Kernel, by Tuulikki Jantunen

Kernel, by Tuulikki Jantunen. Original title: Pähkinänsydän (1967). Publisher: Namibia Scientific Society. Windhoek, Namibia 2004. ISBN 9991640207 / ISBN 99916-40-20-7

Photographs taken by Tuulikki Jantunen, published in Kernel, ISBN 9991640207 / ISBN 99916-40-20-7

From the first chapter of Tuulikki Jantunen's book Kernel on the San or bushmen in South West Africa in the 1950s amd 1960s, when she worked as a teacher Okavango mission fields:

Tuulikki Jantunen  

The jeep jolted up from the deep ruts of the sandy forest track and took a sharp turn to the left. From the back noises were heard of shifting baggage, women's squeals, children's laughter, and the fatherly, reassuring voice of Erastus. Then, as the landrover proceeded to cross the grass savannah smoothly and at a noticeably greater pace, came the sounds of increasingly enchanted twittering, lip smacking and clacking. The elephant grass, taller than man, bent under the wheels so that Martta, the driver, always had a clear view two to three metres ahead, but it bounced up again behind us with hardly a stalk broken. One would have to hear an oncoming car to avoid a collision on this road, I thought. From the air or from a tree our journeying must have resembled the progress of a stubborn motorboat in a viscous sea of light yellow ochre. But the big, heavy-winged tree-dwellers were startled to flight before they had time to form any clear opinion of us, and the greedy vultures eyed us from such height that we could not see them at all. Apparently our jeep seemed too full of life in the cold, bloodthirsty eyes of the scavengers. Martta must have had similar, though slightly more sensible thoughts. She remarked that the village of Zone was visited very seldom, only twice or three times a year, sometimes from Mpungu, sometimes from Nkurenkuru, Zone being situated between the two. The few inhabitants had migrated from both directions, but the 20-kilometre deviation from the main track made the village distant. Maila sat next to me in the cabin, looking at the scenery with delight and curiosity. Her cheeks were of an enviable pink hue, and she had not lost one bit of her North Karelian freshness during her three months in Africa. "My, what a great field our Erastus has", she laughed. "Did you, Martta, think that this jeep was a combine harvester? It seems to me that the blade is a bit rusty." Martta laughed but kept her eye on the road, which I could not even see. A driver in Africa often needed the scenting ability of a Bushman to find and follow a track. Martta was a bit worried about us. Sure, we had taken some food from Rupara, and in Nkurenkuru we had added a big drum of water, but still.... Besides, as a pharmacist Martta had made sure that Maila's medicine box contained everything necessary from malaria medicine to snake serum. "Whatever you do, don't settle in a Bushman hut", Martta cautioned us. "Just about every one of them has tuberculosis, not to mention everything else. Moreover, our standard of living might arouse some envy. Let people live their life in peace." Maila and I had planned to take up the Bushman life as much as possible, but we kept quiet about this. In any case, we had to get there first by car to start our new life. The ochre sea of grass gave way to a forest of acacias. The road under us was softer and Martta changed down to second gear. A thorny branch drew blood from my elbow. I wound up the window and had a look at the back while doing so. Our passengers had gathered in a tight group in the middle. Women protected their faces in their hands. "Are you scared?" I shouted. "Aue, not us men. The women are a little", Erastus answered, and Hiskia's laughing voice added, "Why should we be afraid? The trees may bite a little but they won't eat us up." I shut the window completely, and my eyes as well. [...]

This is an excerpt from: Kernel, by Tuulikki Jantunen.

Titel: Kernel
Author: Tuulikki Jantunen
Original Finnish title: Pähkinänsydän (1967)
Translation: Krista Sands
Publisher: Namibia Scientific Society
Windhoek, Namibia 2004
ISBN 9991640207 / ISBN 99916-40-20-7
Softcover, 15 x 21 cm, 170 pages, 20 bw-photos, 3 maps