political commentary, The Trouble with Nigeria (1983), and critical essays, Morning Yet on Creation Day (1935). ® 7 Achebe has remained throughout his carer oth a eric and a defender o 4 of his people—not simply the Ibos of °. 2 [Nigerians as well as Africans as a whole, In the celebrated essay ‘“The Nov- Chinua 4 a0* (rom Morning Yet on Creation Day), he wrote: “Writing of kind I do is relatively new try and describe in deta ‘our readers. . . . The writer cannot expect to be excused from the task of ry part of the world and itis too soon 4 Actobe complex of relationships between us and reeducation and regeneration that must be done. In fa right in front... .1 would be quite satisfied if my novels (especial ‘ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past— with all its imperfections—was not one long right of savagery from which 4 the fi 's behalf delivered them. Perhaps wh write is applied art as distinct from pure, But who cares? Art is important bbut so is education of the kind I have in mind. And I don’t see that the two need be Away from t kind of cleavage: GIRLS AT WAR ‘The first time their paths crossed, nothing happened, ‘That was in the first | heady days of warlike preparation, when thousands of young men (and some- |. times women, too) were daily turned away from enlistment centers because far too many of them were coming forward burning with readiness to bear arms in defense of the exciting new nation, ‘The second time they met was at a checkpoint at Awka. Then the war had started and was slowly moving southwards from the distant northern driving from Onitsha to Enugu and was in a hurry. Although he approved of thorough searches at roadblocks, «moti hhe was always offended whenever he had to submit to them, He would probably not admit it but the feeling people got was that if you were put through a search then you could not really be one of the big people. Gen: erally he got away without a search by pronouncing in his deep, voice: “Reginald Nwankwo, Ministry of Justice.”” That almost always it, But sometimes either at the odd checkpoint would refuse to be impressed. As happened now at Awka, Two constables carrying heavy Mark 4 rifles were watching distantly ing the actual searching to local vigilantes, 1e said to the girl who now came up to his car. “"My domai more recen:ly Achebe has written of a trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely lure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wror its leaders to rise to the responsibility, which are the hallmarks of true leadersh Since 199 New York, from the roadside, le “Tam ina hurry, name is Reginald Nwankwo, Ministry of Justice." “Good afternoon, sir. I want to see your boot.”” “Oh Christ! What do you think is in the boot“11 don't know, sir.”” He got out of the car in suppressed rage, stalked to the back, opened the boot, and holding the lid up with his left hand he motioned with the right as if to say: After you! demanded your pigeonhole?” “Are you satisfied? “Yes, sir. Can L “Christ Almighty “Sorry to delay you, sir. But you people gave us this jab to do.”” “‘Never mind, You are damn right. It’s just that I happen to be in a hurry. sr mind. That's the glove box. Nothing there as you can see.”” ght, sir, close it."" Then she opened the rear door and bent down | der the seats. It was then he took the first real look at her, | She was a beautiful gil in.a breasty blue jersey, khaki -style hair plait which gave a girl a ey called—for reasons of their own-—“air force to inspect starting fror jeans, and canvas shoes wi defiant look and which and she looked vaguely familiar. 4" she said at last, meaning she was through with her “You don’t recognize me? “No. Should 12” “You gave me a lift to Enugu that time I Jeft my sch the mil “Ah, yes, you were the gi didn’t I, to go back to school because girls were not required in the militia. What happened “They told me to go back to my school or see, I was right. So, what are “Well, good luck to you. Believe me, you are a great gi ‘That was the day he finally b about revolution. He had seen plenty of girls and women marching and demonstrating before now. But somehow he had never been able to give it much thought. He didn’t doubt that the girls and the women took themselves seriously, they obviously did. But so did the little kids who marched up and mn the streets at the time, drilling with sticks and wearing their mothers’ Imets. The prime joke of the time among his friends was the contingent of girls from a local secondary school marching behind a banner: WE ARE IMPREGNARLE! But after that encounter at the Awka checkpoint he simply could not sneer at the girls again, nor at the talk of revolution, for he had seen soup bowls for steel action in that young woman whose devotion had simply and without self- rightecusness cor ity. What were her words? We are doing the work you asked us to do. She wasn’t going to meke an exception even for once did her a favor. He was sure she would have searched ted him of gross I her own fa When their paths crossed a third time, at least eighteen months later, things had got very bad. Death and starvation, having long chased out the headiness of the early days, now left in some places e. But surpr were many at this time who had no other desire than to comer whatever good things were still going and to enjoy themselves to the limit. For such just as rigoros others a rock-like, even suicidal, defi checkp: ‘was a tight, some goodness and some badness and plenty of heroism, which, however, happened most times far, far below the eye level of the people in this story — in out-of-the-way refugee fn the damp tatters, in the hungry and barchanded courage of the first line of fire. Reginald Nwankwo lived in Owerri then, But that day he had gone to Nkwersi in search of relief. He had got fr n Owsrvi a few heads of stockfish, some tinned meat, and led For- mula Two which he felt certain was some kind of animal feed, But he always had a vague suspicion that not being a Catholic with Caritas. So he went now to see an old fret at Nkw get other items like rice, beans, and that Ned Gabon gar. He left Owerri at six in the morning so as to catch his friend at the depot, where he was known never to linger 48:30 for fear of air raids, Nwankwo was very fortunate that day, The depot had received on the pre- vious day large supplies of new stock as a res plane landings cartons into his car the starv of an unusual number of waded tins and bags and petually hung around relief As his driver ew nights earl crowds th centers made crude, ungracious remarks like the WCC! Somehody else shouted “treo ar Can Continue!” meaning friends -eplied "‘shum!” ! ‘Mba Nwankwo was deeply embarrassed not by the jeers of this scarecrow crowd of rags and floating ribs but by the independent accusation of their wasted bodies and sunken eyes. Indeed, he would probably have felt muchworse had they said nothing, simply looked on in silence, as his boot was loaded with milk, and powdered egg and oats and tinned meat and stockfish, By nature such singular good fortune in the midst of a general desolation was certain to embarrass him. But what could a man do? He had a wife and ‘ng in the remote village of Ogbu and completely dependent relief he could find and send them, He couldn't abandon them to kwwashiorkor, ‘The best he could do—and did do, as a matter of fact—was to make sure that whenever he got sizable supplies like now he made over some of it to his driver, Johnson, with a wife and six, or was it seven, the market was ng to one pound per cigarette cup. In such a situation one could do nothing at all for crowds; at best one could tay to be of some use to one’s i te neighbors. That was all (On his way back to Owerri for a lift, He ordered the driver exhausted, some mil directions. “No, mo, n very attractive girl by the roadside waved top. Scores of pedestrians, dusty and wry, some civilian, swooped down on the car from all said Nwankwo firmly. “It’s the young woman stopped for. I have a bad tire and can only take one person, Sorry."” “My son, please," cried one old woman in despair, gripping the door handle. woman, you want to be killed?” shouted the driver as he pulled away, shaking her off. Nwankwo had already opened a book and sunk his eyes there, For at least a mile after that he did not even look at the girl until she, finding, perhaps, the silence too heavy, said: "You've saved me today, Thank +++ You are...” girl. You've changed, Gladys. You were always autiful, of course, but now you are a beauty queen. What do you do these days? Tam in the Fuel Directorate." “"That’s wonderful.”” It_was wonder! high-ti |, he thought, but even more it was tragic. She wore a wig and a very expensive skirt and low-cut blouse. Her shoes, ‘obviously frem Gabon, must have cost a fortune, In short, thought Nwankwo, she had to be in the keep of some well-placed gentleman, one if up money out of the war. it. I never give lifts these days.”” better not to try at all. Look at He said nothing to that and after another spell of silence Gladys thought maybe he was offended and so added: ‘Thank you for breaking your rule for me,”” She was scanning his face, turne He smiled, turned, and tapped her on the lap. “What are you going to Owerni to do” m going to visit my girlfriend.” IIriené? You sure?” If you drop me at her house wasn’t gone on weekend today; it will be serious. the is not at home I will sleep on the road today.” that she is not at home.”” Because if she is not at home I will offer you bed and breakfast . . What is that?” he asked the driver, who had brought the car to an abrupt stop. There was no need for an answer. The small crowd ahead wes looking ;pwards, The three scrambled out of the car and stumbled for she bush, necks twisted in a backward search of alarm was false sky was silent and clear except for two high-flying vultures, A humo the crowd called them Fighter and Bomber and every ‘The three climbed into their car again and continued their journey. “It is muca too early for raids,”” he said to Gladys, who had both her opportunity there and too! “Where does your friend “250 Douglas Road.”‘mind [ will take you to my place, where there is a good bunker, and then a8 soon as it is safe, around six, I shall drive you to your friend. How's am so frightened of this thing. That's mn’t eyen know who asked me to why I refused to work in Owerti, I ‘come out today.”” right. We are used to “But your family is not there with sis family there. We like to say itis because of air raids but I can assure you there is more place now, and we live the life of gay bachel “That is what I have heard.” "You will not just hear it; you will see it today. I shall take you to a real sutenant colonel, is having a birthday .V'm sure you'll enjoy (Owerri is a real swinging parties and frivolities to which his friends clung like drowning men, And to talk so approvingly of them because he wanted to take a girl home! And this particular girl, too, who had once had such beautiful faith in the struggle asked Gladys. “Nothing. Just my thoughts.”” ‘They made the rest of the journey to Owersi practically in silence. She made herself at home very quickly as if she was a regular girlfriend of his. She changed into a housedress and put away her auburn wig, “That is a lovely hairdo. Why do you hide it with a wig?” “Thank you, “Men are funny. “Why do you say that?” (ow you are a beauty queen,” her. She neither refused nor yielded fully, which he liked for a start, Too ‘many girls were simply too easy those days. War sickness, some called it I off a litle later to look in at the office and she busied herself in the kitchen helping his boy with hunch. It must have been li for he was back within half an hour, rubbing his hands and saying he ‘could not stay away too long from his beauty queen, big men like you eat."” “1 don’t know which big men you have don't make money trading with the enemy or selling relief or “Augusta's boyfriend doesn’t do that. He just gets foreign exchange.”” “How does he get it? He swindles the government—tha how he gets foreign exchange, whoever he is. Who is Augusta, by the way?” don’t traffic in foreign exchange and I don't have ‘meat in my fridge. We are fighting a war and I happen to kno: boys at the front drink gari and water once in three day: true," she said simply. “Monkey de work, baboon de ch : " he said, his voice beginning to shake. “People are dying every day. As we talk now somebody is dying.” is not even that; it is wor * she said again. screamed his boy from the kitchen “"My mother!" screamed Gladys. As they scuttled toward the bunkes palm stems and red earth, covering their heads with their hands and stooping slightly in their flight, the entire sky was exploding with the clamor of jets and the huge noise Inside the bunker she 1g to him even after the plane had gone and the guns, late to start and also to end, had all died down again “It was only passing,”” he told her, his voice a little shaky. “It didn't drop anything. From its direction I should say it was going to the war front. Perhaps our people are pressing thera. That’s what they always do. When- ever our boys press them, they send an SOS to the Russians and Egyptians to bring the planes.”” He drew a long breath. She said nothing, just clung to him, They could hear his bo servant from the next house that there were two of them and one dived like this and the other dived like that. Tsee dem we aid the other with eq say de ting de kill porson e for sweet for eye. To God.” excitement. “If no toagine!”” said Gladys, finding her voice at last. She had a way, he thought, of conveying with a few words or even a single word whole layers of meaning. Now it was at once her astonishment as well as reprool perhaps with grudging admiration for people who could be s0 li about these bringers of death. “Don’t be so scared," he said. She moved closer and he began to kiss her and squeeze her breasts. She yielded more and more andl then fully. The bunker was dark and unswept and might harbor crawling things. He thought of bringing a mat from the main house but reluctantly decided against Another plane might pass and send a neighbor or simply a chance passerby crashing into them. ‘That would be only s fer than a certain gen- ‘tleman in another air raid who was seen in broad daylight fleeing his bedroom for his bunker stark-naked, pursued by a woman in a lar state! Just as Gladys had feared, her friend was not in town, It would seem her powerful boyfriend had wangled for her a flight to Libreville to shop. So her neighbors thought, anyway. “Great!” said Nwankwo as they drove away. arms plane loaded wit you, which she will the really at war, aren’t you?” She said nothing and he thought he had got through suddenly she sad Th at you men want us to do.” “We there is one man who doesn’t want you to do that. Do you remember that git! in khaki jeans who searched me without mercy at the checkpoint?” She began to laugh, shoes, wigs, pants, bras, cosmetics, and what have Il and make thousands of pounds. You girls are to her. Then he sai No wig. 1 don’t even think she had any earings ‘Ah, na lie-o, I had earrings."” right. But you know what I mean.”” ““That time done pass, Now everybs six. You put your number six; I put my number six. Everything all right.” number ‘The lieutenant colonel’s party turned into something quite unexpected, But before it did, things had been going well enough. There was goat meat, some chicken and rice, and plenty of homemade spirits. There was one fiery brand nicknamed ‘‘tracer"” which indeed sent a flame down your gullet. The fanny thing was, looked at in the bottle, it had the innocent appearance of an orange drink. But the thing that caused the greatest stir was the bread— ‘one little roll for each perso ze of a golf ball and about the same consistency, and there were many girls. And to improve matters even further two white Red Cross people soon arrived with a bottle of Courvoisier and a bottle of Scotch! ‘The party gave them a standing ovation and then scrambled to get a drop. It soon turned out from his general behavior, however, that one of the white was that a pilot he knew well had been killed in a crash at night before, flying in relief in awful weather. Few people at the party had heard of the crash by then, So there was an immediate damping of the air. Some dancing couples went back to their seats and the band stopped. Then for some strange reason the drunken Red exploded. “Why should a man, a decent man, throw away his life. Far noth Charley didn’t need to die. Not for this stinking place. Yes, everythit here. Even these girls who come here all dolled up and smiling, what are they worth? Don’t I know? A head of stockfish, that’s all, or one American and they are ready to tumble into bed.” In the threatening silence following the explosion one of the Iked up to him and gave him three thundering slaps—ri Cross man} an impressive coolness. And all the girls they rated him a man and a hero, “Do you know him?” Gladys asked Nwankwo. He didn't answer her. Instead, he spoke generally to the party. “The fellow was clearly drunk," he is when a man is drunk that he speaks you Feat him for what was on his mind,”” said the host is the ” said Joe, saluting, is name is Joe,’ Gladys and the girl on her left sai to each other.162 shies , finding her voice at last, She had a way, he a few words ‘even a single word whole layers as reproof, tinged pethaps with grudging admiration for people who could be so lighthearted about these bringers of death. “Don't be so scared," he said. She moved closer and he began to kiss The and might harber crawling things. He thought of bringing a mat from the main house but reluctant against it. Another plane might pass and send a neighbor or simply a chance passerby crashing into them. That would be only slightly better than a certain gen- tleman in another air raid who was scen in broad daylight fleeing his bedroom for his bunker stark-naked, pursued by a woman in a similar state! it was at once her astoni Just as Gladys had feared, her friend was not in town. It would seem her powerful boyfriend had wangled for her a flight to Libreville to shop. So rer neighbors thought, anyway. “Great I come back on an arms plane loaded with shoes, wigs, pants, bras, cosmetics, and what have you, which she will then sell and make thousinds of pounds. You girls are really at war, aren’ She said nothing and ight he had got through at last to her. ‘Then sucldenly she said, ‘That is what you men want us to do.” i: “here is one man who doesn’t want you to do that. er that girl in khaki jeans who searched me without mercy ” said Nwankwo as they drove away. “She She began to laugh. “That is the girl T want you to become again, Do you remember her? No wig. 1 don’ even think she had any earrings. . -0. Thad earrings.” right. But you know what I mean.”” ‘That time done pass. Now everybody want survival. They six. You put your number six; I put my number six. Everything all right."* it number ‘The lieutenant colonel’s party turned into something quite unexpected. But before it did, things had been going well enough. ‘There was goat meat, ‘There was one fiery brand nicknamed “tracer"" which indeed sent aflame down your gullet. The funny thing was, looked at in the bottle, it had the innocent appearance of an orange drink, But the thing that caused the greatest stir was the bread— one little roll for each person! It was the size of a golf ball and about the same consistency, too! But it was real bread. The band was good, too, and there were many girls. And to improve matters even further two white Red Cross people soon arrived with a bottle of Courvoisier and a bottle of Scotch! ‘The party gave them a standing ovation and then scrambled to get a drop. rwever, that one of the white ‘would seem, It soon turned out from his general behavio men had probably drunk too much already. And the reason, was that a pilot he knew well had been killed in a crash at the airport the night before, flying in relief in awful weather. Few people at the party had heard of the erash by then. So there was an immediate damping of the air. Some dancing couples went back to their seats and the band stopped. Then for some strange reason the drunken Red Cross man just exploded. hy should a man, a decent man, throw away his life. For nothing! Charley didn't need to die, Not for this stinking place. Yes, everything stinks here, Even these girls who come here all dolled up and smiling, what are they worth? Don’t I know? A head of stockfish, that's all, or one American dollar and they are ready to tumble into bed.’ shoved him outside. His friend, who had tried in vain to shut him up, followed him out and the silenced party heard them drive off. The officer the job returned, 1g his palms. king beast!” said he with an impressive coolness. And all the girls showed with their eyes that they rated him a man ani “Do you know him?" Gladys asked Nwankwo. He didn’t answer her. Instead, he spoke generally to the arty. “The hero. don't care, is when a man is drunk that he speaks is on his mind.” 30 you beat him for what was on his mind,"” said the host. “That is the spirit, Joe. said Joe, saluting. Gladys and the girl on her left said in unison, turning to each other.164 African Skies At the same time Nwankwo and a friend on the other side of him were saying quietly, very quietly, that although the man had been rude and of- fensive what he had said about the girls was unfortunately the bitter truth, only he was the wrong man to say When the dancing resumed Capt sprang to her feet even before the word was out of his mouth. Then she ly and tumed round to take permission from Nuwankwo. At the same time the captain also turned to him and said, “"Ex- n Joe came to Gladys for a dance. She remembered immed * said Nwankwo, looking somewhere between the two. It was a long dance and he followed them with his eyes without appearing to do so. Occasionally a relief plane passed overhead and somebody imme- diately switched off the I ruder. But it was only an excuse to dance in the dark and make the girls giggle, for the sound of the Intruder was well known. Gladys came back feeling very self-conscious and asked Nwankwo with her. But he wouldn't. “Don't bother cbout me,”” he said. “I am enjoying myself perfectly sitting here and watching those of you who dance.” “The “But I never dance, believe me. So please enjoy yourself.” She danced next with the lieutenant colonel and again with Captain Joe, and then Nwankwo agreed to take her home. am sorry T never to dance as Tong as this war She said nothing. ““When I think of somebody like that pilot who got killed lastnight. And he had no hand whatever in the quarrel, All his concer was to bring us food hope that his friend is not like him,” said Gladys. The man was just upset by his friend's death, But what I am saying is that with people like that getting killed and our own boys suffering and dying at the war fronts see why we should sit around throwing parties and. dancing.” ‘You took me there,” said she in final revolt. ‘They are your friends, 1 don’t know them before. ‘Look, my dear, | am not blaming you. I am merely personally refuse to dance. Anyway, let’s change the subject . . . Do you still say you want to go back tomorrow? My driver can take you early enough saying it might be the I dance let’s go,” she said, “if you won't dance." In't dance,"” he said as they drove away. 1g you why I ‘on Monday morni You are the bi She gave him a shock by the readiness with which she folloved him to bed and by her language. for you to go to work. No? All ri “Go ahead but don’t pour in troops! He didn’t want to pour in troops either and wanted visual assurance and so he showed her. ft was all right, But she One of the ingenious economies taught by the war was that a rubber condom could be used over and over agai out, dry it, and shake a lot of talcum powder over it to prevent its sticking; and it was as good as new. It had to be the real British thing, trough, not some of the cheap stuff they brought in from Lisbon, which was about as strong as a dry cocoyam leaf in the harmattan. He had his pleasure but wrote the girl off. He slept with a prostitute, he thought. It was clear as da she was kept by some army officer. What a terrible transformation in the short period of less than two years! Wasn’t it a miracle that she ‘memories of the other life, that she even remembered her name? of the drunken Red Cross man should hay Al-you had to do. was wash it again now, he said to I the party ths ight, was just a mirror reflecting a society that had gone completely rotten and maggoty at the center. The mirror itself was intact; a Tot of smudge but no more. Thave a duty to her,’” he told himself, “the little girl that ww she is in danger, under some terrible influence. He wanted to get to the bottom of this deadly influence. It was clearly not just her good-time girlfriend, Augusta, or whatever her name was. There was needed was a clean duster, ce revealed rust be some man at the « traders who traffi thousands by sen« for cigarettes behind enemy lines, or one of those contractors who receive piles of money daily for food they nev: fer to the army. Or perhaps some vulgar and cowardly army officer Ithy barrack talk and fictitious stories of he-oism, He decided he had to find out. Last night he had thought it, perhaps one of these heartless attack foreign currencies and make their hundreds of ung men to hazard their lives barteringof sending his driver alone to take her home, But no, he must go and see for himself where she lived. Something was bound to reveal itself there Something on which he could anchor his rescue operation. As he prepared for the trip his feeling toward her sofiened with every passing minute. He assembled for her half of the food he had received at the relief center the day before. Difficult as things were, he thought, a girl who had something to eat would be spared, not all, but some of the temptation. He would arrange with his friend at the WCC to deliver something to her every fortnight. Tears came to Gladys's eyes when she saw the gifts, Nwankwo didn’t have too much cash on him but he got together twenty pounds and handed it over to her. I don’t have foreign exchange, and I know this won't go far at all, just came and threw herself at him, sobbing. He kissed her lips and eyes and mumbled something about vietims of circumstances, which went ‘over her head. In deference to him, he thought with exultation, she had put away her high-tinted wig in her bag. “1 want you to promise me something,” he said. “What?” se that expression about shelling ag th tears in her eyes. “'You don’t like it? That's what all the you are different from all the girls, Will you promise?” SOikia ‘Naturally their departure had become a little delayed. And when they got into the car it refused to start. After poking around the engine the driver decided that the battery was flat. Nwankwo was aghast. He had that very week paid thirty-four pounds to change two of the cells and the mechanic who performed it had promised him six months’ service. A new battery, which was then running at two hundred and fity pounds, was simply out ion, ‘The driver must have been careless with something, he must be because of last night,”” said the driver. ‘What happened last night?” asked Nwankwo sharply, wondering what insolence was on the way. But none was intended. “Because we use the headlight."” “‘Am [ supposed not to use my light, then? Go try pushing it.”” He got out again with Gladys and retumed to the house while the driver went over to neighboring houses to seek the help of other servants After at least half an hour of pushing it up and down the of ing out enormous clouds of black smoke from the exhaust, Tt was cight-thirty by his watch when they set out. A few miles away a lier waved for a lift advice from the pushers, the car fis screamed Nwankwo. The driver jammed his foot on the brakes “Somy, sr,” said the driver. “I don’t know Master want to pick him."” “If you don’t know you should ask. Reverse back.”” The soldisr, a mere boy, in filthy khaki drenched in sweat right leg from the knee down. He seemed not only grat tly surprised. He first handed in said Nwankwo, “Where did you get your wound: “At Azumini, sir. On tenth of January."” “Never mind. Everything wll be allright. We are proud of you boys and will make sure you receive your due reward when it pray God, sir. They drove on in silence for the next half hour or so, Then as the car sped down a slope toward a bridge somebody screamed —perhaps the driver, pethaps the soldier —""They have come!” The screech of the brakes merged into the screim and the shattering of the sky overhead. The doors flew open ‘even before the car had come to a stop and they were fleeing bl en they heard through ‘tumult the soldier’s voice erying: “Please come and open for me!”” ‘Vaguely he saw Gladys stop; he pushed past her, shouting to her at the same time to come on. Then a high whistle descended like a spear through the chaos and exploded in a vast noise and motion that smashed up everything. ‘A tree he had embraced flung him away through the bush, ‘Then anotherterrible whistle starting high up and ending again in a monumental crash of the world; and then another, and Nwankwo heard no more. He woke up to human noises and weeping and the smell and smoke of a charred world, He dragged himself up and staggered toward the source of the sounds. From afar he saw his drives rapning toward him in tears and blood, He ins of his car smoking and the entangled remains of the girl jer. And he let out a piercing ery and fell down again. saw the ¥é and the —1972 ae o *e os ° ane” Bessie Head (1937-86) SOUTH AFRICA/ BOTSWANA When critics discuss African women writers, they inevitably mention Bessie Head, often placing her name at the top of the overcome incredible obstacles to become a writer. She was born in Pieter- rmariteburg, South Africa, in 1937. The name on her birth certificate was instability several times. Under the rigid South African apartheid laws, she was considered insane because of her affair with a black man Ressic herself suffered emotionally because of her mixed racial ‘Though initilly listed as as Coloured mother, assuming that her foster lentity. she was subsequently reclassified we knew little, if anything, about her birth xrents (named Heathcote) wer: her bio- logical parents, She was an excellent student. At age thirteen, she began attending St, Monica's Home for Coloured girls, an Anglican school. After- wards, from 1956 to 1968, she taught briefly teaching and began working as a reporter in Cape Town and later in Johan- nesburg. She made several early attempts at suicide, A sudden marriage to Harold Head (who was Coloured) led to the birth of her only child, Howard. When Howard was two years old, Bessie left South Africa with the ‘or many years,