack of red-and-white warning signs
doesn’t mean that there aren’t mines."<br />
<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-69237216045397958102014-04-20T12:05:00.001-07:002014-04-20T12:05:52.576-07:00Dogfights and Dreams - A Mirage pilot's story<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"> <i>This story first appeared in the Aviation News Journal May/June 2014 (Canada)</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"><i>(Also posted on <a href="http://morrystravels.blogspot.com/">Wandering. Not lost.)</a> </i></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">The first time I heard Arthur Piercy’s story was in 1987 when I was a 20
year old infantry conscript deep in the Angolan bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was part of a force involved in South
Africa’s last big invasion of Angola.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d
watched the aging aircraft of our air force singe the tree-tops as they roared
overhead before “toss-bombing” the Angolan brigades we were about to
attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At other times we would watch
the Angolan MiG 23s as they circled high above the forests searching for our
positions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We knew that the Mirage F1,
the SAAF’s main fighter aircraft, was no match for the more advanced Soviet MiG
23.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">Under the cover of the trees and camouflage nets our commander told the
assembled platoons that one of our Mirages had been shot down and the pilot had
been badly injured during a crash-landing.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">25 years later I met the pilot in a coffee shop in a mall near South
Africa’s capital city, Pretoria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
stumbled across him again on the internet just before I was about to embark on
a journey back to the battlefields of Angola<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to deal with some of my own history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Arthur was unwittingly part of that history and in a way, I was part of
his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I contacted him and arranged a
meeting.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">We sat opposite each other in a mall, sipping coffee and exchanging war
stories as modern South Africa went about its shopping around us, two war
veterans from another time and a forgotten war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">I’ve heard many war stories, and I’m no stranger to the intensity and
fear of the battlefield, yet as Arthur relates the story of the dogfight that
put him in a wheelchair, I find myself breaking out in goose-bumps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s clear that as he tells me about engaging
with the MiG23 at 1600 kilometres per hour, that he is reliving every second of
the fight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The adrenaline surge as he
turns his Mirage around to face the Mig that has just screamed through the
centre of his formation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flipping his
weapon’s safety switch to “cannons” and then the moment when the MiG fires the
heat-seeking missile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There was a
bright orange flash from his left wing and then this incredibly fast telephone
pole came hurtling towards me trailing a solid white smoke trail. What’s more
is that it was cork screwing so I was never sure where it was going.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s been trained to fly directly at the
missile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It causes difficulties for the
missile’s tracking system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He needs
every ounce of his willpower to keep his aircraft on a head on course with the
thing that is trying to kill him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he
manages. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I kept breaking towards it and
I watched it corkscrew over my right wing and disappear.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a faint explosion behind him and the
aircraft shudders slightly.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">The way Arthur describes the dogfight I almost feel as though I’m in the
cockpit with him;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it’s a mixture of
excitement and sour old adrenaline, like a bad taste in my mouth, from my own
memories of battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m with him heading
for the ground at full throttle, I’m with him as he wrestles the aircraft out
of the dive and levels off just above the tree-tops l and races towards home-base
in Runde, so low that he hopes he isn’t creating a dust cloud for the MiGs to
follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">He goes on to explain the calculations he has to make about fuel
consumption to enable him to nurse his stricken Mirage back to the Rundu air
base. He is losing fuel due to the damage caused by the missile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once out of danger from the enemy he climbs
to an altitude that will extend his aircraft’s range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end he makes it back but with a
terrible problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tail of the Mirage
is damaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The drag-chute, which will
slow him down on landing, has been blown away by the exploding missile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without the chute the F1 overshoots the
runway and eventually comes to a halt after crashing through the perimeter
fence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately the ejector seat
malfunctions, spitting Arthur out of the cockpit and onto the ground where he
lies, still attached to the seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">He’s badly injured and the fire-fighters rush to help him but he tells
them to attend to the burning airplane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The flames behind the air intake are dangerously close to the hundred
rounds of cannon ammunition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arthur
doesn’t want to be shot by his own aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wakes up ten days later in hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He will never walk again.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">The second time I meet Arthur is at the South African Air Force museum near
Pretoria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
museum coffee shop looks out at the apron on which stand a selection of
geriatric airplanes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among them is an
old Impala trainer and an Avro Shackleton maritime search and rescue aircraft
used by the South African Air Force from 1957 until 1984.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">I’m meeting Arthur to find out more about his Dreamwings project and,
more specifically, to see the specially adapted airplane he is building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To regain his private pilot’s licence he has
to demonstrate that he can get behind the controls without assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we drive over to the hangar to see his
airplane I notice that it takes some effort, although he’s well practiced, for
him to transfer from his wheelchair to the car seat which is at a similar
height.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How difficult will it be, I
wonder, for him to get into an aircraft?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The car is specially adapted so that all the controls are operated by
hand and the aircraft will be similarly easy for him to operate.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I see the aircraft, I
realise why he has chosen the four-seater Seawind amphibian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The half-finished ‘plane is squeezed into the
hanger between old military spotter planes, a transport helicopter and even a
more modern Rooivalk attack helicopter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With
its high-level wing and the engine mounted on the tail-fin, the Seawind is low
to the ground and, as he is building it from a kit, he has modified it with a
special door in the side of the cockpit to facilitate easy entry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems perfect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Equally important is the fact that the
aircraft has a range of over 900 nautical miles, a good long range which will
be essential if Arthur is to fly it around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that he can land it on water adds an
element of versatility</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">Remarkable as it may seem for a quadriplegic to be restarting his flying
career again, what is more remarkable is that Arthur intends to fly the Seawind
around the world on a mission to promote peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And at the risk of sounding like one of those awful shopping channel
advertisements: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there’s more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through a third party, Arthur has managed to
get in touch with the Cuban pilot who shot him down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His hope is for the pilot, Major Rivas, to
fly a leg of the journey with him: a reconciliation of former enemies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having recently met several former liberation
fighters who were active on the same battlefields as me, I understand how such
a meeting can help an ex-combatant to put the past to rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can tell by the turn our conversation takes
that he is itching to discuss the ins and outs of aerial combat with the man
who pulled the trigger on that telegraph pole!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">As with so many dreams, Arthur needs to raise funds to pay for
completing his aircraft and to embark on his around the world flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This amounts to a substantial sum of money and
will, in all likelihood, require the assistance of a large corporate
sponsor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until then, his Dreamwings
project will remain just that, a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">For more information or to contribute to the
funding of Project Dreamwings, visit Arthur’s website:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.projectdreamwings.co.za/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;">http://www.projectdreamwings.co.za/</span></i></a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA;"></span></i></div>
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-13477698352372080352014-03-16T02:06:00.001-07:002014-03-16T02:06:37.712-07:00Writer Rachelle Greeff reviews Back to Angola in Rapport"Jy sou tereg kan vra of die Suid-Afrikaanse boekebedryf nie oorversadig
is aan oorlogboeke nie. Ja, maar wanneer hulle van dié kaliber is, nee.
Die prismatiese aard van Back to Angola stel ’n nuwe standaard. Dis
reisverhaal én oorlogvertelling. Net so vlot wissel dit tussen op die
fiets en in die Ratel. Die militêre aspek lê grensloos langs
introspeksie en nabetragting. In ’n mate verklaar dit ook iets van die
padwoede, huisgeweld, onverdraagsaamheid, dwelm- en drankmisbruik
waarvan ons elke dag hoor – of voel"<br />
<br />
Read the full review here: http://www.rapport.co.za/Weekliks/Nuus/Boeke-Vrede-met-die-verlede-20140315<br />
<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-75897389698927417482014-02-11T10:25:00.002-08:002014-02-11T10:25:38.007-08:00Book out in March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik0nlret2DpSHiv-dcpL7a57h2cjrKEp0ysX5v1d0z-fc14_53js9pU74sIZV8GKZOQf_lu1Euyi11Iez-4na0thjgcEr11PB73WMfvBdbIESO8QQuFSNSY_2SILF1VMZp5w3ABfCX9ijO/s1600/9781770225510_Actual%23C40554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik0nlret2DpSHiv-dcpL7a57h2cjrKEp0ysX5v1d0z-fc14_53js9pU74sIZV8GKZOQf_lu1Euyi11Iez-4na0thjgcEr11PB73WMfvBdbIESO8QQuFSNSY_2SILF1VMZp5w3ABfCX9ijO/s1600/9781770225510_Actual%23C40554.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></div>
<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-83939426052021106432013-08-10T01:18:00.000-07:002014-08-10T06:53:28.521-07:00Impressions from Cuito Cuanavale<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i> </i><i>( A version of this story was published in the Sunday Times Travel Weekly - 10 August 2014. A more detailed account of my visit to Cuito Cuanavale - and other places in Angola - can be found in my book, Back to Angola. </i><br />
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A multitude of coloured buckets and
bowls bloom in the sand next to Cuito Cuanavale’s high street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sight is as refreshing as a spring flower-bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And like a flower-bed they wait for water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Down by the river, a water- truck is sucking
water from the Cuito River to fill those containers and water tanks around the
town.</div>
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I am at the site of the last major
battle that the South African Defence Force fought in Angola.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cuito Cuanavale, a town considered strategic
during the war, is situated some 300 kilometres north of the border with
Namibia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It marked the end of government
controlled territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the south,
Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA rebels were in control, supported by the SADF.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outcome of the battle is still disputed,
but whatever your view, most will agree that Cuito Cuanavale was reduced to
rubble during the fighting.</div>
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Our Land Rover crosses the post-war
bridge and we trundle down to the riverbank below where some men are washing
their cars and motorbikes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems like
a futile exercise in a town where the high street is surfaced with sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet in a place so haunted by the horror of
war, this most mundane of activities is one of many I witness that shows people
are getting on with their lives ten years after the end of the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I join some of the men by stripping off and
washing several days of travel-dust off my body in the cold river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I stand thigh deep in the water, rinsing
soap suds from my hair, a fisherman poles past in his makoro, known in Angola
as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chata or canoa.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMhD_CF6HLZ0mWcFFkm6jfVaJ0xZd4eRAtbsB9XekHR7oOGm1o1-6bLUcOrDGdToNXw03W6XMae1L6TX-GcoeXT_CR1kibSTY-znsL6dPwyXOx0H-l065jYoHRWdvduZhkgxGCN_p4-e3O/s1600/Makoro+and+Military+boats.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMhD_CF6HLZ0mWcFFkm6jfVaJ0xZd4eRAtbsB9XekHR7oOGm1o1-6bLUcOrDGdToNXw03W6XMae1L6TX-GcoeXT_CR1kibSTY-znsL6dPwyXOx0H-l065jYoHRWdvduZhkgxGCN_p4-e3O/s320/Makoro+and+Military+boats.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Further on, the long, brown
flood-plain grass doesn’t quite conceal the rusting dome of a tank’s
turret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I take a picture of an
anti-aircraft vehicle, its cannons still pointed to the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The remains of an abandoned pontoon bridge lies
rusting in the silt below the road. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We drive east past an outlying settlement, the
Land Rover growling its way through the deep sand track into the Tumpo
Triangle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This area was first pointed
out to me as we drove past Cuito Cuanavale Airport which sits high on the Cuito
ridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Down there,” said Patrick, our
expedition leader pointing to the east, “that’s the Tumpo Triangle, where the
South African tanks got caught in the minefield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must have been hell for them.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
A man in his late twenties is our
guide to Tumpo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells us that he
looked out over the flood-plain during the siege.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was seven years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his family sheltered from the
bombardment in underground shelters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
grandmother and several other close relatives were killed by South African
shells.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
We round a slight bend in the track
and come nose to nose with a Halo Trust truck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Halo Trust is the non-governmental organisation, once patronised by the
late Princess Diana, which clears minefields in many of the world’s past and
current war zones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truck is packed
with people returning from a long day of lifting mines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s an impasse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither we nor they are keen to leave the
track to allow the other to pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the
Halo Trust crew is nervous about leaving the track then so am I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guide is jittery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s from Cuito and knows the dangers of
landmines all too well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Don’t leave the
road!” he warns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually the drivers
compromise, each with a set of wheels on the track and the other set off
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two vehicles pass so closely
that at one point I fear that the massive truck will tear the side off our
Landy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
A little further on we stop at a
small parking area, a clearing just off the track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is marked out by neatly placed stones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a little thatched shelter and a Halo
Trust sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gaze to the east, towards
the tree line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s where the South
African assaults came from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Occasionally
a gentle breeze brushes the blonde grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The cooling Landy engine ticks away behind me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I’m looking at is just bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s quiet and peaceful here and in another
part of Southern Africa I could be scanning for elephant, or kudu or even lion,
but this place holds memories of war and the predators are buried in the
sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Patrick suggests that we follow the
little footpath that leads from the parking area off into the bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells us that there are SADF tank wrecks out
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s been to them before and
thinks he can find them again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One by
one we shake our heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guide
doesn’t know where they are, he’s never been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As for me, the last time I was in Angola I had some near misses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s probably safe on the footpath cut by
the Halo team, but I have no intention of being blown to bits by a land-mine
twenty-five years after my war here ended.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Back in town we pull over to buy
some supplies at a little general store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like many of the buildings here it is made from grey breeze-blocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hot inside and some children are
watching a soap-opera on an ancient television set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We buy our essentials and leave. The children
don’t flinch from the screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we
start off again Patrick has to engage low range to get us out of the deep sand
next to the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find myself
wondering why money has been put into building a new airport when the residents
have no running water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why an expensive
war monument has been built when electricity comes from small generators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much effort has gone into creating a
“peace garden”, ironically full of tanks and rocket launchers and even a MiG23 fighter
jet, when one needs a four by four just to pull off the high-street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These questions are echoed by several Angolans
I meet later in my journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People here
are resilient, they have to be, but there are murmurs of dissent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
As in many countries, the
marketplace is the hub of the community and Cuito’s colourful little market
represents a community getting on with life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Patrick is in search of fresh fish and I’m looking for fresh vegetables
for my dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t speak Portuguese
so I wander around plucking up the courage to ask for prices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I buy a selection of delicious
looking vegetables including tomatoes, onions, garlic and peppers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other stalls sell t-shirts and baseball caps,
rucksacks and household implements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
market is busy and it seems that there’s not much in the way of daily
necessities that one can’t buy here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Patrick can only find dried fish
though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You have to get up very early
in the morning and go to the river at about six o’clock if you want fresh fish,”
our host informs him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s too early so he doesn’t get his fresh,
Cuito River, fish.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Once Cuito Cuanavale was a scene of
devastation, and the war still clings to it in the form of military wreckage
and bad memories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, as people do
everywhere, the inhabitants are rebuilding their town and living their lives,
blooming like those colourful buckets in the Angolan sand.</div>
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-75935505407814492142013-06-21T01:01:00.000-07:002013-06-21T01:01:01.537-07:00Legacies Of Apartheid Wars Conference - 4 - 6 July 2013There will be a unique conference as part of the <a href="http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/">South African National Arts Festiva</a>l's Think!Fest this year. <br />
<br />
The conference is bringing together ex-concripts, ex-liberation fighters, informal township fighters, family who lost loved ones as well as others affected by the wars of the Apartheid era. There are also offerings from the arts and I will be talking about my bicycle journey.<br />
<br />
With a national debate that seems increasingly polarised, this conference is going a long way towards contributing to a more constructive national dialogue. <br />
<br />
Ex-combatants are again putting themselves on the front line, but this time in the service of peace.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lawsconference.co.za/">http://www.lawsconference.co.za/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/LAWsProject?fref=ts">LAWs on Facebook</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-64087946392267244662013-03-13T08:03:00.000-07:002013-03-13T08:03:45.271-07:00Upcoming Event: A Talk and some slides at RhodesI will be talking about my journey and showing some slides next week at Rhodes University. <br />
<br />
Please come along if you have an interest in the "Border War", peace-making, healing journeys, post-traumatic stress or dialoguing about the effects of South Africa's past on the present. Cyclists also welcome!<br />
<br />
<b>Date: Tuesday, 19th of March </b><br />
<b>Time: 1600</b><br />
<br />
<b>The venue is to be confirmed</b>.<br />
<br />
This is a History in the Making seminar in partnership with the Legacies of Apartheid Wars Project <br />
<a href="http://legaciesofapartheidwarsproject.wordpress.com/">http://legaciesofapartheidwarsproject.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
. Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-1863747138346821252012-11-05T06:23:00.001-08:002012-11-05T06:23:57.034-08:00Patching punctures in the soul<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i>A version of this story was first published in Ride Magazine</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
When I noticed the rear-wheel
puncture I knew what was going to happen next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Oh no, not here.” I muttered to myself as I anticipated the curious
gallery likely to gather to watch my repairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d pulled off the tar to buy water at a collection of shack-shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was bustling with young men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was in fact a one-stop shopping centre
for motor supplies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of water I
found motor oil, brake pads and assorted other things useful to 2-stroke motorcycle
owners, but not to a cyclist with dwindling water supplies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I noticed the puncture as I was
wheeling my bike through the soft sand back to the tar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already the shoppers had stopped to stare at
the sight of me and my fully laden bike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I pushed the bike up to a ramshackle fence lay it down in the sand and
unpacked it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although mechanically
inept I can handle a tube change, but the audience was growing and with it my
performance anxiety.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VcPASA7ikCiTvo307pvFjcqgCYefAZF_cysdPI8KMzbzDyfj5qtdkKHeUh5o3G2fexoBkAEhjyU64_aVm7X3KCw_THkod6ZmzZC-Nafd2Z7pGGImb-XKVD-ZpSRK6V_mO-z7o1DeQlLt/s1600/Puncture+spectators.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VcPASA7ikCiTvo307pvFjcqgCYefAZF_cysdPI8KMzbzDyfj5qtdkKHeUh5o3G2fexoBkAEhjyU64_aVm7X3KCw_THkod6ZmzZC-Nafd2Z7pGGImb-XKVD-ZpSRK6V_mO-z7o1DeQlLt/s320/Puncture+spectators.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
My tyre-levers produced a
disquieting murmur of disapproval.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
glanced up furtively at the frowning experts of many thorny bike-problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the tyre was loose enough from the rim I
slid my fingers under the edge to loosen the rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A murmur of approval rippled through what was
now a crowd of at least sixty men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
found the offending thorn and pointed at it with an emphasised “aha!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three of the spectators leaned in close and
nodded grimly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tube in place, I produced
my pump from my water-pack with a theatrical “ta-da!”, now warming to my
audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this was no laughing
matter, their frowns frozen on their faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even the theatrical bows with which I ended the show elicited
stony-faced silence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I was several days into a 1500
kilometre tour from Cuito Cuanavale in south-eastern Angola, to Tsumeb in Namibia.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last time I’d been in Angola was during
the war in 1987 when as a 20 year-old conscript I spent three months in the
often thick forests between Mavinga and Cuito Cuanavale.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
During my trip I rode through the
tall trees of the beautiful forest that covers much of the south-eastern corner
of Angola. I also crossed many of the rivers that journey with impunity across national
borders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several hundred kilometres into
Angola I crossed the wide Kuvango River which starts life in the highlands of
Angola and ends in the vast swamps of the Okavango Delta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I crossed the Kunene at the vibrant, if a
little scruffy city of Matala, and remembered that as a conscript, twenty-five
years earlier, I had swum in the same river at the Hippo Pools near Ruacana
Falls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These and other rivers provide
vital water for people to drink, bathe and wash clothes in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In many places on one side of a bridge I’d
see women washing themselves and their children, with clothes and bed-linen
draped over bushes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other side
men would be washing themselves, their motorbikes and their cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the Cuito River I took my bike, white with
dust, from the back of the Land Rover and gave it a full immersion baptism
before washing myself in the clear, cold water.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I knew that I’d be camping wild on
many nights so I carried a tent, sleeping bag, stove etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also carried about six days’ worth of food
and up to seven litres of water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
bigger towns I sought accommodation to wash my dirty clothes – I only took one
change – and to clean myself. In hindsight I could have managed without the
tent and made-do with a groundsheet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I returned to see Angola in
peacetime, to enjoy the beauty of the bush and meet the people who live the
country that is in its tenth year of peace following thirty years of civil
war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I thought about the ways I could
travel and settled on cycling because I wanted to have the closest possible
contact with the people and the landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It worked. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I exchanged greetings
with just about everyone along the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Motorcycles would give me a friendly toot, people sitting outside the
ubiquitous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tavernas</i>, would shout
greetings or laugh in surprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often I
would stop for a chat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t speak
Portuguese so this usually took the form of me listing as many of the towns as I
could remember between Cuito Cuanavale and wherever I found myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The average response consisted of eyebrows
shooting upwards at great speed followed by the Portuguese equivalent of “All
the way from Cuito?” “Yes”, “On a bicycle?” “Yes”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there could be hoots of surprised
laughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t tell whether I was
being judged to be strong and courageous, or insane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably the latter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
My longest day came after I decided
to push all the way to Lubango in what turned out to be a 126km ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew the regional capital of Huila Province
was up against the mountain but I hadn’t reckoned on the number of hills I’d
have to climb at the end of a long day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then, looking forward to a hot shower and a cold beer, I was told that
the place I’d chosen to stay was halfway up the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like arriving in Cape Town after nine
hours cycling to be told you needed to climb Kloof Street to get to your
guesthouse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
The infrastructure, though
improving rapidly, is still ravaged by the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Guesthouses are not always to be found, and when they are, they’re often
full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a R300 a night pens<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ã</span>o
my “shower” consisted of squatting over a bowl of cold water with only a candle
for warmth and light.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
The roads were surprisingly
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Road-builders are laying tar at an
incredible rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed hundreds of
kilometres of good tar, and a fair bit of old colonial tar, which was potholed,
or shell-holed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where in a car one would
have to slow to a crawl to negotiate the damage, on my two narrow wheels I was usually
able to find enough unbroken tar to cruise comfortably without breaking my
rhythm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Once or twice I found myself riding
on a section of gravel that had been compacted in preparation for tarring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ignored the no-entry sign and flew along
the smooth surface while cars and trucks battled the loose gravel and sand on
the parallel detour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the ride
I’d have no option but to ride a similarly poor section of sandy road and spend
a good deal of time picking up myself and the bike after falling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the road-building ended and I was on an
old rutted gravel road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trees came
to the road’s edge creating a beautiful avenue which tunnelled off into the
green-fringed distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ever-present
mine-fields were closer so I perched on the road-edge when I took a
snack-break.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
When it got rough it was very
rough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as it got roughest, so my
good fortune deserted me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the worst
piece of road, all loose gravel and sand, I started a bad bout of traveller’s
guts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped regularly to rest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to cover over fifty kilometres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing compared to the hundred kilometre
daily average I was managing, but this was a difficult of section, I was
dehydrated and, at one point, heaved my much needed lunch into the sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was miserable, sick and felt very
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in the middle of nowhere
and needed to keep going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I made it to Kuvango, on the river
that eventually drains into the Okavango swamps, and holed up in a friendly but
thread-bare pensao.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No flushing loo and
a limited supply of water which arrived in a bowl every morning only
accentuated my discomfort. I spent three days recovering.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
My bike, although a source of amusement
amongst more image-conscious friends back home, was viewed as a piece of
high-tech by many of the Angolans I met. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near Xangongo one very cool dude on a shiny
Chinese two-stroke even offered to buy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Then how do I get home?” I asked with an exaggerated shrug. “No
problem, no problem.” He said, without explaining how the problem be
solved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
My scraped old mountain-bike has
lugs to attach a carrier and the v-brakes, even I can maintain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I imported the Brookes saddle and touring
carrier for double the R1300 I paid for the bike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For touring I figure that high-tech is a
liability considering that the nearest bike shop capable of fixing, say,
disc-brakes, was probably in Windhoek, about 2000kms from my starting point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I crossed into Namibia at Oshikango,
relieved that I could have long conversations in English and have long, hot
showers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt satisfaction at having
crossed a chunk of Angola on two wheels relying only on leg-power and having
said hello to just about everyone along the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only had to cover the remaining three
hundred kilometres to Tsumeb to complete what had been a rich and rewarding
ride on my aging Silverback mountain-bike.</div>
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-85960789334560640252012-10-31T06:59:00.000-07:002012-10-31T06:59:02.496-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKUKEmm1RSwXOcPodqBERmo25PIS_a628ysNJKj-L2xrwVOTuG4ObREbWT2tueO5vmZ-J3LD9_1I_5XQVcJZBCBRxPfX-WJlxOXJHhvCl9LJvDZhbN4w9k-5DHLlugKN0quo2_9H0pClS/s1600/Benjamin+and+bike.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKUKEmm1RSwXOcPodqBERmo25PIS_a628ysNJKj-L2xrwVOTuG4ObREbWT2tueO5vmZ-J3LD9_1I_5XQVcJZBCBRxPfX-WJlxOXJHhvCl9LJvDZhbN4w9k-5DHLlugKN0quo2_9H0pClS/s320/Benjamin+and+bike.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
My very generous host, Benjamin.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-52303123976262854332012-10-31T05:44:00.001-07:002012-10-31T05:44:46.106-07:00The Kind and the Curious<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i>This story first appeared in the Sunday Times Travel Weekly</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
The sun hung low over the ridge as
I free-wheeled down the hill to the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>People were scattered around the flood-plain, washing off a day of work
in the cold water of the braided river-channels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every now and again someone would call a
greeting and I’d respond with a “Boa tarde!” and a wave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped my bicycle where a man was standing
next to the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was in conversation
with some young women who were doing their laundry in the river below.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The man returned my greeting and
looked me up and down with open curiosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wasn’t offended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tourist on a
fully-loaded bicycle is probably a sight unseen in this south-eastern corner of
Angola.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Administrador por favor</i>?” was as much Portuguese as I could
muster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know I’m supposed to report to
the government administrator/mayor in any town I want to spend the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man in the new jeans and neat black polo
shirt rattles something off and points up the road to where the village spreads
to the left of the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I catch the
word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">escola</i>, school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask for clarification and after a couple
more attempts to give me what I assume are directions to the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Administrador</i> he gives up and beckons
me to follow him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside a roadside
tavern sit four young and similarly neatly dressed young men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a conversation and another young man
takes over as my guide and the first one walks back in the direction of the
river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young clothes-washing women are
evidently more interesting than a middle-aged man on a bicycle.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I follow my new guide and his
friends deeper into the collection of mud-brick huts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the huts are round with roughly
thatched roofs; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>others are rectangular
with roofs of corrugated iron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now
have a growing number of children in train.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I feel like a cycling pied-piper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the time I reach the top of the village there must be over seventy
children excitedly chattering and laughing and shoving each other playfully as
they swarm around the bike.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
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I’ve been struggling to haul my heavy
bike through the deep sand and I’m relieved when we finally halt outside a
group of rectangular huts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
introduced to a man called Benjamin who turns out to be the local school
teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Administrador</i> so he is the next best
thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
It was my first night of what would
be a three week bicycle tour of Southern Angola.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d driven to Cuito Cuanavale with friends
and now I was on a solo journey back to the Namibian border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The village of Masseca is on what was known
as “The Road of Death” during the civil war which lasted over thirty
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason is clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road-side is littered with rusting wrecks
of military vehicles and the red and white squares periodically painted on the
trees warn of the patient killers buried in the sand: land-mines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nervously, I was feeling my way into this
journey and was seeking the comfort of company.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I’m invited into the house, large
by the standards of the village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone
takes my bike and squeezes it through the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another man barks at the large group of
curious children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They shriek with
laughter and move back a little before crowding in once more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m ushered into the front room and we’re
joined by some of the teacher’s family, mostly young adults who I take to
brothers and sisters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a Formica
table and some chairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A portrait of Angola’s
President Dos Santos is prominently displayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My bike is leant against the wall and I am offered a chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the square glassless window the faces of
older children, who are tall enough to reach, watch us while chattering
excitedly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Benjamin and I try to make
conversation but without a common language this is difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More so because of the din made by the spectators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells them to go away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They back away for a few seconds but their
curiosity gets the better of them and soon the window is again crammed with
wide-eyed faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually my host gets
up and closes the little wooden window-shutter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s suddenly quieter but also pitch-black as the little window provided
the only light in the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no
electricity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our conversation consists
of long pauses between stilted attempts at communication aided by my
Portuguese/English dictionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually I get things moving by pulling out my camera and taking some
photographs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I set my camera to automatic
by the light of my head-torch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I aim
hopefully into the darkness and manage to capture some photographs of the
little group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They pass the camera
around, delighted at their images on the camera’s screen.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I explain carefully that I have my
own food and that I don’t want to be any further trouble to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But although I can show them “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vegetariano</i>” in the dictionary, it
becomes clear that the concept is meaningless in rural Angola.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of the young women appear with serving
bowls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bowl of warm water is passed
around and Benjamin, two of the older boys and I wash our hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large enamel bowl contains pap, the smaller
ones hold some dried fish, what looks like pork, and something else I can’t
make out in the dim torchlight. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need
to make a quick decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t
eaten any form of animal flesh in over fifteen years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a total stranger I am now a guest in the
home of a very generous family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
clear that I will be sleeping in their home tonight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be hard enough turning down this
meal which has been specially rustled up for me had I been able to explain sensitively
in fluent Portuguese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decide that
refusing this food in the blunt way that my limited Portuguese would allow
would be very discourteous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My host
expertly rolls some pap into a ball and dips it into one of the dishes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I make my decision and follow his
example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Whatever is in the bowl I choose is
delicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rich in flavour and tender
between my teeth, for a second I think I’m chewing a sundried tomato.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, it can’t be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is quite delicious. I’d hoped that the
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Benjamin insists on pushing my bicycle through the soft sand and back to the
road, a final gesture of hospitality before I start out on the road west
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is something about the
generosity of this family that both humbles and warms me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the first of many such encounters on
my 1500km journey through Angola and northern Namibia and it reminds me of the goodness
of ordinary people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is more
poignant for me given the tragic war that tore this country apart for so many
years.</div>
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5701539017926611564.post-52988812137726818012012-10-04T02:25:00.000-07:002012-10-04T02:26:46.464-07:00Anniversary of the Battle of the Lomba River - 3 October 1987<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m running as fast as
I can. I feel no pain, only a vague awareness that my lungs are burning with
exertion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adrenaline and terror drive me
forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>High explosives rip the air
apart, shrapnel shrieks around me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
legs are pumping yet I feel like I’m standing still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I throw down my rifle and webbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The safety of the tree line hundreds of
metres away gets no closer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>White
phosphorous rains burning chemical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Men
are on fire, their screams drive me on.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s not me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the
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<br /></div>
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Twenty-five years ago today I was sitting under a camo-net
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deeply fatigued by endless hours of battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had survived one of the most ferocious battles of the war. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I never saw the enemy yet their counter-bombardment was
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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The men in the floodplain died from bombs that had my fingerprints
all over them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t see them then
but now I’ve met some of their comrades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Men and women who would have burned in the floodplain that day or whose
bombs would have landed in my Ratel had it not been for an angel’s breath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Therein lies both the tragedy and the hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one sees the person, not the objectified
enemy, then one could never go to war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The question for all of us in South Africa today is this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who are you objectifying and to where could
this lead?</div>
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18012287365789408550noreply@blogger.com7