Mukurob

by André Costa

  “It’s good to see you, my friends,” said Thomas Müller, who had spent half a century living with the Hai//om people and fluently spoke their language. Contacted by the Nordic researchers, Thomas—or the German, as he had been known since childhood when he was raised among San children at a farm lodge—served as a sort of manager for the logistical duties of the mission. He carried out his tasks diligently and efficiently, despite one leg continually holding the other back. Thomas had chosen and secured the location for the San families of the Hai//om tribe after months of lengthy negotiations with the administration of the Nye Nye Conservancy.

  The local authorities had been confused by the request to settle members of the Hai//om community in Nye Nye because their ancestors—unlike the Ju/’hoansi who were originally from the area—originated from the distant region of today’s Etosha National Park. In addition, these newcomers had already become accustomed to urban daily life in the vicinity of Grootfontein.

  The fact was that Andreas had read in a local newspaper about the sudden expulsion of San families by a wealthy farmer and had subsequently rushed to the site as quickly as a cheetah. Once he had arrived, it had not taken much for the Swedish anthropologist to convince the small homeless Hai//om community to accept the challenge of returning to their original way of life, given that they would be provided with proper shelter and food. Dr. Ecklund took his chances, and so did the San families.

  The reason for bringing them to the Nye Nye Conservancy in northeastern Namibia bordering Botswana was the abundance of wildlife and conditions favorable for reintroducing self-sustaining hunting and gathering activities. Besides a considerable population of elephants moving freely due to the very low demographic density, there were almost one million hectares suitable for hunting elands, oryx, kudus, springboks and other games.

  Dr. Ecklund’s plans for the settlement, however, differed from the San villages already established in the region. He did not want to introduce any merchant activity whatsoever; the new settlement was to be completely free from the circulation of money. Thus, it was paramount that the new settlers learned the means of subsistence of their ancestors, whose teachings were to be passed on and monitored by the elder members: two men and three women septuagenarians. They would not, like their neighbors, the Ju/’hoansi, make artifacts to sell to tourists, nor render them any service. They would also not keep anything of pecuniary value.

  The big fault in Dr. Ecklund’s plan was that it did not make provision for how the new settlement would comply with the obligation to contribute financially to the Conservancy’s projects, which included a school and a health post. His inability to provide a consistent answer regarding the matter led Marie to suspect that he would eventually use part of the project’s funds to pay the local authorities on behalf of the San families. He would certainly not see it as a payoff for the government’s services and facilities, but rather as a way to become as inconspicuous as possible, and eventually to be forgotten. “It’s not a safe bubble,” Marie feared.

  The idea was therefore quite straightforward. Without money, the Hai//om would be free from addictions, such as drinking and gambling, and would entrust their bodies exclusively to natural medicine, occupying their minds with the rebirth and reproduction of the entire legacy of their culture. Andreas was convinced that the success of his project—to be validated after a minimum of five years—would depend on how much the team of researchers could keep its monetary aspect off the authorities’ radar.

  As far away from the other villages as conveniently possible, they had built the camp around an enormous baobab tree. The site consisted of five large tents which housed the San families, the restaurant and the storage of all goods and equipment; as well as some small and individual units for the crew. This arrangement was, in Andreas’ mind, temporary, since the small Hai//om community should soon be able to re-create a village like the ones of their ancestors.

  “I’m glad you’ve arrived. The children couldn’t wait any longer,” said Thomas.

  Responding with a smile that was not at all spontaneous, Andreas gently pulled Marie by the arm and, as he stepped inside a tent, whispered in her ear, “We need to talk.” With the lamplight low inside his tent, Andreas got straight to the point. “I don’t want to put up with this anymore. You know I don’t personally wish to fire Benjamin, Marie. But you’ve got to do something about it.”

  Outside, heavy muscle work awaited Jack and David. They erected their tent—the only one among the team to be shared by two people—and piled up the groceries under Thomas’s guidance. Later, after washing themselves as best they could in insufficient light, the two set out to organize the research materials, testing and labeling, along with Edward, a dozen recorder devices. After they finished, David sat on a full tree trunk lying equidistantly from his tent and the campfire.

  From there, under a gleaming constellation of stars, he reflected on Jack’s belief in animism and how the idea that there was consciousness in everything that existed around him could follow Duane’s reasonings. I bet the old man would have evoked Spinoza.

  Feeling a slight shaking that spread from his waist to the base of his neck, David closed his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened them again, he found himself face to face with an innocent and angelic looking Hai//om boy, about sixteen or seventeen years old. For the first time, he had the opportunity to examine the physical characteristics of the San people carefully. Unlike Africans of Bantu origin, the boy’s skin was not dark brown, but of a reddish-brown hue, his face was flat like that of a young child, and, in proportion to his body, his hands and feet were small. He had Chinese-like eyes and no earlobes. His facial expression showed both self-confidence and compassion.

  Looking back at David, the boy said something in his native tongue, full of clicks in the middle and at the end of almost every word. David’s attentive gaze and raised eyebrows begged the boy to keep speaking. When the young Hai//om fell silent, David was afraid the San mighty have been complaining about the lack of subtlety with which he had scanned the boy’s body. The young priest blushed and smiled as a penance.

  In response, the young Hai//om, whose name David would later learn to be !Soh, put his right hand on David’s chest for about three seconds and then gestured for David to follow him. The scent of roasted meat left no doubt as to the direction.

  Chapter VIII

  While the young priest joined the group of researchers for a meal of game meat and rice prepared by the German, the Hai//om women sat in a circle around the fire. Not being used to the extreme climatic fluctuations of the desert, David appeased his shivering body by covering up with three layers of clothing. His heavy wool coat did not remain in his possession for long though, being offered to Marie shortly after dinner.

  “They arrived yesterday after a difficult trip. They must be even more tired than we are,” said Andreas.

  “Where did they come from?” asked David.

  “From where we were this morning,” replied Jack.

  “It was an act of extreme cowardice, Father,” Marie added. “When the children returned from school, they found their parents wandering along the road, together with many elderly people and only a few possessions. They could not take much with them and lost most of their belongings as well as their animals.”

  “Animals?” David asked, without evaluating the content of his question out of sheer astonishment.

  “Monkeys, sheep, pigs, chickens, and cows…everything,” replied Marie.

  “But suddenly? Without warning?” David asked with more confidence.

  “The same story as always. A new landowner appears, usually someone who’s part of or perhaps well connected to the highest levels of government and decides to expel them. Simple as that,” explained Andreas. “I heard the landlord was a big-shot diplomat.”

  “We decided to incorporate at least a part of the group into our project,” added Marie, po
inting to the San who were already singing and clapping cheerfully. “Look, they’ve started!”

  Sitting on a tree trunk behind the women, and wedged between the shoulders of Jack and Marie, David forced all his senses to stay alert. An elderly man, leaning on a walking stick, suddenly appeared out of a big tent and walked towards the fire. He wore long trousers and a battered woolen shirt. A long animal skin, tied at the waist, covered his left shoulder and extended to his knees. Adornments on his head and around his wrists also distinguished him from the rest of the group.

  “That’s the shaman. He will start the trance dance anytime soon,” explained Jack.

  “Trance dance? How interesting… What are they singing?” asked David, amid some coughing.

  “Healing songs, medicinal,” replied Marie. “They believe that these songs have supernatural power. And this power comes from the spirits, from the gods, but also from the shaman’s own stomach.”

  “From his stomach?” David was surprised. “How odd is that?”

  At the sound of the clapping rhythm and chants, supported by female voices singing particular phrases, the old man, leaning on his cane, began to dance around the fire. The other men of the tribe joined in, following the shaman’s steps and frenzied movements.

  At first, the music and swaying bodies seemed eccentric to David but soon proved contagious. The more sounds, gestures, and movements were articulated, the more he felt himself being carried away into a state of collective trance.

  “Without this sense of non-belonging and unconsciousness, it would be impossible to enter the world of spirits, where human evils can be healed,” Marie explained amidst the crowd of unfocused eyes.

  While still in full control of his senses, David had noticed that the trance was induced without the slightest hint of hallucinogens. The rhythmic dance was the gateway to the world in ways that were attractive but certainly unfamiliar. Shortly after, he felt slightly disturbed and unsure of where he was.

  Jack suddenly rested his right hand on David’s left knee. Faced with the more mundane eccentricity of his friend’s move, the gesture did not immediately seem invasive. At first, he thought it was spontaneous; but, since it was not transitory, David freed his knee from Jack’s hand a few seconds later. And if the incident had not been enough for David to disengage from the collective voyage into which he had been dragged, the observation of another hand—that of Edward’s intertwined with Marie’s—brought him back to earth completely. “They all seem to be under a spell,” he said, thinking aloud.

  “The shaman transforms himself into many things during the dance... animals of different shapes. He also travels to many different places... and while moving, he realizes who is sick and needs healing,” Marie said.

  David attentively watched the shaman’s body, which still looked human very much, although the swing of the man’s head reminded him of a bird in distress.

  “You must concentrate, David! Focus on the music and rhythm,” added Marie.

  Observing that the shaman randomly touched the shoulders of the spectators—sometimes softly and sometimes as if wishing to wake them up—David felt great discomfort at his approach. With short, firm, and surprisingly rhythmic steps, and with his walking stick in front of his body, the old healer moved towards Father Callaghan, twisting his neck even more frantically. Once in front of him, the shaman crouched down and gripped David’s shoulders firmly, shaking them—both back and forth and from left to right.

  Jack, sitting next to David, kept his eyes wide open, though his gaze was light-years away from the present moment. The more the healer shook David’s shoulders, the more Jack’s face became lifeless, until finally, the former seminarian collapsed into a fetal position on the ground. David, startled, looked at the shaman for an explanation of what had happened, but the healer only continued with the ritual as if Jack’s loss of consciousness was an integral and even necessary part of the script.

  Marie, Andreas, Edward, and David—who had pushed the shaman’s hands away—quickly abandoned his enchantment to come to Jack’s rescue. After he had regained consciousness, he was taken to recover in the tent he shared with David. Still unable to keep his back upright, Jack lay on his camping cot with his arms limp by his side, as he continued to watch the shaman’s healing ritual through the open entrance of the canvas tent.

  “Feel better?” asked David.

  “A little dizzy, but it will pass. You know... I have no idea what happened back there,” Jack said as he tried to shift his body into a more comfortable position.

  “No need to worry. We were all feeling a bit strange. It could have happened to any of us.”

  “Yes, that may be so, but this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. Actually, Marie has already asked me to stop watching the ritual.”

  ”Did she?”

  “But I thought that I would be able to control myself this time…”

  David was astonished by the news of Jack’s recurrent fainting spells during the healing dance. A thousand questions raced through his mind, but he decided the subject was too sensitive to explore at this particular moment. Sitting now shoulder to shoulder, they kept their ears in tune with the background sound until it completely faded out.

  “Are you reflecting on the idea of animism?” asked Jack. “

  “Yes… Indeed! It’s fascinating… the idea that objects, creatures, and even places all possess a spiritual essence. But I was actually thinking much less philosophically, Jack… Simply about the stories I heard; healing songs… supernatural power coming from your own stomach…”

  “It’s a pity we had to abandon those beautiful stories when giving up our nomadic roots…”

  “Why so?”

  “Well, we had to come up with a whole new story to justify our new role towards nature; I mean, our new relationship with our surroundings—growing crops, domesticating animals—and manipulating nature at will. A different story for the homo sapiens’ new pursuit had to be imagined, David.”

  David shook his head and frowned. Immediately afterward, however, he questioned his automatic gesture, relaxed his facial muscles and stood up without apologizing. He walked to the entrance of the tent, looked around and took a deep breath. The outside cold and dry air still carried some smoke but was less poisoning. The hypnotic and rhythmic sound had stopped completely. Only a few San remained, teasing one another in excitement. Edward and Marie had returned to the same seat they had shared during the shaman’s dance and now had the whole tree trunk to themselves. Noticing the gestures of discord and disagreement between the two scientists, David sought to mentally position himself in the dialogue. Even from a distance and in low light, he could read Marie’s lips: “You know nothing! Just shut the f… up!”

  “Maybe you still don’t know, David, but this San community was converted to Christianity a long time ago,” said Jack, interrupting David’s scrutiny. “They don’t question it, but they are both Lutherans and animists… and still they don’t seem to find the two contradictory,” laughed Jack.

  David did not look back. Instead, he walked a bit further and took a few more swallows of fresh air. The campfire had burned down to a red glow, yet the night was so bright and the moon so lively that it was possible to see the outlines of the trees. An uncountable time had passed during his state of contemplation, when he finally noticed that Edward and Marie had left, just like everyone else. Looking now at the shiny sky lying low on the horizon, he walked back towards the tree trunk, like a solitary antelope in the night. Sitting with his arms resting on his knees, David scanned the ground waiting for the imminent stroke. He was not physically at risk, but rather mentally. No conventional weapon could prevent it, but he kept vigilant of his thoughts nonetheless.

  Suddenly a noise, like the moan of some wild animal, pulled him back to the present. Again he heard the cry—or was it a groan?—about fifty or so steps away. The third
time it echoed, David realized that the sound was surprisingly human. And female.

  David returned to the tent to find Jack fast asleep and snoring, totally removed from reality. Unable to verbalize his apprehension, his legs ignored reason and carried him towards the repeated groans. As his steps were not steady or calculated, he hesitated several times to the point of stopping. At one stage, he wondered whether he should fetch reinforcements; at another, he crouched down to arm himself with a fallen branch.

  “Who’s there?” cried an intimidating male voice from where the moan had come and too far from the dying campfire. David crouched down again, as fast as any Kalahari prey. “It’s probably just an animal; don’t worry,” replied a husky female voice.

  David recognized it as Marie’s. Of this fact he was sure, even though his other four senses seemed to have abandoned him—making it near impossible to confirm the identity of the two intertwined and naked silhouettes cast on the open. While uncertain about the owner of the male voice, David decided this was not the time or place to investigate further. His shame at what he had witnessed made him crawl back to his tent as quickly and silently as a lizard—with jealousy for the shaman’s power to transmute into any animal burning in his heart.

  Chapter IX

  The morning took a long time to reach his pillow. But since even the most resilient thoughts cannot abort the passage of time, the young priest saw the first rays of sunshine as a divine demonstration of mercy. With the break of dawn, his body capitulated. His head sank deep into his pillow, as he finally fell asleep.

  David woke five hours later. He spent what was left of the morning helping Edward and Jack to organize the linguistics research material, while Marie and Andreas talked to the San families about the tasks for that day, like the recording of the children’s leisure.