A Girl Named Disaster

Nhamo feels better the next morning. She tells herself the hippos won’t hurt her and decides to teach herself to swim. The water feels good and Nhamo relaxes after practicing. However, her fear returns when she hears something moving in the woods. She discovers a flock of guinea fowl nearby. She throws rocks at them to scare them away, accidentally killing one. Nhamo feels bad but cooks the bird for food.

Nhamo stays in the same location for several days. She builds fish traps, watches for hippos and crocodiles, and continues teaching herself to swim. Then one day, she tells Mother they’re leaving and ventures back out in the boat. In the evening, she sees lights in the distance, convinced she is almost in Zimbabwe.

Nhamo returns to shore in a beautiful location. She guesses she’s in Zimbabwe. She encounters two pretty girls on a bench. They welcome her and offer her food. Then Crocodile Guts appears. Nhamo realizes he’s a ghost and panics. The girls must be spirits, too. She throws their food away, because if anyone eats food from the njuzu, or water spirits, they’ll be stuck in the underwater spirit realm forever (108).

Nhamo apologizes to the water spirits and gives them an offering before returning to the boat. She rows until she reaches an island.

Nhamo considers her circumstances in the morning. She tries to remember Grandmother’s instructions, deciding she must be on Lake Cabora Bassa, formerly the Zambezi River. She extracts Mother’s photo and tells her stories Grandmother told her. Afterward, she experiences “a heavy feeling of despair” (115) and imagines throwing herself onto the rocks. Then she imagines being back at the village or at Zororo’s house.

Nhamo stays on the island for several days. Eventually, her food diminishes. She realizes that she’s starving when she loses the strength to return to shore while swimming one day.

Nhamo forces herself to leave the island. She doesn’t look back. She hears Aunt Chipo’s, Mother’s, and Crocodile Guts’s voices and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she tries to continue paddling. She thinks she sees lights in the distance but realizes she’s just dizzy.

Finally, Nhamo reaches another island. She rejoices when she sees fruit trees in the distance. To thank the spirits for providing for her, she drops a bracelet from her aunt into the water.

The next day, Nhamo explores the island. She finds an old house that looks like Joao and Rosa’s house. She guesses it used to be part of a village. She finds plantings and more food, convinced her ancestors are caring for her.

Nhamo spends the night in the boat because she doesn’t know if there are wild animals on the island. When the waves get rough, she retreats to shore, cooks dinner, thinks about her father’s family, and imagines the island’s former inhabitants.

The weather worsens over the following days. Eventually Nhamo starts sleeping in the abandoned house. One night, she dreams about telling her cousins a story in the girls’ hut. The story features an angry spirit named Long Teats. When Nhamo wakes up, Long Teats is there. Nhamo apologizes to her for eating the island fruit. She holds onto her charm from Masvita. The wind carries in the scent of gardenias, which ward off bad spirits. Nhamo isn’t sure Long Teats is real but wants to be safe.

Nhamo talks to Mother about leaving the island. She starts filling the boat with food but worries about taking too much and sinking. She returns to the house afterward and hears the water spirits hissing. They lead her to a Portuguese man’s skeleton. Nhamo roots through the house in search of something to guard the body. She finds a machete, cuts down gardenia branches, and lays them around the house.

That night, Nhamo has nightmares. When she wakes up, she realizes she must take the machete and leave. She gets in the boat and resumes her journey.

Nhamo rows and rows. She talks to Mother, Crocodile Guts, and the spirits along the way. When darkness falls, Nhamo still hasn’t reached shore and starts crying. Finally, she gets herself to eat and sleep. The next day, Nhamo discovers that she is bleeding. She guesses she was upset because her period was coming. She sings a song about becoming a woman and resigns herself to spending another night on the boat (143).

Nhamo finds land in the morning. The shore is filled with baboons. She paddles around the land, discovering that it’s another island (145). She screams at the island in frustration. Then the boat starts rocking and the baboons approach. Nhamo worries they’ll attack her and eat her food.

Nhamo finally finds a safe place to rest. She talks and sings to Mother. She tells her stories, too. When she hears the baboons again, Nhamo thinks about the village families’ totems.

Nhamo patches the boat’s cracks with clay. Then she drags her supplies to shore and rests. She isn’t sure what to do or where to go next. Crocodile Guts appears and encourages her to build a bigger boat. Nhamo ventures to the other side of the island in search of the right tree for the new boat.

The other side of the island seems more pleasant. Nhamo explores, finds a tree, rids the wood she’s found of termites, and makes dinner. When night falls, the baboons start crying nearby. Nhamo screams for them to go away and throws stones in their direction. One stone hits a baboon in the face. The others flee. Relieved, Nhamo rests on her cliff.

Nhamo sets to work on finding food, building a shelter, digging a garden, and cutting down a tree for her boat (158). She spends days working on these tasks. Finally, she finishes the hut. When the baboons return, she shouts at them, telling them who she is and what she’s doing.

Nhamo lies in her hut telling Mother more stories each night. At the end of her story one night, she tells Mother she wishes she’d reached Zimbabwe. Crocodile Guts returns and encourages her.

Nhamo tries crossing from her big island to the neighboring little island. She’s afraid of crocodiles and a baboon is watching her from the other shore. She’s seen this baboon before and he’s always alone (165). When Nhamo crosses, the baboon taunts her like a little boy. She fends him off.

Nhamo starts making a garden. She names her island Garden Island and sings while she works. That night, she studies her work. When the baboons approach, they pass instead of bothering her.

Nhamo struggles to do all of the work herself. She doesn’t have all the skills she needs and tires easily. Meanwhile, she observes the baboons’ behaviors throughout the days. She gives them names based on their habits.

Nhamo tries to improve her hut, but it’s hard work. She learned a lot by watching the villagers but is missing some of the knowledge. Feeling discouraged, she tries carving her log for the new boat. The lake looks endless before her.

That night, Nhamo dreams that Masvita is a princess. Her whole family is in the dream, too. Then the water spirits attack Masvita and throw her provisions into the lake. They throw the villagers in, too. Terrified, Nhamo clings to Grandmother.

Nhamo wakes up soaked in sweat (178). She realizes she isn’t in the village and is still alive.

Nhamo falls ill for three days. She emerges from the hut once she recovers. Outside, the baboons are playing and watching her. She studies them, noticing their similarities to the villagers.

Famished, Nhamo sets out in search of food. She stalks an impala and kills him with her spear. Then she bursts into tears. Mother comforts and encourages her. Nhamo sings a song to make herself feel better.

The dry season shrivels the grasses and trees. Nhamo’s garden and water supply suffer. Nhamo passes the time talking to Crocodile Guts. Then one day, he tells her he must leave and disappears into the water spirit realm. Afterward, Nhamo pours juice into the water as a thank you to him.

Nhamo keeps working on the boat. Meanwhile, the baboons try to befriend her. Nhamo grows to enjoy their company. However, Mother keeps telling her that she must leave because she belongs with people (194).