For the AIDS orphans and abandoned children of Africa

By Roger G McDonald The Tribe that Africa Forgot Our colour in this place sets us aside. We stand out like the dandruff on a suit. The procession wheels to make its way inside. But elders, careful herdsmen, strong and mute, steer us aside, like sheep into a chute. The front pews of the church [...]

By Roger G McDonald Hello Soweto Former, from those days that bred apartheid; when men weren’t men, but animals, for work; it bred in them the making of a state but drove Mandela quietly berserk. It’s our turn for the task. We mustn’t shirk. Nowadays, though, the tourist buses roam with passengers on guided tours [...]

By Roger G McDonald Back to knitting Once more westward. Johannesburg returns. There is where the real job must begin, with no apparent end. My conscience burns. Vacation first, then work? Is that a sin? Is duty always pleasure’s doleful twin? Still, Zan continues knitting. It’s her form of meditative music, and we know its [...]

By Roger G McDonald Nature’s Church Now, picture dusk. Night stalks the nervous bush. He takes us to a waterhole ten miles further into nowhere. An eerie hush drums in our ears. We’re anxious metrophiles. It’s nature’s church, and she commands the aisles. A good stone’s throw separates the water from shapes that seem to [...]