Book 6 Streets Paved with Gold

These two short stories continue the African theme in the series “Streets Paved with Gold”, which is an idiom for Johannesburg a city founded on the largest gold mines in the world.
“Mother Caught a Flea” follows the fortunes of an eight year old Zulu boy as he looks after his family’s cows. Cattle in traditional African society are regarded as wealth. It is based on a nursery rhyme used to teach children how to count.
The second story, entitled “The Sangoma”, is darker in tone. A sangoma is a traditional healer and diviner, able to communicate with the spirits of the ancestors. Ancestors play an important role in traditional belief systems. The story follows the life of Jabulile, a young western-educated Zulu woman. When, Jabu believes she hears the call of the ancestors she is torn between traditional and western culture. How she copes with this conflict and how her western husband reacts to her problem, is the subject of the drama.