Halfway From Home - Britta and Bheka Pierce

Halfway from Home
by Britta and Bheka Pierce

Halfway from Home takes the reader back to the year 1976 when Bheka Pierce taught English Literature at a rural secondary high school in Swaziland with his late wife and in memoriam co-author Britta.* Their students addressed them by the Swazi translation of their name ‘Pierce’, as ‘Magwaza’.

Finding their students largely isolated in traditional Swazi culture, rarely seeing urban life and consequently having little exposure to spoken or written English, the Pierce’s hit on the idea of having their students keep a journal to fill that gap and encourage daily usage.

In a manner akin to what the internet age has dubbed as crowd-sourcing journal entries from over 60 different students were selected. These have been assembled in chronological order to form a multi-voiced day-by-day journal of 1976.

At first I felt lost. I read interesting but disconnected vignettes of people I did not know. Yet, by the end of January, a picture had formed of the teacher-student community. A colorful cast of characters was emerging as the scattered entries of each accumulated. Small Isaac [my favorite], Absalom, Maria Lushaba, Glorious, Margaret… one by one all entered the stage, and then began to reappear.

The author turns the spotlight on a cast of 10-15. It is for good reason. Each had a gift for making this reader feel what s/he felt inside. They became like friends who confided their secrets, their struggles, their cold feet in winter, joys of swimming in the heat of summer, their anxieties, hopes and aspirations. In doing so one learns in passing about a centuries-deep traditional Swazi culture at a time when it is rapidly vanishing. These students are a generation being blended into world culture.

Most rewarding was observing them grow in self expression and intellect as the year progresses. Some begin to ponder the imponderables.

One experiences the change of seasons through happenstance mentions. By the time the dry, dusty days of the southern hemisphere winter approach in May I felt as if I were a part of the ball of youthful energy centered around the Edwaleni high school and the surrounding traditional mountain homesteads. I was no longer just reading. I was immersed the literary equivalent of a documentary film that was blossoming on many levels — part travelogue, part anthropology, part history, part sociology — all driven by a story of developing minds and sympathetic characters.

Small Isaac’s adventures, often with his sidekick Sambo, became a heart-warming best-buddies story. Rural chores, trapping birds for food, lean day's hunger and small successes fill his journal. Charm spills out from his excited writing style.

Absalom Maduma shines brightest among the cast, is the author’s admitted protagonist and consequently the most quoted. His growth, poetic touch and insatiability for knowledge makes him worthy of the role. Until his surprise outcome is revealed, he has not ventured beyond a day’s-walk distance of his rural homestead. His story becomes emblematic of the total story.

From the writings of this cast we are introduced to a second level characters. Siblings and parents from complex and sometimes polygamous homesteads emerge. The school staff comes into focus. Even a shadowy witch doctor alleged to use and deal in human body parts for his muti [potions], possibly from victims of his own doing, makes a few appearances.

Most interestingly, one learns from the students about the author. They delight in relating their teacher’s lessons often delivered in humorous parables set in the context of the Swazi culture and way of thinking. I found myself thinking, “Damn, why couldn’t I have had him as a teacher when I was their age? He has not just taught them English literature, he has taught them to think and to question.”

The students write in a Swazi-English style that at first may sound awkward to the uninitiated. SiSwati [the language of the Swazis] is filled with rich phrases which when re-expressed in Swazi-English have a distinct cadence, word order and logic. This adds unexpected color, rhythm and depth to their words.

The author helps out via an outstanding insider's-view preface and 2-3 page explanatory interludes between the months. One learns the layout of the school and teachers' housing, nuances of Swazi culture, language, society, ritual and economy.

Bheka had previously served for two years as a teacher with the first US Peace Corps contingent in Swaziland in 1968-70. During that time he met Britta. A teacher and the daughter of Danish missionary parents Britta had grown up in Swaziland, was fluent in siSwati and immersed in its culture. Returning in 1975-76 to teach at one her parent’s schools both were well-equipped to understand their students and lead them on an educational adventure that would teach both student and teacher. The results were telling. When 1976 ends the school’s national exam pass rate had improved from 63% to 97%.

My only ‘druther’ about Halfway from Home is that it would include an index. I found myself wanting to re-read entries and references to characters in isolation. I wanted to follow their development individually. Should this book ever be released as an e-book I believe that such an option would be a very appealing and easy-to-implement feature. For instance, search ‘Small Isaac’ and have displayed in chronological order all entries by and ones mentioning him in chronological order. While this can be done with some ease by flipping though the print version pages and spotting the bolded names, it is not as easy for the second level characters, like the Magwaza’s.

I would encourage adventurous readers to jump right into the text beginning at January 1, 1976, read a month, then read the preface. This is also a fun book for randomly opening a page and reading as one might a ’thought for the day’ book. Most of these several hundred nuggets are less than a quarter page in length and each is conceptually complete within itself.

This is an outstanding one-of-a-kind work and a fun read. Yes, it had a special appeal to me as a former Peace Corps teacher in Swaziland, but the universality of human emotions revealed in these pages transcends one’s familiarity with Swaziland or lack thereof. The warmth and humanity that shines forth form these pages is uplifting and hopeful for the better angels of our nature.

The 300 page book with chapter-opening illustrations is published and sold through the online publisher Blurb.com. Direct link: http://www.blurb.com/b/1608179-halfway-from-home

Bheka and Britta ca. 1970 photo by Tom Wentzel

* While Britta passed away in 2001 her role in this book’s existence is essential including having the original idea of having students keep journals. The primary author Charles Ronald Pierce long ago adopted his Swazi name Bheka.