White Hands by Jane Katjavivi (Namibia)

The short story written by a former bookseller and publisher Jane Katjavivi reveals some of the evils perpetrated by the white regime in Namibia in the colonial era. The story revolves around Angelika the main character a grown woman studying in England ( Birmingham) on a scholarship offered by her church back home. Having led a childless marriage, she decides to visit a hospital in Birmingham and find out the reason for her barrenness. The results of her medical checkup reveals a shocking revelation of what she went through in the hands of white colonial soldiers decades back when she was taken ill and had an operation to remove her appendix. It is revealed that the white government conspired to have black Namibian women sterilized for reasons known to themselves. Although Angelika is happy that her situation is changed and through an operation her problem is rectified and she's able to have a baby, she feels very sad for the other countless women who went through the same ordeal and are now living childless lives without the knowledge of what was done to them. The story gives us an insight of how a system can be so evil as to conspire to maim the lives of innocent people.