"Fiela’s Child" by Dalene Matthee

Fiela’s Youngster is a fiction novel by South African writer Dalene Matthee. The narrative is set in the forests of Knysna, South Africa. This novel follows the story of Fiela Komoetie and her household. Fiela is a black South African, and every day she perform difficult to give for her family, attending to her farm, and watch more than her ostriches. Back in the late 1800’s, getting your personal farm was a huge deal for a black South African. Because of her husband’s unstableness and sickness, Fiela appears after the farm and her 4 children: Kittie, Dawid, Emma, and Tollie Komoetie.

One evening, Fiela finds a crying 3 year old toddler, who is white, on her doorstep. From the child’s appearances, it seems as if he has been abandoned and far away from residence. Though her hands are filled with everyday activities and offering for her own household, Fiela requires the kid in, and for nine years, she raises the child, whom she names Benjamin Komoetie, as 1 of her personal young children. Life was going nicely for the Komoetie family members until the census came over and took Benjamin from them. Being aware of that this day would one particular day come, Fiela fought for Benjamin but was unsuccessful. Benjamin was then taken to an illiterate white household of nearby woodcutters named the Van-Rooyens. Possessing to adjust to his new atmosphere and the new name, Lukas Van Rooyen, brought on him to try and accept his new identity altogether. Into this mix of attempting to discover his identity, Benjamin finds that he has also gained feelings for Nina, a lovely girl who may be his sister if the Van Rooyen’s are his genuine family. In the end, Benjamin is unable to accept this change of living in the forest and adopting to his identity, consequently he sets out to escape his confinement in the white society.

His journey and the consequences of his actions are unimportant to Benjamin, who longs for absolutely nothing far more than the freedom of self producing decisions. More than freedom, Benjamin longs for his mother Fiela, the person who has raised him for nine years and who has shown him a distinctive way of approaching the globe. Throughout this novel,