Fireflies

This story, Eldflugorna, was fist published in Sweden in 1964. The young man Tom Mawe from Dar es Salaam is drilling wells to find water in the small villages of Sukumaland together with his boss, the cynical but good-hearted Englishman Colin Macpherson. Out there Tom meets the young Phebe Togire. She is a well-educated radical and hardworking rebel against the old African society, burning for a modern development of her country.

Phebe and Tom are helplessly falling in love. But Phebe becomes a victim of the old traditions that she is fighting; she is raped by chief George who is head of the district and she is giving birth to his child.

Tom returns from his studies in England, and he is helping Phebe to start a process to overturn old tribal customs and replace them with modern legislation. Which lead to a crescendo where Phebe is just about losing her life.

These dramatic events take place during the short time when the young state Tanganyika, later Tanzania, is created and is getting its first president Julius Nyerere. For those who were present at that time, or for those whose parents were a part of this revolutionizing development, the story about Tom & Phebe is an interesting time document, giving an illuminating background to what this area has become today.

The language of the translation is adjusted to possess the phrasal idiom of traditional eastern African English.

Welcome to the world of Tom and Phebe!