I'm Staying

  < CONCLUSION African rain AFRICA When you have acquired a taste for the dust, And the scent of our first rain, You’re hooked for life on Africa, And you’ll not be right again. Until you can watch the setting moon And hear the jackals bark, And know they are around you Waiting in the dark.   When you long to see the elephants Or hear the coucal’s song, When the moonrise sets your blood on fire, Then you’ve been away too long. It is time to cut the traces loose, And let your heart go free, Beyond that far horizon Where your spirit yearns to be.   Africa is waiting – come! Since you have touched the open sky And learned to love the rustling grass And the wild fish eagle’s cry, You’ll always hunger for the bush; For the lion’s rasping roar, To camp at last beneath the stars And to be at peace once more.                    ...

  CHAPTER 31 ENGLAND TWO YEARS LATER Paddy sat at this gate for hours waiting for John to come home from work. He couldn't understand why he couldn't go with him We decided to set a limit to our search for the pot of gold. We gave ourselves a further six months to find our feet or return to South Africa.   Lack of work, on my part, and low salaries for John meant we were eating into our savings.   In spite of all the wonderful things on offer, the safety, the good roads, and the close proximity to Europe for holidays, Africa was still calling. There was something lacking there and it’s called warmth, not the sunshine warmth even, but the human kind, where people smile and talk to you whatever their race or class. There is human interaction in Africa which has been replaced by technology elsewhere. Yes there are many people who have made the decision to move away from South Africa and stayed; made it their home. Some have been successful and make enough money to ...

  CHAPTER 30 ENGLAND DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT THIRD BOTTLE OF TOMATO SAUCE? On arriving in the UK after living for most of my life in African countries, one of my first impressions was of the intenseness of living there.   Yes everything works well and it's very civilised, but it’s just a little too overwhelming in the variety, choice and quantity of goods and services available to people.   Wherever I have lived in Africa we always had all the basic necessities available and more often than not there were luxury goods on offer too.   But there were a small amount of varieties to choose from and very seldom any tempting special offers.   When I arrived in the UK and walked into the supermarket I was bombarded by offers of   “Buy three for the price of two” and just choosing a loaf of bread can take a good half hour. (How many different loaves of bread can one country need?)   Would you like a chocolate?   Browse down a mile-long aisle with...

  CHAPTER 29 ENGLAND LIFE’S LESSONS   Where previously I had felt proud of what I considered to be a prestigious, indulgent lifestyle, I became somewhat embarrassed when I looked back at our achievements which now looked to have been made on the backs of those less fortunate than ourselves in Africa. If nothing else, our two years in this new country showed me where and how we had gone totally and utterly wrong in our role as employers and home owners.   Having arrived in the UK with the superior attitude of a white man in Africa, we had been reduced to tenants and workers with a lowly status of being unemployed and living off Government benefits at times. But since my attitude has always been to find some good in every situation I managed to gain so much from this transition in that I learnt to swallow my pride and accept that we are after all, just human beings all trying to survive to the best of our ability on this planet. Because of this I no longer fee...