The Bullet in the Pawpaw by Kim Hope

4 Stars

288 Pages
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing Ltd
Release Date: February 28, 2020

Nonfiction, Biography, Memoirs, Theatre, Arts, Medical, AIDS, South Africa

In the 1960s, Kim Hope travelled from England to South Africa. As a young woman, she was touring with a theatre group. She was disturbed and horrified with the treatment of non-whites. The 1950s Population Registration Act was being used. There was a pencil hair test to determine race. This was still being used until it was repealed in 1991. In 1985, almost 800 people became a different race with this Act. After finding her telephone was tapped, she was concerned she might be in danger. She returned to England but always wanted to go back to South Africa.

Thirty years later, she returned after getting a teaching degree. She and her friend, Theresa, wanted to start a program incorporating non-violence and theatre to communities. She was shocked at the changes the country had undergone. She spent years teaching and working with her Themba Project (which means Hope).

The author has a descriptive writing style. She lived an interesting life and was able to share it in an interesting way.

This is a memoir of one woman’s life, from her rather privileged background, to a chance opportunity to travel to South Africa, to her impact on the education of people through the AIDS epidemic using theatre. In a few words, a summary of the book and yet nothing of the kind. Kim Hope is white, is pootling happily though her life when she sees an opportunity to make a difference and she grabs it. She sets up a charity using theatre to help change lives and minds. This is an easy read because it almost feels like a novel and several times I had to remind myself that Ms Hope is real.

The book takes you through all the steps and all the issues and is very well written. The pacing is perfect and you feel her frustrations as well as the triumphs. An extraordinary life and an excellent book.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Kim, the Author has written a remarkable story of the times she spent in Africa promoting awareness of Aids through drama. Her struggles, tenacity and courage are evident throughout the book. She visits Africa in her teens and the country takes a hold on her. She knows she must return even though she has to leave her family behind and later in the book her aging mother. She does fly home when needed, but often feels she needs to be back in Africa to ensure the success of her project, Themba Interactive Theatre.
She started by herself until her friend Theresa joined her. Volunteers were asked to join them and they put them through a rigorous training before deciding on a few they would use to start their project. It is brought to the readers attention on several occasions, 2 white women in Africa with black volunteers setting up workshops about aids and sexually transmitted diseases, is an unknown in that country. But aids had become so deadly, education was needed to help the people to learn how it was transmitted and what they could do to avoid it. Kim and Theresa held interactive workshops where the audience were expected to participate, another unknown in their culture. But through years of hard work, always struggling for financial support, Themba made a difference. An extremely interesting story, giving the reader a glimpse of the African culture and more importantly the realization that one person’s initiative could and did make a difference. An excellent read.

It is interesting that Kim Hope's surname is 'hope,' as the name she gives her successful venture, to educate children in South Africa about the danger of Aids, is also christened 'Themba' - which also means 'hope'.

Kim Hope*s story as retold her by herself is not without danger or occasional hardship - yet her life appears to be a charmed one from the point of view of the luck and fortuitous coincidences that seem to follow her around. Her work puts her into touch with luminaries like Richard Attenborough for example, who are able to help her.

But to start at the beginning: as a young and not very aware young woman enjoying a life of freedom and parties in swinging London, a chance conversation with a friend leads to an interview for a post in South Africa and encounters with activists who seek to bring down apartheid. Her eyes are opened and she becomes aware on witnessing the way well-to-do address their Black servants. Hope realises she is out of her depth and may have put herself into mortal danger, so she returns to England.

There is, however, the pull to return, which she does some decades later, being drawn to help local peoe educate themselves in a post-apartheid world. She recognises the irony in that as a white and privileged Englishwoman she ends up for example teaching young Bantus literacy and history so that they can think for themselves (the still-repressive education system had only permitted them enough education necessary to learn menial skills).

Her methods, which are included as an appendix at the back, involve an interactive kind of drama, where the audience is invited to participate in changing the outcome of a play, into hopefully a better one: the audience may be invited to role a situation where a lover rejects his HIV positive partner. The aim is educational rather than therapeutic however: the aim may be to reduce prejudices about Aids or to use condoms to reduce the threat of infection, for example.

The young actors are generously acknowledged as contributors at the back, and the reader is updated on their.continuing stories.

Reading between the lines it does seem that Hope must have possessed huge charisma and people skills in order to have worked in such a politically charged environment to help change things. The main thing is that she did so, and so incredibly successfully: this will be an inspiring read indeed to those who dream of putting the world to rights.

In this book, Kim is just moving along in life in London, when a chance encounter takes her to South Africa. Once there, she finds the apartheid system abhorrent. On a mission to help the country and stop the spread of aids, Kim starts the Themba HIV&AIDS Organization in Johannesburg to recruit and train young people through theater workshops. Though not a mystery with clues and such, this book provides a good picture of South Africa and of one young woman’s ideas and goals and how she goes about attaining them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Kim and grew to admire her steadfastness and character quickly. I also found it fascinating to read about South Africa, its people and culture. This book is a great way to find out about an area of the world many of us probably know nothing about, while getting a good glimpse into the soul of this eager, hard-working, courageous girl who goes after her goas with ever ounce of courage and effort she has. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

I have been lucky to find a lot more non-fiction to read this year than in previous years. I was invited to view this particular book. My review, however, is solely based on my reading experience. 

This is the story of a woman who was just going through life, who suddenly found a calling and worked long and hard to keep that going. Kim happened to visit South Africa as a visiting actor in a drama troupe. This is a chance occurrence due to a passing suggestion. This last bit has fueled a few things in my life, so I understand the way she looks at how the trajectory of her life changes from then. The narrative was engrossing in the beginning, but there is a lot of time and experience that passes by before she actually begins the 'Themba project'. As a work of non-fiction, it provides a lot of interesting information on topics that I had very little knowledge about previously. She talks about the socio-economic condition and the moods and emotions of the people rebuilding a country post Apartheid. That said, it felt very disjointed, and I could not read it continuously and found my attention wandering. It might have helped me if the story was presented in a slightly altered fashion. The timelines felt a little disjointed, and I was only heartened when I saw the actual workshop contents listed at the end because during the story I wanted to know a bit more about the mechanics of the process.

It is a different story, a take on how the 'lighter' aspects of life can play a crucial role in people's life. I would recommend it to those who like to know more about how theatre can participate in being more than something people just watch.

Set in the 1960'S. Kim is naive and poorly educated. A chance encounter takes her on a journey to South Africa touring with a Shakespeare company. But her abhorrence to the oppressive system of apartheid, she returns home. She is ow on a mission to try and stop the spread of HIV. She creates the Themba HIV&AIDS Organisation in Johannesburg. She re suits and trains young people from the township to deliver a unique programme of intricate theatre workshops.

What a beautifully written story this is. It's interesting and informative. It's not a book I would normally choose but I'm glad I read it. I liked Kim. She had her beliefs and stuck with them. That's a big change in lifestyle from thenswinging sixties she left behind to life in South Africa. I really e enjoyed this boo and I'm sure many other readers will as well.

I would like to thank NetGalley, John Hunt Publishing and the author Kim Hope for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.