Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

Peter Godwin certainly has a story to tell. It's a story of an idyllic, if unusual childhood, a disrupted but eventually immensely successful education, military service and then two careers, one in law, planned but aborted, and then one in journalism, discovered almost by default. Listed like this these elements might sound just a bit mundane, perhaps not the subject of memoir. When one adds, however, the location, Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe, the result is a deeply moving, in places deeply sad, as well as quite disturbing account of a life lived thus far. Mukiwa, by the way, is Shona for white man.

The setting for Peter Godwin's early years was a middle class, professional and, crucially, liberal family living in eastern Rhodesia, close to the Mozambique border. I had relatives in that same area, near Umtali and Melsetter, and they used to do exactly what the Godwins did regularly which was to visit the Indian Ocean beaches near Beira. We used to get postcards from there every year, usually in the middle of our north of England winter. Envy wasn't the word...

Peter Godwin's mother was a doctor and this meant that his childhood was unusual in two respects. Not many youngsters in white households had liberal-minded parents and even fewer helped their mothers conduct post mortems. Unlike most mukiwa, Peter Godwin had black friends. He learned the local language and got to know the bush. He also grew up close to death and then lived alongside it during the years of the war of independence. He describes how the war simply took over everything and labels himself as a technician in its machinations. It's a telling phrase, admitting that he did not himself want to fight anyone. Like everyone else, he was caught up in the struggle, required to actively perpetrate the violence and that is what he did.

His education was disrupted. His family life was effectively destroyed. And how he managed to keep his sanity during the period I have no idea. He served most of the period in Matebeleland alongside other members of the Rhodesian armed forces and police who were not, to say the least, as liberal as he was. So in some ways he was already doubly a foreigner in that he was working in an area where he could not speak the language and was accompanied by fellow countrymen with whom he shared no beliefs or ideals. And yet he had to fight.

I have never served in a war and hope I never will. But my relatives from the same area as Peter Godwin were also called up into national service and also fought the war. I had not seen them for fifteen years or so when we met after they, along with many thousands of others, as recorded by Peter Godwin, had already fled south. But for them also memories of war were deep and resented scars. It was a bloody and dirty war where, if you were lucky, you could at most trust your closest colleagues. It was a vicious conflict at times and left everyone angry. No-one won. Everyone suffered.

Having eventually achieved the education he sought, Peter Godwin attempted to launch a legal career. But then, almost by default, he became a reporter. After independence, he learned of atrocities perpetrated by the Zambabwean army in the area where he had served during the war. He investigated. He reported. And then, on advice, he fled.

But he did eventually return to all of the areas he knew and the last part of the book is a moving and deeply sad account of how little he recognised in the places he loved as a child. But within this, there is a moment of hope as he meets a former freedom fighter and, with humour and new friendship, the two of them realise that they had not only been enemies, but had actually been two commanders trying to kill one another on opposite sides of the same skirmish.

But in the end, Peter Godwin is changed man, and his home and homeland, at least as he had experienced them, were no more. War had changed everything and everyone. No-one won.

You should read these TWO books! (12/17 people found this helpful)

Peter Godwin has written much, but "Mukiwa: A White Boy In Africa" and its follow-up, "When A Crocodile Eats The Sun," must surely be the volumes of which he is most proud. For anyone with even a passing interest in Africa and/or the present problems in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, they are 'must-reads,' preferably in chronological order - Mukiwa (1996 and later paperbacks) first, and then Crocodile (2005 and 2007).

I confess straight away that my own knowledge of Africa is limited, but I have interested myself in the continent's affairs for as long as I can remember and I also nurtured enormous sympathy for Rhodesia, for its people, and for former Prime Minister Ian Smith.

Peter Godwin has little apparent sympathy for Smith and, for that and other reasons that are clear in his books, he can be looked upon as a liberal. Therefore, his two books are all the more potent for their description of 'the reversal of progress, the shocking decline, the descent into darkness' (Crocodile 2007, page 314) under the tyrannical and murderous regime of Robert Mugabe. These beautifully and movingly written but appallingly tragic books, based on first-hand experience and knowledge and Godwin's own family's declining circumstances, should be compulsory study for all liberals.

I was born before the Second World War. Therefore, I was around when Hitler's 'Third Reich' was crushed. I always hoped, but I never thought I would live long enough to see the collapse of Communism in 1989. I still hope that I live long enough to see Mugabe go and for the name of Ian Smith to be honoured again in Rhodesia!

In Memoriam: Ian Douglas Smith, died 20th November, 2007. Greatly missed.

Splendid (16/17 people found this helpful)

This is a triumph. Godwin's account of the beginnings of Rhodesia's move towards independence and its fruition is 1980 is a beautifully crafted, honest and at times terrifying read. I have never in my life finished a book and immediately turned back to page 1 and started all over again (although I did force myself to stop at page 18 when I realised what I was doing). Peter Godwin invites us to share the love he has for his family, friends and a country struggling to free itself from its colonial past. From childhood to adulthood Mukiwa charts the drastic changes of a country and its effect on the Godwin's. The companion piece, When A Crocodile Eats the Sun is even more profound. A work that lets us know more of the tragic situation in Zim. I wept.

A wonderful encaptivating insight to open your eyes (1/1 people found this helpful)

A fantastic book for everybody. It gave me an interresting insight into the colourful politics of the rhodesian war. Peter Godwin's experiences will change your views and open your mind. This charming story of his change from boy to man also dipicts a beutiful country that has since been shadowed.

A nostalgic look at the period leading to Rhodesias demise (1/1 people found this helpful)

Mukiwa is a well written book describing what life was like growing up in Rhodesia in a period of great cbange and uncertainty. Godwin writes in such a way as to transport the reader into his childhood and share his friendships, laugh at the funny anecdotes and be saddened by the increase in violence and bloodshed during this difficult period in Zimbabwe's history.

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

Peter Godwin

Reader Reviews:

A sad and moving book (7/7 people found this helpful)

You should read these TWO books! (12/17 people found this helpful)

Splendid (16/17 people found this helpful)

A wonderful encaptivating insight to open your eyes (1/1 people found this helpful)

A nostalgic look at the period leading to Rhodesias demise (1/1 people found this helpful)

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