Fordsburg Fighter by Amin Cajee

Author:Amin Cajee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autobiography
Publisher: Face2Face
Published: 2016-04-03T10:54:20+00:00

chapter 12

Kongwa and the ‘people’s court’

At the end of my first week in Kongwa we were allowed to venture into the local village, about half a mile from the camp. Omar, Zee and I followed some comrades who knew a shortcut through the fields instead of going on the road. The village had a single main road that was the centre of economic activity. There were five shops, most of them owned by people of Indian descent. The first was a pub run by a member of the Ismaili community; then there was a general dealership owned by a Hindu family called the Harmans; a furniture shop; another general store; and a teahouse run by a Somali man who supplied the camps with meat.

Omar and I became the centre of attraction as we walked through the village, being the only Indians from the ANC camp. Zee had gone off with another comrade and, as Omar and I passed Harmans, a huge Indian man waved and beckoned to us to come in. We entered the store and noticed a very attractive young woman sitting near the till with a small elderly woman. The man spoke Gujarati and Omar responded, causing the two women to burst out laughing. The reason, we soon discovered, was Omar’s version of the language. According to Kumud, the attractive young woman, Omar spoke ‘kitchen Gujarati’.

We were asked a number of questions and were offered tea and some Indian savoury biscuits. It was the start of a long friendship as the family adopted us during our stay in Kongwa and supplied us with food and spices brought up from their office in Dar. As they were Hindus there was no meat, but there were extremely tasty vegetable curries, dhal, rice and chapati. Sometimes there were also special treats such as sev or soji (sweet vermicelli and semolina puddings). Later they also provided us with a few small pots to enable us to cook in the camp.

Whenever we went to the village Mrs Harman had provisions – savouries and proper homemade vegetarian curries – parcelled up to take back with us. This hospitality was invaluable and something for which I will always be grateful. During these excursions we often found Jack coming out of the bar much the worse for wear and helped him into the transport that stopped close to the Harman store. We just accepted that Jack was an alcoholic and when we did our morning runs with the Land Rover following we expected to hear the clink of glasses.

Each section took turns to do the cooking. The section on duty would have to wake up early to prepare the breakfast, which was almost always soft mealie meal porridge, black tea and, if supplies had come from the village, some local bread. After washing out the huge pots, the section set out to prepare lunch, which was invariably soup made from whatever was available and cabbage. Always boiled cabbage. And bread. Then the duty section would have

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