‘The Scattering’ by Kubuitsile was originally published in 2016 by Penguin Random House, but it had since gone out of print. However, in May it was published again, this time by Kuiseb Publishers right here in Windhoek. While it focuses on one more than the other, ‘The Scattering’ follows two women trying to survive and love in a time of devastating colonial wars.
As the 20th century dawns, this culminates in their paths briefly crossing and each leaving a permanent mark on the other’s life. The novel starts off in what was known as German South West Africa, at Okahandja specifically, in 1894, where Tjipuka, a young Herero girl exploring the bush around her, blissfully falls in love, marries and gives birth to her baby Saul. Her peace does not last as long as one would hope, as in 1904 general Lothar von Trotha, the commander of the German colonial forces, issues an extermination order against the Herero people forcing them to flee into the brutal desert in an attempt to seek safety in British Bechuanaland.
“I, the great general of the German soldiers, send this letter to the Hereros [...
] Any Herero found inside the German frontier, with or without a gun or cattle, will be executed. I shall spare neither women nor children. I shall give the order to drive them away and fire on them.
Such are my words to the Herero people.” So ordered Von Trotha. In a series of events known as the Herero and Nama genocide, Tjipuka fights to survive, battling through starvation.
