Page 67 - 2020 SoMJ Vol 73 No 2_Neat

58 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

material and interviews, his research into soldiers’ marching songs as well as his
own book, ‘The Chiwaya War: Malawians and the First World War’, the author is
able to paint an absorbing and a credible picture of the experience of a KAR
soldier. He describes the training, the kiSwahili commands, the discipline, the
comradeship, the songs on long marches, the campaigning abroad, the danger in
battle, the sacrifices that came from the disruption to family life, the experience
of other cultures, and the relationship between the African soldiers and their
European officers.
Beyond his hero’s military career, Professor Page relates or imagines (it
is often hard to work out which) details of his personal life, his upbringing in his
village, his relationship with his chief, Chief Chikowi, his marriages and family
life. He also has him involved in events and situations that were significant in
Malawi’s colonial history, very often to highlight some of the conflicting loyalties
his hero might have felt. It is this that constitutes the second main strand that runs
through the book and which, in passing, offers a critical assessment of the
colonialism in Malawi.
The author narrates how over the years after his retirement, as a result of
his own experiences and conversations with Malawian Nationalist politicians, like
Levi Mumba and James Sangala, the former soldier becomes convinced that his
country needs to gain its independence. He has his subject acting as a recruiting
sergeant to persuade Malawians once again to take part in a European war, being
used by a callow District Commissioner to give credibility to the unpopular
Federal Government scheme that required farmers to dig bunds to prevent soil
erosion, being persuaded to help restore peace during riots in Thyolo over
thangata and hearing of the killing of people by Federal forces during the State of
Emergency. Cumulatively these strain his loyalty to the colonial Government to
breaking point and toward the end of his life he joins the Nyasaland African
Congress.
The author has a stirring story to tell and is generally successful in
fulfilling his intention that it rings true, though I felt that some of the dialogue, in
the village setting in particular, came across as rather stilted. For people, including
many of this Journal’s readers, who know something of the history of Malawi, it
might prove an interesting challenge to work out where fact ends and where the
imagination of the author has taken over. As truth is sometimes stranger than
fiction this might not prove too straightforward a task. A few more dates might
have made it a bit easier for the reader to relate the story to wider history and to
follow the narrative. This was also made more difficult by there being one
incident described twice, with contradictory details. However, these are minor
quibbles. Luviri Press, a welcome and professionally run newcomer to the
publishing scene in Malawi, has brought out an unusual, interesting and valuable
addition to the telling of Malawi’s history. g1756317