MAURITIUS

READ

If you’re like me, you probably know very little about the Republic of Mauritius, an island nation located in the Indian Ocean. During the past several centuries, it was controlled at various times by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the British before finally gaining its independence in 1968. The Last Brother, written by Nathacha Appanah and translated by Geoffrey Strachan, describes a period during World War II, when Mauritius was under the rule of the British.

The book’s narrator is Raj, who is about seventy years old. He is a widower with a grown son. Raj asks his son to drive him to a nearby village so he can visit the cemetery. The grave he visits bears this inscription on the headstone: “David Stein 1935 – 1945.” Raj cleans the headstone and leaves a little red box containing a Star of David on the grave.

Raj recounts his childhood in the town of Mapou, where the sugar cane factory is the dominant presence. His father, a drunken brute, works in the sugar cane fields and his beloved mother works in the home of one of the factory’s bosses. Raj has an older brother, Anil, and a younger brother, Vinod, and the three boys are very close. A sudden and devastating storm brings great tragedy to the family, resulting in a move to the town of Beau-Bassin. There, Raj’s father takes a job as a prison guard.

Raj takes lunch to his father at the prison every day, and then hides in the bushes to see what goes on there. He is shocked to see a line of white people – men, women, and children – “…very thin, dragging their feet in silence, slowly following the dirt footpath, then spreading out across the compound.” A young boy about the same age as Raj moves away from the group and begins walking in the direction where Raj is hiding. The boy sees Raj too, and that is the beginning of their friendship.

Sometime later, Raj’s father beats him so badly that he must be cared for in the prison hospital, and the friendship between Raj and the boy – David – blossoms. David is in the hospital because he has malaria. The boys manage to sneak out of the hospital at night and play on the prison grounds, conversing as best they can in French, since neither speaks the language of the other. Raj learns that David is from Prague, both of his parents are dead, and he and the other people in the prison are Jews waiting for a ship to come and take them to Eretz – Israel.

Raj knows nothing of World War II, and it isn’t until much later in his life that he learns the sad story of the Jews who had managed to escape from Europe and make their way to Palestine, only to be turned away by the British and interned at the Beau-Bassin prison.

The Last Brother is a heartbreaking story, made even more poignant by the narrator’s regrets and grief, still fresh sixty years after he first met David. I will not soon forget these characters and their touching story.

COOK

After the trouble I had finding a dish to make for my post about Mauritania, Mauritius was a huge relief. According to Wikipedia, “Mauritian cuisine is a blend of African, Chinese, European (mostly French) and Indian influences in the history of Mauritius.” I found so many vegan or veganizable Mauritian recipes that it was hard to decide which one to attempt. I finally chose the Mushroom, Corn, and Cashew Curry recipe on the Mauritian Cuisine website.

This recipe was easy to make, and, aside from the fact that it was a little on the bland side, I was happy with the way it turned out. There was one ingredient – asafetida – that I didn’t have in my spice cupboard, but I was able to find it at an Indian market not too far from my house.

GIVE

A little over two years ago, the Japanese carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the coast of Mauritius and began leaking oil. Ile aux Aigrettes, a nature reserve managed by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, was adversely impacted by the 800 tons of oil that spilled into its lagoon.

I found a project on the GlobalGiving website that allowed me to donate to the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to help them monitor “the populations of plants, birds, reptiles and insects” that might have been affected by this spill. According to the project description: “The project will restore the ecosystem of Ile aux Aigrettes, an island nature reserve, home to endangered endemic plants and animals. Every year the islet welcomes 4,000 school children on a Learning with Nature tour, and another 15,000 tourists and visitors, making it a well sought after, unique and true ecotour experience. Maintaining such plant and animal populations also protects these species from extinction.”

More information about this project is available at Wakashio Recovery Action Plan - GlobalGiving.

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