Out of Africa book looks at richness of sharing humanity together

Out of Africa book looks at richness of sharing humanity together

1 January 2020

THE latest book by Downpatrick author Dr Stan Papenfus has just been published.

Out of Africa has a title that he plagiarised from Pliny, the ancient Roman writer, who wrote: “Out of Africa always something new.”

The subtitle of this book, ‘Sharing our lives’’, derives from an African proverb — ‘A person is a person through people’. It an also be translated as ‘A person becomes a person through people’.

The significance of this proverb becomes ever more clear in the being and becoming of the three story tellers who share their lives with Dr Papenfus. 

Each one of them expresses and explores the truth of their own experiences and each one has their personal reality confirmed by the events and situations that unfold. In this telling, they also create how they who are and who they can be.

Gabriel Makamanzi, from Zimbabwe, specifically sees his own problems and difficulties belonging not merely to himself, but to the whole community in which he lives.

This community is brought alive for us as he describes it and he expects us to relate it to our own problems and difficulties. In this way, he says, we all work together to discover our own creative freedom and realise our potential. 

Gabriel notes that life is for love. And yet, without honesty, our personal and shared reality is not reality at all. 

Instead, it is a pretense and those of us who pretend he sees us “living meaningless lives’’.

Dr Papenfus says: “Gabriel’s story challenges us, as it challenged him, to recognise our own poverty and despair, only to realise the spiritual power and richness of sharing our humanity with each other. 

The next exploration of time experiences is by Zakele Makaluza, from South Africa. He talks about his arrogance and his refusal to heed the warnings given to him by his ancestors, as they appear to him in his dreams.

Zakele’s experiences also refer to his relationship with bees, but not ordinary bees, rather with those “gentlemen of the honey’’ sent by his ancestors to remind him of his duties to others, especially to members of his own clan.

Dr Stan said: “Zakele, in his exploration of his experiences, brings us to an awareness of our own integrity or lack or integrity, in ourselves and in our relationship with others. He realises his potential only after he is persuaded of a certain truth, which he has been denying nearly all his life.

“It is his cousin who opens up his awareness and tells him also that this was an experience that were ‘destined’ to share.

The last person giving his testimony in the book is David Maganda, from Uganda. He came from a very big family and when his father died he was left to fend for himself, especially with regard to earning enough money to pay for his education.

Even as a young boy, he secretly took a train from Uganda to Kenya, hoping to make enough money to sponsor his schooling. But, instead, he found himself on a “mission impossible” as he calls it. 

He and his friend found themselves stranded and virtually penniless in the city of Nairobi. They had no place to stay, no work and no friends. 

How are they to return to Uganda? They found themselves walking for mile after mile, along long and dusty roads, depending for their very survival on the kindness and pity of strangers. After living through a fierce storm and other hardships, they eventually arrived at the Kenya-Uganda border. Here, in their completely squalid state, they were interrogated by the police, who eventually let them cross the border.

Arriving back in Uganda, they miraculously met David’s friend’s sister, who was working at a trading station. And  so, at last, they find themselves able to return home.

Each of their families get them to promise never again to engage in such a mad exploit. And yet within ten years he finds himself stranded once again, this time in the Sudan.

Here, however, he is able to make do by earning money and pursuing some schooling and eventually being presented with a graduation certificate. Because of the particular school he attended, he was also able to become a confirmed Christian. However, he discovers, through his interaction with others, that his Christianity is only lukewarm. 

Through many strange encounters he eventually learns how to accept Christ into his very heart of hearts. 

As a result of this, he preaches the good news of salvation and in Northern Sudan he is even beaten and imprisoned.

As time goes by he meets his wife, Gillian, at a theological college in England. Today, David lives in Belfast and is only a lay preacher, but also someone who teaches others how to explore and discover the meaning of their lives and with others, how to realise their potential. 

Out of Africa is available on loan from Downpatrick Library and can also be bought from amazon.co.uk.