I have been away so long that I actually forgot my blogger site password. But here I am again, on my own. Going down this lonely road I have always known.
What has brought me back? Nothing short of the supernatural. You know from my obsession with the diesel n'anga that I am fascinated by the world of the spirits. At the moment, I am planning a novel around religion in small village, both African religion and its imported variant, Christianity as manifested through the Pentecostal movement that is sweeping the continent. The two have one thing in common - they take seriously the African worldview of witchcraft, magic and sorcery.
I am proud and happy to have received a fellowship from the Open Society Foundations that will take me across Anglo-phone Africa, Europe, the US, and maybe as far as Brazil. I will blog here about my travels, the first posts on Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya, will be up in the next week. I will blog on this in detail in the next post.
In the meantime, I leave you to enjoy these two brilliant stories about the supernatural in Zimbabwe. What I particularly love is the breathless credulity of the reports:)
First, the Parselmouth:
"Villagers in the Ramahoro area under Chief Chiweshe were left stunned after the area’s spirit medium, Sekuru Katombo Kanyai, reportedly talked to lions, baboons and a snake after a traditional ceremony. The bizarre events are said to have occurred days before the symbolic fish eagle, which is the official Zimbabwe bird, landed at the medium’s homestead."
Enter, stage left, the Goblin:
"A traditional leader says he has temporarily shelved plans to conduct a witch hunt to solve the mystery of a whole village of women who woke up without their knickers. Chief Njelele of Gokwe abandoned the plan after one of his aides was involved in a bizarre mishap. Local headman Pauro had gat
hered villagers to discuss plans to bring a “prophet” to smoke out the suspected wizard who nicked the panties when a huge owl swooped just feet away and grabbed a mature male dog with its claws before disappearing in the distance. Chief Njelele said he feared whoever was behind the mysterious disappearance of the 26 undergarments – which were later found in a heap in the woods – was sending a warning.
'It’s mind boggling what is going on in the area,' he said."
Mind boggling is what it is. Preach it, chief.