From C to C: The Fugitive Returns Home

© 2015 Dr. Richard Kimball. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  01/30/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4971-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4972-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4973-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919417

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Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction To The Journey

Dedication

Disclaimer

Special Thanks

Why C To C? How Did This Theme Come About?

Theme/Symbology - Integrated Wholeness

First/Earliest Cape To Cairo (Or Vice Versa) Journeys - Why?

A Brief Autobiography – Before Africa

How I Finally Connected With Africa

A Short Word About Initiation And Its Results

First Stage Of The Journey - Mind/Intellect

What Is The Mind?

The First Connection: Going To Africa – For The First Time (In This Lifetime?)

Egypt - Can We Really Know History?

Tunisia - Nothing Is Forever

Sudan - Pariahs Or Abused?

Ethiopia - A Cultural And Historical Crossroads

East Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania (Including Zanzibar), Rwanda And The Democratic Republic Of The Congo

II. Second Stage Of The Journey – Body/Emotions

What Is The Body? What Are Emotions?

Malawi

III. Third Stage Of The Journey - Spirit

Zimbabwe - Africa’s Paradise?

South Africa – Healing The Old And Bringing In The New

Coming Home: The New Journey

Integration Of Mind, Body And Spirit

Conclusions

INTRODUCTION TO THE JOURNEY

A Simple History

When I was young,

I secretly disavowed –

Their meaningless and oppressive rules.

I was branded a black sheep.

When I attended High School,

I grew weary of second best.

I tried new things, breaking new ground.

I was nicknamed a misfit.

When I went to university,

I turned away from studying -

Their vague and arbitrary equations.

I was labeled an intellectual rebel.

When I went to Africa,

I spurned exploitation, contrary to the Colonialists.

I was told to be one of us.

I was ostracized for being a radical.

When I wrote of the real world,

I rejected the inclusion

Of absurd and useless content.

They said I was wrong.

When I taught at High Schools and Universities,

I refused to burden and pollute the new generation

With the destructive ideas of the past.

I was marked as the wild hair that needed to be tamed.

When I kept moving from place to place or idea to idea,

I was either the rolling stone who gathered no moss

Or named the Fugitive.

I was told to settle down and become one of the crowd.

When I wanted to choose to associate with

The people with whom

I felt the most intimacy,

I was accused of deviancy.

When I finally understood how they thought and acted,

I pronounced myself a revolutionary.

Then, I struggled for true understanding and health, and

I matured into a catalyst for productive change.

I have always been a curious searcher and a questioner.

I have always sought out the verifiable truth.

Now I realize it is useful to swim against the mainstream … for awhile.

Especially, if you are a sensitive motivator for creative growth.

When we are ready,

It is acceptable not to be in any stream.

Being whole and integrated in a new HOME,

Returning to the essence, the reality, the source –

When we are ready!

Does this mean settling down?

Defiant to the end? We’ll see.

Now I am a wisdom keeper.

Ready to move on.

U na kwenda wapi? (Where are you going? in Swahili, the main language of Eastern Africa). Where am I going? Where have I been? What is it all about? Where is HOME? Is there any HOME? Is it out there or in here? I will show you both my illusions and realities so you may also grow from the experience.

This book is not just telling my story, and the story of many others, but re-creating my life. It will bring an image to the reader’s mind. I will tell you how I grew up and lived a full life - about many of the great experiences I had and those whom I met and learned from along the way. However, I believe that the world has a story to tell from which we all can learn. A person’s strength needs to be tested often so that he/she learns how to live fully. We all learn from interdependent relationships with others. All these experiences are signs along the path. They do not create spirituality. We do. The signs are reminders. The aim of this book is to teach you the reader not just inspire you. It’s the life journey that leads us HOME.

C to C is more than a memoir. It is an example of learning, growing and transforming. It is more than self definition and experience. C to C is still a work in progress. A trip down memory lane? This road is not for everyone. It’s only for a few. A sentimental journey to our origins? A ten year journey of exploration – an odyssey?

Growth does not happen without pain and struggle. This is a story of how I got where I am and how I will get to where I am going.

The ink is as wide open as we can. - John Steinbeck

In the beginning … . It is from the heart that this story/journey begins – the pain of the heart. It is from an incident, and indeed a process at the time unseen, that my need to find meaning in a lost life emerged. My home of choice (I thought) was taken away. Also, my ego identity of choice was stolen – so I thought. In order to find myself and become re-connected to life, a friend in Zimbabwe (Southern Africa) suggested I write my tale of transformation. I accepted … reluctantly. I was never a real writer, even though I had written many books and articles. I didn’t have a theme! I only had a lost life – with no reason or purpose. Who would care anyway!

I struggled and struggled. People in the past had encouraged me to write some of the stories I had told them about my life in Africa. I refused. Who would care! I was more interested in the outer world of matter and energy not the inner. Finally, I was seemingly pushed to see it was the right time to share the life of The Fugitive with others who were also on a journey of exploration and transformation. The advantage of doing so would be another step on the journey of growth and wholeness.

If the heart wills, the hand gathers the fingers to write a book. - Rumi

Africa, the continent I loved and called my home away from home, was opening up this new American to HOME – the inner essence of our beingness. Again, I must thank this home of all humankind for allowing me, indeed forcing me, to take my next step – maybe the final one. This time, through pain and suffering, I would finally realize the truth and meaning of my life – at least this one. In this way the old patterns would be broken and new ones, more healthy ones, would be created and emerge.

Thousands of years ago, we humans knew how to heal. We lived in tribes, close to earth. We were intimately connected to one another and to our source. We communicated telepathically and could talk to our deceased ancestors. We could even communicate with the animals. Why couldn’t I?

Those African countries that I would spend the most time in – Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa - were along the traditional Cape Town to Cairo route (C to C). All countries have a history to be told, but because of limited space, I am being selective.

The hated, then loved, then hated again Zimbabwe would be the catalyst for my inevitable change into wholeness. Thank you, Zimbabwe! The illusions are now broken, and truth can, and is, emerging. I would like to share with you this life-long transitional process I have experienced. I hope you can relate to some to the events and processes I explored and developed in this experience. Good reading to you!

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.- Marcel Proust

Venerable Master Jen-Chun says it well in this Buddhist poem:

Search for the profound culture and deep wisdom!

Expand civilization and make reason all-pervasive!

Let the customs and morals of the people become so excellent, broad, and deep as to go beyond the measure of national boundaries!

People all over the world praise and hope for the world commonwealth.

The one who is best liked and most respected by the people is great yet not pretentious.

He promotes harmony and happiness, and puts peace into practice.

He serves the people’s welfare and becomes an example for the world.

As you will see, it took me awhile, but I finally realized that life can be a journey of both self exploration and self discovery. I have always been at home traveling!

DEDICATION

To All My Teachers, Supporters and Osa and Martin Johnson.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

I am an adventurous spirit, a free thinker, a seeker for novelty, one who escapes from routine and a lover of animals. - Osa Johnson, I Married Adventure

DISCLAIMER

All the incidents described in this book are as true as I remember them. My perceptions may not be the same as those of others who witnessed or were part of the same incidents or events. I have tried to re-check and substantiate each one with those who might have been there in order to validate them as accurately as possible. I have also tried to depict people as I have known them. Often I have kept a name out, changed one to protect that person, or remove my bias. My intentions are to present as authentic a picture of this Journey as possible to hopefully interest and, perhaps, even educate the reader. I have been aided by a series of letters I wrote to friends in America while living in Uganda and other documents I wrote in Malawi and Zimbabwe. In this process of writing, I have experienced recovered memories, things that happened that I had completely forgotten. These were not necessarily unpleasant happenings but ones I had put aside. I am thankful for those memories!

I don’t recommend or suggest anything in this memoir for others. You need to find your own path. If there are any mistakes in this book, the author takes full responsibility and requests that these mistakes be pointed out to him. The sincere wish of the author is that all who read it will be inspired to making positive changes in their lives. Finally, I took minor liberties and have provided aliases in order to protect the safety of some individuals.

SPECIAL THANKS

I would like to offer my special thanks to those who read the first draft of this journey and were willing to offer both their advice and corrections. These dedicated and creative individuals include: Paul Sheckler, Marion Pech, Jane Krejci and Venerable Ben Kong.

Also, I want to give acknowledgements (gratitude) to: All the Africans that taught me, my parents, my ex-wife Jane and daughter Liesel.

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

Be open minded. Self reflect. Have no judgment. Any writing on Africa by Whites must be seen through the prism of ethnicity. This is a book about HOME and identity. Sense the beat. Learn what it says.

WHY C to C? How Did This Theme Come About?

We do not take a trip. A trip takes us. - John Steinbeck

WELCOME to a life – the real life of a real fugitive! We all have lives and stories to tell. Over the years, many people have suggested that I share mine. But, I have been reluctant to do so for many reasons. Excuses included time; thinking others would not be interested; concern over my writing skills; energy needed for more important things; not yet having a focus for all the experiences and, of course, fear. Deep inside of all of us, I suppose, is a fear of revealing our true self - our suffering, struggling and, yes, even our pleasures. This is more a memoir than an autobiography. It is a narrative composed of personal experiences set within an over-arching metaphor, that is: C to C.

C to C refers to Cape Town (a city on the southern tip of the African Continent in the Republic of South Africa) and Cairo (a city in the north part of the Continent and the capital of Egypt). Also, in pronouncing C to C, it sounds like Sea to Sea which could refer to the Mediterranean Sea in the north and either the Atlantic Ocean or Indian Ocean, whichever seems to be at the southern tip of Africa near Cape Town, in the south.

In 1996, while I was enduring yet another deep crisis (maybe the greatest in my life – so far) a friend Lynde Francis, who was a health practitioner in Zimbabwe, thought that I had an interesting life, and I should write it down both for my own enlightenment as well as sharing it with others. She suggested that I should use the metaphor of Cape Town to Cairo for my story. I was shocked! I could not understand her meaning or her point in writing my life and using that symbolism. Now I know. A seed was planted (as it turns out, once again) and grew, in spite of my resistance to nourish it. In this process of writing, I have been both healed and enlightened about my life and the Journey to Wholeness we all, sometime, must take.

Soon after Lynde’s suggestion, I boarded a bus for South Africa with a spiritual healer and friend, Augustine Kandemwa. He wanted to spend time in, as well as at, the sea, since he was a water person. I needed a healing ceremony because I was leaving my Paradise - Zimbabwe. I did not choose to leave. I was thrown out! What would be next? I didn’t know. All I knew was that nothing important could occur unless I had my past cleansed of its negative and destructive elements so that I could complete my journey, Cairo to Cape Town, by finally going to the Southern most tip of Africa (details of this part of the journey will be given in the final stage: Spirituality). Thus, my story structure is based on my visiting/living in Africa from the north to the south.

At that time, deep questions were still lingering in my mind. I chose, I thought, to come back to Africa to share my skills and work at the University of Zimbabwe ... for free! I had contacts in America who were experts on HIV/AIDS, so I would share their information as well on how it could be used effectively, in that land so devastated by that epidemic. I had hoped to spend the last years of my life in Africa - the Heart of Humankind. But instead, I received uncertainty, pain … and anger. How could this happen to one who continued to do good to the needy? What price did I still have to pay?

My main concerns at the time were the following: Where would I go? Where would I want to be? What would I do in order to survive? How would my life be without the land of my birth? These were the most uncertain and unbelievable days of my life. How did it come about? Would this crash open some new and unknown door? Was there some deeper purpose I couldn’t contemplate while under this cloud of pain and uncertainty? If we don’t know where we came from, how can we know where we are going?

I thought that I had come HOME in Zimbabwe. Wrong! The true Safari HOME was destined to take a new, and far more transformational, step. I felt fear for the future. I thought I had security in Africa. Who or what was behind this crash? What is it about Africa that had so often attracted me to this vast continent ... and then to be rejected by it? Were there really evil spirits that needed to be cleansed from my being? What message did they have for the rest of my journey in this lifetime?

Many questions! I hoped to find some answers, not only by cleansing in the Indian Ocean at Cape Town, but also in the process of writing about my Journey and the spiritual process leading to Wholeness that really opened up for me. So, as you read about my life’s journey from Cairo to Cape Town, maybe a new seed will be planted or even nourished for your own life story. Dr. Richard Kimball, the fugitive - on the road again. Stay Tuned!

THEME/SYMBOLOGY - INTEGRATED WHOLENESS

Style of the Book

An autobiography is an attempt at factually reconstructing life’s events. A memoir is an impression of events, the gist of conversation, if not the precise language. Perhaps this is creative non-fiction. A trip down memory lane? Life is a long and winding road. Nothing remains constant but change itself. This is a memoir of an epic journey of finding the true self through a personal awakening.

I have always been curious about other cultures. I am an inquisitive world traveler, as well as sometimes quirky, eccentric, sharp and witty. I am adventurous. I am a participant not just an observer. I am writing for me, my family, friends and to share with others what I have learned. This book is meant to inspire others and to transform their nature.

If it proves to be mean, then get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it is sublime, know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it. – Henry David Thoreau

The style of this presentation is somewhat chronological. It is also geographical in orientation, that is, from north to south in Africa. The stories I tell relate to experiences I had in each location, not only pieces of my life process but also part of my life journey. I hope that each incident will be interesting in itself but also that you, as a participant, will experience the struggle to re-connect the important parts of our human existence that have become fragmented (especially in our Western/technological culture), into a complete, synergic unity - that is, mind, body and spirit coming together as Integrated Wholeness (see chart p.)

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana

I must admit that I have not forgotten most of my past, but I have let go of much of it!

Theme and Symbols

The Paradigm/Metaphor C to C apparently has a long history, especially for the colonizers from Europe from the 16th to 20th centuries (and maybe even for the Egyptians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Arabs over the last 4,000 years). It has symbolized the subjugation and control of both savage people and wild nature. For me, as I now realize, C to C symbolizes the adventure of life, the process of becoming - the transition from doing and producing to just being and enjoying life in a healthy and fulfilling way.

Many Europeans traveled to Africa in the 1800s and 1900s seeking improvement in not only their material conditions and opportunities but also in their minds and bodies. It was a way to get away from the pollution, poor weather and control of others. Would there be a place for me in Africa? I needed to listen to my intellect, heart and even my spirit.

Only now do I realize that I have been on this journey from my earliest days on this planet we call earth - our current home. Having re-connected with some of the books I had about Africa (mostly by Osa and Martin Johnson) that my mother had read to us kids when we were from one to six years old (and very impressionable), and re-thought some other experiences I had (and will relate later), I came to the conclusion that it was either my destiny or a chosen path to journey from C to C. Thus, the metaphor of Cape Town to Cairo, or in my case Cairo to Cape Town, has been the symbol of my life - adventure, travel, journeying, struggle, transformation and ... Africa.

There are also sub-themes in this life process that came to me as I became more aware of the many events that had occurred. When one door closes, another opens, keep a stiff upper lip, trust first and foremost yourself, life is a journey, the individual is more important than society and hang in there are some examples of these more specific life processes that kept me both alive and able to develop in the integration process. However, most of these ideas I discarded when they became a block and hindrance instead of an opening.

It’s at the crossroads that the journey begins. Do all roads lead to the same mountain? We’ll see! The African savannas are the home that gave birth to our species. From the Heart of Humankind we have been shaped, and now we alter the world around us in response. We evolved as a community, and now that drive calls us from the depths of our human nature, and we again shape our world in response. The first humans found security on small, vegetated hills with clear views of the surrounding grasslands.

The Fugitive

Obviously my name, Dr. Richard Kimball, is closely related to that other Dr. Richard Kimble, the famous medical doctor who was all over the television and movie media for a lot of years. The adventures connected to his life journey had some relationship to my life journey. This is why I chose that terminology. Fugitive refers to running away, escaping, or intending flight as well as moving from place to place – wandering. It can also refer to being elusive or difficult to find. You will see which of these meanings refers to me and my life. The first version of the Fugitive was on TV in September 1963 while I was in Uganda. The first movie was in 1993 staring Harrison Ford – the Indiana Jones who I also thought was me. It is interesting that Harrison Ford played both Dr. Richard Kimble, the Fugitive, and Indiana Jones, the adventurous Anthropology professor.

Integrated Wholeness

The Safari (an Arabic word meaning expedition or journey) I refer to in the title, is a process of experiencing, moving on, learning and transition. One psychotherapist I had when I was in training to become a Psychodrama director (see Experiences in Other Countries, p.) once told me that I was a rolling stone that gathered no moss. I was dumbfounded as to his meaning. Now I know. It was not a judgment or criticism but an observation about my life. Gathering no moss does not have to mean having no grounding or stability. The life process of experiencing is a kind of stability. We each have our own lives, aims, goals and directions. To know and acknowledge them is a great step along our road to Integrated Wholeness and fulfillment. Thanks Tom for your insight!

Life is not stable. It is dynamic and on-going. Sometimes it seems out of our control. But, when we know the process that is our life, we can finally rest in the comfort of meaning and direction. We can begin to be. The process that allows one to return to Integrated Wholeness includes both learning and action. Learning may include experiencing nature, other people and cultures, the cosmos and, yes, ourselves. As we interact with this earthly world, we store up a great amount of knowledge, images, feelings and connections. It is these entities that make up ourselves, our material existence. Our actions may include changing behavior as a result of new experiences or reflecting on old ones. To facilitate this process, certain teachers and techniques may be used in aiding, supporting and giving feedback.

For me, the stages (so far) that I have taken in growth during this lifetime have included: Fragmentation, Mind and Intellect Development, Body and Emotional Awareness and Growth, Spiritual Awareness and Integration into Health and Wholeness. My fragmentation began early (as with most of us). It was reinforced by cultural and societal behaviors as well as social values. For most people, institutions such as family, schools, work and government thrive on our fragmentation. The wounded child (often abused or empty of love) sets the stage for further dependency. Discipline in schools sets the stage for industrial, institutional and governmental control. The wounded child then needs material goods to be full-filled thus feeding debt slavery. In so doing, society maintains its control by feeding our created addictions. Individual empowerment and responsibility are not seen as leading to a more creative and sustainable society but as a threat to the old order.

For some such addicts, there is an awakening after a crash. For others there is only death - of the body as well as the mind. At this moment in time, we are all part of this Global Home, and the complex life that has evolved here. We are also physically, historically and cosmologically part of the universe, and perhaps, beyond. Why not re-connect to all that we are? To do so, we need to break through the barriers that seem to limit us. All people have their own conditioning, addictions, biases, beliefs and outlooks that keep them from wholeness, trust and ... love. To reach wholeness in this life, we all need to struggle in our own way to explore and transcend these blocks (some say tests). If one is fortunate enough to have teachers, guides and beneficial support along the way, then the process proceeds consistently. Most of us struggle seemingly without a vision of anything. Is it our karma in this and previous lifetimes? There are no quick fixes in this process. It is a painful challenge.

Sometimes there is a blurring of what are only images and what is reality. Only through our own exploration can truth come to us. It helps to reflect on experiences and try to analyze events, but the final integration comes from the internal and external ahaa moments we often do not control. Remember, each Journey is our own and different from any other. We can gain guidance from others but answers come only from within us.

What is HOME? HOME may be for some people a small apartment or a sprawling ranch. Others may say it is wherever they are or that home is nothing more than a memory. Some of us have never felt at home anywhere. Having a sense of our place in this world is important for most people – a place where we belong and that belongs to us. It can be a physical place or not. Home is created by a state of mind. Many of us long for a spiritual community, a place of security, comfort, peace, healing and hope. It often feels as if we are coming HOME when we find such a place. If we identify with only a certain location or with a specific culture or people, we may feel a sense of isolation or separation. It is during those times that we can be comforted with the knowledge that our true home is not only in the universe, but even beyond. It is an amazing journey that we are all taking, this adventure to our true selves - going home to ourselves and our internal world, from which we create our very experience of all reality.

The following map is a simple view of C to C. It is Egypt -> Sudan -> Uganda -> Tanzania -> Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) -> Malawi -> Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) -> South Africa. These countries both connect and are the ones in which I have spent most of my time in Africa.

Map of Africa

FIRST/EARLIEST CAPE to CAIRO (or Vice Versa)

JOURNEYS - Why?

Historical Background

Individual histories are a celebration of life itself. Sheridan Hill says it well: You can’t know where you are going until you discover where you’ve been – and who was there before you.

To many of those from outside of Africa, it is the dark continent. Dark may refer to the unknown, the unknowable, enigmatic, being dirty, inhabited by primitives, or being a place of fear. All of these views have been exhibited in the writings of the early White and Asian explorers. Remember that there are at least 56 countries (depending on the year and whose politics you adhere to) within the continent considered as Africa including islands such as Cape Verde and Madagascar. Its area is almost three times the size of the United States with a population approaching 900 million! The direct distance from Cairo to Cape Town is about 4,500 miles (7200 km.).

The current cultures within Africa are some of the most diverse in the world. To generalize anything as African is at best a limitation, at worst an insult. Much of Northern Africa is in the so-called Saharan zone, but it is not clear where the boundary is since desertification is rapidly increasing yearly! This general region is now inhabited mostly by Moslems, many of whom historically originated in the Middle East. There are many Blacks also in this area who are either indigenous people, remnants of the Egyptian Old Kingdoms (see historic chart p.) before the invasions from what is now Syria and Iran, slaves brought in later from Nubia (now Sudan), or recent migrants.

Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the Saharan region, is inhabited by both Pastoral and Agricultural peoples. A few traditional Hunter/Gatherers also still exist. An average of 20% of the population (in some countries it is only 5%) now live connected to urban areas and are becoming part of the Western/technological cultures. Over 3,000 languages are still spoken in Africa with Yoruba, Arabic and Bantu off shoots (including Swahili) predominating. With external colonization for over much of the last 3000 years (particularly over the last 500 years), foreign languages such as English, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French have become widespread.

What is an African? Who is an African? These are difficult, if not impossible, questions to answer. If you believe in the Out of Africa (all homo sapiens originated in Africa) premise, then we are all Africans - at least genetically. Why did some of our White ancestors leave our home? Were they kicked out as some researchers speculate? Did they leave for adventure? Greener pastures? So far, the information we have is little, and the speculations are many. In this sense, Africa is still the dark continent because its true history is mostly unknown.

There is nothing inferior about Africa. The use of terms such as savage, simple minded, dim-witted, uncivilized, primitive, inferior, dirty, vermin, sub-human and brutal beasts by outsiders, usually people of European origin, stems from their own fears and insecurities as well as interests in really dominating rather than understanding these cultures. These biases also come from a need to justify control and colonization and the Muslimizing, Christianizing and Civilizing by missionaries, armies, farmers, resource exploiters, slavers and other traders. Was the exploitation by Arabs and Europeans revenge for possibly being thrown out many millennia ago? Was it due to the genetically more aggressive who left because they could not fit in to traditional, group-oriented cultures and then returning to teach their ancestors a lesson? Prove their superiority? We may never know. All we do know is that Africa may be the home of all humans, and we have a lot to learn from it.

Africa is humanity’s Heart. Whites are not superior or more advanced as many believed. We have a shared origin, history and biology. Some early agriculture, architecture and technology came from Egypt. The Greek and Roman Empires used some African culture and resources in their development. Europe benefited from the creation and development, especially science, from West and North Africa under the Arabs. Most of their gold came from Africa. Swahili traders from the east coast brought a lot of raw materials, such as metals and ivory, to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Foods, such as bananas, coffee, cocoa, black-eyed peas, yams, sorghum, millet, kola nuts and watermelons came from Africa.

Canoes were invented in Niger 8000 years ago. What about coins? Probably also from Africa. Textiles, riding horses, political systems, forging and smelting metals (iron, copper, tin and gold), slavery, wheeled carts and, yes, cave paintings all came from Africa. Arab dhows traded with China, the Middle East and India before Europe. Early cites were found in Egypt, Benin, Mali, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Congo. Pottery, weaving and dyed textiles were found in West Africa. A lot of this technology stopped after the Portuguese, and later the other Europeans, destroyed their manufacturing facilities. Agriculture was developed 9000 years ago in North Africa. There were many Nation States in most of Africa before they were developed in Europe.

Africans were not fully human in the eyes of the Christian missionaries and European colonialist/traders. They also believed that Africans could not have produced a civilization on their own. Most Europeans were not open to other cultures, languages and so forth. There was always repression and control by Europeans – as well as rebellion. Some Colonialists hoped to civilize the locals through education. During 1884 – 1885 Europeans divided up Africa into sections controlled by foreign countries without any input from Africans! Selfish exploiters! Was that part of Christian teachings?

WWII exhausted Europe resulting in Independence movements following Ghandi in India. These political movements erupted throughout the world through revolution, overthrowing the capitalists, peasants against urbanites, USSR/China Marxism, ethnic power, Black empowerment, liberation of minds and some democracy. Their leaders included Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana (1957) and later Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyrere and others. They were mainly for revolutionary nationalism and economic freedom from exploitation. Did they have the skills to form and maintain such governments? Would they become new autocrats? Create a new form of alienation? Can wars be for positive development or only for power? Would Africans form their own kind of communities? A new European-like model? Reduce unemployment? What about educated people? Poverty? Skills? Should they keep the Whites? Control? Debt? Doctors? Churches? Population control? Foreign aid? As it turned out, they usually had enough resources but also groundless optimism. Warlords and coups began to dominate.

Some leaders were put in control by their colonial masters. Fragmentation led to even more dependency on the capitalists. What model should they follow? Would the farmers benefit? In Zimbabwe ignorant peasants took over large farms, and they failed! Would there be new colonialists such as the Chinese? Could they break with history and jump from primitive to socialist without going through other stages? Multi-party states? Indigenous self-development? A new Feudalism? New revolutions? Was there any basis for optimism? A new battleground for superpowers? New exploiters of the locals? Too many people? Some of these questions will be answered as you explore the countries connecting C to C.

First Travelers From C to C - The Origins of Cairo to Cape Town Journeys

What was the first ship to go the distance? Was it the Phoenicians? It is said that they circumnavigated Africa in around 600 BCE. It took three years and they made many stops along the way! They went down the East coast and then up the West coast to enter the Mediterranean Sea and return to the Levant area. They sought wealth such as gold, ivory and other treasures.

Who were the first land travelers to transverse Africa from south to north or north to south? Did Egyptians who traded with areas now known as Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo also travel further south? Did the Bantu peoples, or others, migrating from West Africa to the south (and then into Central and East Africa) continue north to Egypt some 2000 years ago? Did any Greeks or Carthaginians travel as far as the Cape of Good Hope. Could the first person to transit Africa have been an Arab trader? They traveled widely and seasonally by water from Cairo (and areas of the Middle East) to East Africa. Could they have continued to the South? Could they have gone by land?

From the 15th century onward, adventurers and explorers from Europe have continuously tried to penetrate what seemed a closed continent. Some were motivated by self interest while others by power, fame, money, gold and greed. Others had curiosity in finding some lost or unknown tribes, saving the heathen and down trodden of the earth as well as experiencing the adventure of exploration.

Bartholomeu Dias arrived at or near the southern tip of Africa by ship in 1488. He did not continue his journey. When Vasco de Gama traveled by sea around the Cape of Good Hope in November of 1497, looking for a sea trade-route to Asia, the traversing of Africa from north to south and onward was recorded for the first time in Western literature. The Portuguese were involved in exploiting people, minerals and other resources throughout Africa from before that time until the twentieth century. Did some of their soldiers, traders, missionaries, or government officers transit the continent by land? The Portuguese, like the Arabs, kept incomplete records of their exploits so we do not know for sure. For the Germans and the British, it was the drive to find the source of the Nile, and other places, as well as to civilize the heathen and control the world that motivated them.

Dutch traders and settlers seeking the New Holy Land of freedom and opportunity disembarked in southern Africa near what is now Cape Town in 1652. At first, they were welcomed as the great water spirits coming to give the Zulus and Xhosa new life. Only later did some tribes kill all of their own cattle as a sacrifice in hopes that this White vermin would leave. This example of devastation was only the beginning! Settlers killed the local Kung! San, Hottentot and other hunter-gatherers as black vermin in order to take over their territory. The Afrikaans language and culture, based on Dutch, German and French, would develop from this not-so-auspicious beginning.

C to C became the historical major highway of the British Empire in Africa. It was supposed to be the best way to transect the continent. But, there were vast deserts, incredible rainforests, large rivers, wild animals, competitive tribes and other cultures in the way!

The dream-metaphor of Cairo to Cape Town developed in England in the 1870s by Edwin Arnold, who worked for the London Daily Telegraph newspaper. He, along with the quintessential colonialist-exploiter Cecil Rhodes, hoped to build a telegraph line and a railway linking the Indian Ocean at Cape Town in what is now the Republic of South Africa to Cairo in Egypt. This was the so-called Red Line referring to the consistent, and indeed widespread, color on the world maps which highlighted British Colonies.

The telegraph began in Egypt in the 1840s and Cape Town in 1875. Step by step, with delays due to local Sudanese insurrections and the Boer War in South Africa, the two lines transected the continent, finally meeting in Elizabethville in the then Belgian Congo in 1905. Could some worker on this project have traversed the whole route?

Some British journalists in the 1880s mentioned it. Cecil Rhodes picked up on it and reported, I want only one thing. To see all the lands from Cape Town to Cairo painted in British red. There was even a plan for a great transcontinental railway as a part of Cecil Rhodes’s imperial vision for Africa. It would go from Cape Town through Nairobi, Khartoum, Addis Ababa to Cairo - along the line of copper, gold, ivory and other riches. The C to C railway also had a history complementary to the telegraph line, but it was never completed. Barriers such as the Sudd (a large, swampy zone along the Nile river in southern Sudan) and turmoil (mostly political in northeastern Congo) blocked this dream from happening. Even road travel was virtually impossible through the Sudd. There are now only short rail lines from Mombassa to Kampala and Cape Town to Dar es Salaam, through what is now Zimbabwe and Zambia, as well as Cairo to the middle of Egypt. Rhodes was the arch imperialist!

According to some British history, in 1898 a soldier serving Queen Victoria (this was not an official journey but a private one), Ewart Grogan, and his friend Arthur Sharp, along with several un-named Black Africans, were the first ones credited with walking the C to C route. Well, they did not walk the whole way. They often used boats, camels and other means of transport. Actually, they started in Beira in Mozambique and not Cape Town! Grogan had walked much of the distance from Cape Town to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) on another occasion so, in a way, he did travel most of the C to C route, but at different times. Sharp did not complete the journey with Grogan. They certainly succeeded in a memorable, two-year odyssey but did not qualify as transiting the whole route in one complete passage. A sample of their impressions, opinions and biases quoted in the book An African Adventure is as follows:

With loving care I loaded the double 500 magnum, and crept cautiously in the direction indicated. When I had advanced about one hundred yards, two heads suddenly appeared above the intervening grass, and to my mad joy I dropped them with a right and left. At the same instant, I saw a body dash past the scrub on the ant-hill where they had been lying, and popping in another double-barrel, he spun round and came rolling down the slope, a loathsome mangy hyena. Ye gods! Never shall I forget that moment! Then a fourth dashed past, and, mad with rage, I spoiled his sedentary capabilities as he plunged into the grass. Then I sat down on that ant-hill and looked at them lying there, my three lionesses in the guise of disgusting grinning hyenas, while the tears coursed slowly down my cheeks. (p. 15)

Ewart Grogan, was a disciple of Rhodes, and a crusader for the White Cause. His purpose was opening up Africa. He said he gunned down thousands of animals and found many cannibals. All lies! Is it any wonder that many Black Africans have a deep reserve of rage towards such arrogant Whites, even today? More about this topic will be discussed in subsequent sections.

So far, the first officially recognized direct walk from C to C was from September 8, 1928 to December 21, 1929, fifteen and a half months and 7628 miles (12,200 km). It was accomplished by an Australian, Ronald Monson. He used a few porters from time to time to carry some goods, but managed to survive, relatively intact, the unbelievable traumas of walking the whole distance.

The first attempt to traverse Africa by car was in 1913. The expedition was halted in Southern Rhodesia when the driver was killed by a leopard. From 1924 to 1926, two British citizens, Major Chaplin and Mrs. Stella Court Treatt, drove much of the way from Cape Town to Cairo. The total length of their journey was probably over 7,000 miles (11,200 km.). Incidentally, the straight line distance from C to C is approximately 4,450 miles (7050 km.). This journey by car took sixteen tortuous months! They needed a huge support system to supply them, especially with gasoline. The planning alone took eight months! The two vehicles they took were Crossleys, the equivalent of today’s pick-up trucks. Eight Europeans were included in the core group. Many Africans were hired along the way for the various tasks that needed doing, from domestic chores to clearing/creating a roadway and crossing rivers. Detours and diversions were inevitable!

The Treatts were bitten by the lure of Africa. As Stella wrote, Always deep down in my heart at least, there had been a longing to do something different from the ordinary things of civilized life, and that is why this adventure appealed to me right from the start (p. 12, Cape to Cairo: The Record of a Historic Motor Journey). So, from September 25, 1924 to January 24, 1926, this stout-hearted group struggled, sometimes only five to six miles (about 8 kms) a day, to meet their dream. Major Treatt had helped to build some of the first Aerodromes in Sub-Saharan Africa during his military service, so he had some experience there and was certainly familiar with vehicle mechanics. For Stella, it was a completely new adventure.

In 1920 the British government, along with the Daily Mail newspaper, offered a reward for the first aviator to reach Cape Town from Cairo. Five teams accepted the challenge but all failed in their original airplanes.

The first of these attempts took place on February 4th. Two South Africans, Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Van Ryneveld and Major Quintin Brand, flew a Vickers Vimy biplane named the Silver Queen. First, they left London but crashed in Wadi Halfa, Sudan. They got another airplane and begun again in Cairo on the 22nd. On February 27th, they crashed in Tabora, Tanganyika. Another new airplane was found for them, but they crashed again in Bulawayo, in Southern Rhodesia. By March 17th another airplane was found, and they arrived in Cape Town on March 20th. All told, they flew for 45 days for 109 hours of flight time. They didn’t win the contest, but they did complete the whole route.

The first truly successful airplane trip was done by a flying boat in 1925. Sir Alan Cobban and his wife flew 20,000 miles (32,000 km.) across and around Africa, including the C to C route, to determine the feasibility of African transcontinental commercial flights. As a result of their survey, the first commercial flights actually began in 1936. Imagine being only able to land on calm water! What planning was needed to have gasoline and other supplies available at that time! Osa and Martin Johnson (early heroes of mine), after many years photographing peoples and animals in East and Central Africa, made part of the Cape Town to Cairo route (indirectly) in 1933 by air.

As you will see in the Third Stage of my journey, how distorted their views were of places like Great Zimbabwe and the local Shona people. Their Euro-centrism and beliefs reflecting their times lace some of the quotations found in Appendix I.

As time went on, some of the White colonialists began to be more patronizing and paternalistic rather than just fearful and antagonistic. Africans became noble savages having some value. But predominantly, both fear and ignorance, as well as greed, was behind much of the behavior of the colonial powers. Their insensitive and haughty behavior led to a greater rift between these cultures than the Rift Valley in East Africa.

The first Americans to attempt the C to C adventure were Felix Shay and his wife Porter in 1923. On somewhat of a whim, while they were traveling through Asia on an odyssey that had taken them to many parts of the world, they decided to go to Cairo and hence continue on to Cape Town. This was done without any previous planning. They just made their way step by step so to speak. After 135 days of travel by walking, riding camels and donkeys, taking boats and trains, they arrived in Cape Town with stunning photos which were printed in the February 1925 issue of National Geographic Magazine. To give an impression of their viewpoints at that time, the following quotation from the Geographic can suffice:

The Negroes were genuine savages; they wore feathers in their hair and rings in their noses. ... These savages go almost completely exposed to weather and sun. The human form divine is a creation of civilized man. Savage people may have strong, sturdy bodies, but rarely beautiful bodies, according to our standards. All of them had slightly bowed legs. ... Some years ago a cannibal tribe swooped down on the then peaceable Bari, killed the men, and ate most of the young children. (p. 192)

As you can see, Americans were also not immune from extreme distortions ... and biases. Another American excursion of adventure was attempted from June 30, 1959 to February 19, 1960 (221 days) by road. This one was the first group to travel with house trailers or caravans and were members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club. Over 100 people of all ages in about 40 trailers made the journey, under still grueling conditions, most of the way.

As the reader can see from the above, both the walking and vehicle journeys over the years were increasingly less dependent on local peoples for the survival of the traveler. With more reliable roads, travel was faster and provided more of a distance from the Africans. However, even with less of a political reason for the journey, most such travelers still did not realize the necessity of cultural sensitivity. Learning the language, behavior and history of people in whose area one is a guest is an important basis for gaining true knowledge and having successful travel. When you do not know something, fear and defense are natural reactions. Also, knowing your own biases, and controlling them, is important when interacting responsibly with other people in an open and non-dominant way. Even today’s visitors still have a lot to learn!

From David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley, to Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke in the 19th century, explorers have often been intrigued by this seemingly unknown region of the world. They were pioneers who sought fame, fortune and … the undiscovered. Even today, the lure of wildlife and risk entices many to seek adventure in Africa. For some responsible visitors, after overcoming their initial fears, this vast continent sometimes becomes, to use the words of Carl Akley (who worked at the Natural History Museum and was a colleague of Osa and Martin Johnson): Brightest Africa.

So, who was really the first person to travel from C to C? Was it a woman? A man? We will probably never know. As a result of learning about the above journeys, I decided to use the C to C metaphor to represent my life’s adventure and struggle … but also, my transitions and transformations. All the outsiders who went to Africa did it, consciously or unconsciously, for some or all of the above reasons. So did I, even though I did not know it at the time. When I began to piece together my history in Africa, I realized that I had been part of the C to C process from my earliest days. Inadvertently, as I will disclose later, I was also part of this Journey throughout the rest of my life. It is for this reason I use C to C as a means to both explore and share with you my Transformation Journey to Wholeness.

A BRIEF AUTOBIOGRAPHY – Before Africa

I was created

I returned from primal energy.

I came from transformed matter.

I was released from the womb.

I carried a history.

Where will I go?

When?

How?

Why?

In this life,

On this planet,

I will find out!

An Introductory Note

Being on the run is a kind of spiritual rite of passage. How am I to live my life? What calling? What purpose and meaning? Anyone who thinks they are too small to make a difference has never been bitten by a mosquito! I traveled all over the world, but C to C is the most relevant symbol for my life of inquiry. I have visited over 105 countries on this earth. I have lived in the following fifteen for over three months: China, Taiwan, Colombia, Mexico, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany, England, USA, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt and Japan. Far away places with strange sounding names? Some of them I have explored and lived in for over three years.

The inspiration for writing this book is to share with others some insights and possibilities. My aim has always been to learn and teach others in this lifetime, to energize the readers consciousness. This is the romance of the quest.

Pre-Africa

This is a grandeur in the reverence for life, with its special power having been originally breathed into a few life-forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms more beautiful and more wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. - Charles Darwin

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to confront all of the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach. - Henry David Thoreau

Why should we live in such a hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry. I wish to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. I wish to learn what life has to teach, and not, when I come to die, discover that I have not lived. I do not wish to live what is not life, living is so dear, nor do I wish to practice resignation, unless it is quite necessary. - Henry David Thoreau

Remember that the outer journey is also always an inner journey. I really dwelled in every place described, not just visited or lived there. I am going to tell my story in order to know my purpose in life, as well as the essence of the lives of others. Overall, I had faced confinement so wanted to have breakthroughs.

November 9, 1939

My Life Book – page by page.

What a day?

What a time! (8:02 am)

Pain? As usual.

A new one –

But, not really wanted!

Do you know the way to San Jose?

BORN! Again? I left one home – the deep spiritual connection – on November 9, 1939 at 8:02 a.m., a Scorpio – a willful, stubborn, non-conformist - as inpatient as they come. I was the second boy in the Kimball family, and my sister Claudia would come into this world five years later. My first new home, at least in this lifetime, was is California, USA.

The Fugitive as a Two Year Old

I was pushed out of the confines of my mother’s womb in San Jose, and then I went off to nearby Willow Glen. This event of little consequence occurred at a time before the orchard-studded Santa Clara Valley was transformed into the heart of materialist technology now known as Silicon Valley.

The true parent gives its children roots and wings. - Dr. Jonas Salk

My parents both had their own views about creating what they thought was a good image in society. Pauline Jacob Kimball, my mother (of half German and half English heritage), was educated as a nurse (she had several doctors as relatives) and did not want to be a teacher – the only two professional roles easily open to women at the time. She was a first born and strong willed. Also, she had the proclivity to control everyone! I was an exception. I couldn’t be controlled by anyone! I was called strong willed and rebellious, but that was my basic nature. After all, shouldn’t all Americans be the ancestors of rebels? This was the place of refuge for all those protesters. Actually, outwardly, I was usually calm and quiet. The price I paid, and the responsibility I later had to accept, was that for this, and maybe other reasons, my mother would rarely show affection or love for me

Willard Winans Kimball, my father (of strong English stock), hardly finished high school but was well connected in society since his mother was the Society Editor for the San Jose Mercury newspaper. He had been a wheeler-dealer most of his life – from radio sports announcer to house construction company owner (he created the house we lived in at the time) to running a three-story apartment house he bought in downtown San Jose. He was such a talker that someone said that he could sell a newspaper to a blind man. His level of intellect was confined to constantly listening to the radio reports on World War II and discussing what he found out at length on the telephone with is friends. He had many dreams and ambitions that were never fulfilled.

Mother and Father in the Late 1930s

Mother with Two Dogs in 1960

I later learned that a functional family is one that talks together, plays together, prays together, explores together and cares together. Was mine dis-functional? A healthy family is one of positive synergy. Children are not for their parents to own and use. They are bodies of the spirit to care for and share with! My parents wanted a second child – a girl! But, they got me instead!

My first name, Richard, is of German origin. Kimball has an Anglo-Saxon root. The Kimballs came from mainland Europe prior to the conquest of England. At that time, they were Cyne-beald, derived from the old Welsh word cynbel which means chief. Since bel meant war, a Kimball is a warrior. From the Middle English, the name Kimbel has a variant in Kimble. Richard in Anglo-Saxon meaning Leader of the Warriors and in German means Strong Ruler. Was this to be my future? I got my middle name Laurance from my father’s father. It is a variation of Lawrence which comes from Laurentum named after a city south of Rome in Italy. A popular saint brought Lawrence to Britain with the Norman conquest. Most of my other ancestors came from both France and Germany. My mother’s side was from Alsace-Lorraine. But, of course, we are really all Africans!

Mother and Both Boys in Yosemite National Park

As a middle child, and a second-born, I was destined to probably be a compromiser and negotiator. I would be the silent rebel against the family’s values and have a dream of being catapulted to greatness. In reality I was reticent and part of the woodwork until I was finally given a position of command. Being frequently bypassed and