Literature in preparation for Africa

Some of the books that we have read to "prepare"and inspire us for Africa are:

- Cry,The beloved Country by Alan Paton: a beautiful novel, rich, firm and moving; a great raiser of popular awareness of life in apartheid South Africa.
- Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The story of an African childhood by Robyn Scott: an inspiring story and the one that made us believe that we can home school our children while at Mseleni.
- A Dry White Season by Andre Brink: A realistic and captivating story. A Dry White Season is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition and the heavy price of morality during the apartheid era in South Africa.
- Shattered Dreams? An oral history of the South African AIDS epidemic by GeraldM. Oppenheimer and Ronald Bayer. The voices of doctors and nurses that capture the extraordinary drama of the unfolding AIDS epidemic.
- Un Leopard sur le Garrot, Chroniques d'un medecin nomade par Jean-Christophe Rufin. Medecin des hopitaux, pionnier de l'humanitaire "sans frontieres", ecrivain, prix Goncourt 2001, aujourd'hui ambassadeur de France au Senegal. Jean-Christophe Rufin nous fait voyager dans sa vie au grand galot.
- Dark Star Safari. Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux. A wonderful, powerful book, a loving letter to the continent of Africa.
- Communication with the African Patient by Dr Chris Ellis. Learning the language and the culture in a medical consultation. Examples are: Unabantwana abangaki? (How many children do you have) or Amakaka abemahle? (Have you passed stools normally?).
- English-Zulu phrases and dictionary.Illman's. A basic guide of useful English-Zulu phrases and vocabulary, What to say and how the words are pronounced phonetically.
- An Instant in the Wind by Andre Brink. A gut wrenching journey through South Africa in 1749; a white woman and a black man; a savage symbiosis that holds you spellbound.
- The No.1 ladies' detective agency (and others) by Alexander Mcall Smith. An hilarious account of a large female detective in Gabarone, Botswana.