Missionary Daddy

9780373874446_PL.inddExtracted 1 threads from 9780373874446-exw.PDFUntitled Article 01: UntitledOne year ago, Africa oeIm going. Either with you or alone, but Im going. A determined Samantha Harcourt ignored her drivers coming protest and slipped into the back seat of the tiny European car. After three days on the South African coast, shed seen nothing but the posh resort hotels along the ruggedly beautiful beaches. The real Africa was out there somewhere and she aimed to see it. Today. Alfred, the ebony-faced driver, had driven her and the other models around the private beach areas rented bySports Stuff Magazinefor their annual swimsuit edition, but no one else had requested to go beyond the tourist areas. Even now, with the modeling shoot about to wrap and go back to America, the other models lounged on the white sand beaches, uninterested in the rest of the country. oeI may only be here once, Alfred. Please. I want to see the real Africa. The man sat like a stone at the wheel. oeI was instructed not to take you there, he said, his accent an interesting mix of African dialect and clipped British tones. Sam sighed and peeled off a hundred-rand note, offering it without further comment. Alfred shook his head but took the money and cranked the engine. Satisfied, Samantha sat back to enjoy the scenery, digital camera at ready. She wasnt sure what to expect. Her life as a fashion model had taken her around the world and to many diverse places, but this was her first trip to Africa. oeDo you know a market where I can buy a cere- monial mask? She collected masks of all kinds and would love one from this continent. Alfreds dark eyes flashed in the mirror. oeI will get you a mask. The markets arent safe for tourists. Sam figured that was the best she could hope for. oeId appreciate that, Alfred. Thank you. oeWe go back now. Yeah. Shed been warned that the crime rate was high in some areas, but oeI want to see where the everyday people of Africa live. Alfreds wrinkled brow deepened to cornrows, but he drove on. Within ten minutes, she understood his reluc- tance. Wealthy mansions gave way to shanties makeshift dwellings patched together with card- board, tin, bricks and a hodgepodge of found mate- rials. Poverty, astonishing and terrible, spread out in a wide swath. Bony children played in the unending dirt with sticks and rocks. Adolescent girls carried water from muddy ponds while women hung meager laundry across strips of bowing rope or string. It was a scene of inexpressible squalor. A deep sense of shame shifted over Sam, so profound that her stomach rolled. All shed ever done was pose for a camera and look pretty. In her entire life, shed done nothing that mattered. Yet she had so much, and these people had so little. oeWe go back now? Yeah, Alfred said again. Sam turned horrified eyes to him. oeNo. KGoodnight, Linda is the author of 'Missionary Daddy ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373874446 and ISBN 0373874448.