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Diamond Boy by Michael Williams

May7

When fifteen year old Patson Moyo and his family head for the diamond fields of Marange in eastern Zimbabwe, Patson is sure that his family’s fortunes are about to change for the better. Even though Patson’s father plans to teach school in diamond country as he always has, Patson knows that there are diamonds for everyone in Marange. As soon as Patson finds his girazi, that special, costly diamond that everyone is looking for, he and his family will be set for life.

If you just read the article on Wikipedia about the Marange diamond fields, you will know that Patson’s story probably won’t have a happy ending. In fact, although the events in the course of Patson’s adventure are harrowing, violent, and frightening, the story does contain more hope than perhaps the facts warrant.

From Wikipedia and linked sources:
“The government launched police crackdowns against illegal miners and smugglers several times since December 2006. Up to 150 of the estimated 30,000 illegal miners were shot from helicopter gunships.”
(2009) “The Zanu-PF government has mulled plans to forcibly move nearly 5 000 families from Chiadzwa area to facilitate the plundering of diamonds. The families are to be dumped at an Arda farm in Odzi as the President Robert Mugabe-led government intensify looting of the precious minerals.”
“The BBC, the British state broadcaster, claims Zimbabwe’s security forces have a torture camp in the Marange diamond fields; methods include severe beatings, sexual assault and dog mauling according to alleged victims.”
“A 2012 study . . . found that operations at the diamond fields are releasing dangerous chemicals into the Save River.”
“Human Rights Watch says while it has seen an improvement in Marange, it also believes questions remain over who is involved in running these mining companies.” CNN, 2012.

Author Michael Williams, a South African writer and Managing Director of Cape Town Opera, has already written one book set in Zimbabwe, Now Is the Time for Running. Diamond Boy is a sort of companion novel to that earlier book, and some of the characters in Now Is the Time for Running show up in minor roles in Diamond Boy. As I intimated, Diamond Boy is a fascinating but shocking look at life in Zimbabwe, particularly the appalling effect of the possibility of sudden riches in a country filled with poverty and not much economic opportunity.

The ending to the story is unrealistic, but maybe necessary to make up for the unrelenting gloom, greed, and cruelty of the preceding pages. This book is not for younger teens, nor will it be for all readers, even if they have the maturity to handle the subject matter. No, the author doesn’t use graphic language or lurid description, but the events themselves are disturbing enough. Sensitive readers will be haunted, as I am, by the thought that the greed and brutality of man is still making life a living h— for many children and young adults around the world, even if, possibly, improvements have been made in operations at Marange.

Yes, I recommend this book for those who are interested in knowing about one of the horror stories of the twenty-first century, but I suggest you enter with prayer and exit with renewed compassion and more prayer.

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin

Jul11

Peter Godwin is the award-winning author of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun and Mukiwa. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, he was educated at Cambridge and Oxford and became a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than 60 countries. Since moving to Manhattan, he has written for National Geographic, the New York Times Magazine, and Vanity Fair. He has taught at Princeton and Columbia, and in 2010 received a Guggenheim fellowship.

The Fear covers events and stories of people in Zimbabwe mostly during 2008-2009, the time of an historic election in Zimbabwe which resulted in a new government to replace that of the octogenarian dictator, Robert Mugabe. I knew a very little about current and recent events in Zimbabwe going into this book—only that Mugabe was a dictator and that the economy of Zimbabwe was in a shambles as a result of his rule.

Now, I know a lot more, even though the narrative was somewhat confusing at times. Godwin travelled around the country, interviewing this person and that, and telling the stories mostly of the opposition party that actually won the election in 2008, the MDC. Mugabe’s thugs, the ZANU-PF, are uniformly seen as just that—thugs, murderers, and torturers. I tend to think that one-sided picture is accurate. Even though MDC presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won the election in 2008, Mugabe refused to give up power, and eventually the two men and their political allies were forced to enter into a power-sharing agreement brokered by South Africa. In spite (because of) of widespread election violence and persecution of those who voted for the MDC, Tsvangirai decided to avoid a civil war by becoming part of the government and trying to work for change from within.

The Fear is a harrowing book. The tales of torture and suffering that fill the book are quite overwhelming. I wondered how people could be so cruel and evil, and then I remembered that we are all capable of great evil and only held in check by the grace of God. I also wondered how people can continue to live relatively normal lives in the face of such brutality, and I remembered that humans are remarkably resilient.

Sometimes I had trouble remembering who was who as the narrative moved from one political figure or common person to another, and much of the terminology was not explained. I could have used a glossary, at least. Part of the problem was reading the book on my Kindle, where I’ve found it is difficult to look back and remind oneself of what has gone before, who a particular character is, or what information may have been explained in the second chapter and merely referenced in the fourth or fifth. I prayed for the people of Zimbabwe as I read, however, and I was moved to pity by their plight.

Of course, the questions in my mind throughout my reading were: “What is going on now in Zimbabwe? How have these people fared? Have conditions improved?” Recent headlines are not encouraging:

Bomb blast hits Zimbabwe official’s home
Police violently break up Zimbabwe rally
Zimbabwe in a state of ‘crisis’
Mugabe depends on diamonds for power
Mugabe begins anti-sanctions campaign

If you are interested in Zimbabwe in particular or African governments and politics in general, you will appreciate the information in Mr. Godwin’s book. You will also wonder how people can be so cruel and how you can help the people of Zimbabwe who have suffered so much for so long. I would suggest prayer and possibly a contribution to one of these charities in Zimbabwe.