Linda Smith Inspiration

The African Fish Eagle with its white head and tail, dark brown body and blue-black wings is the very essence of this part of Africa and is the National Emblem of Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and is depicted on the National Flag.
The Cry of the Fish Eagle is known as the Voice of Africa. The Eagle represents the Great Spirit, and is an auspicious and noble totem, especially for those who would lead.

On review I realise that my life was divided into two distinct and separate sections.

The best part was my childhood in Central Africa. I grew up in the real Africa, the raw, wild and beautiful Africa, the Africa romanced in the minds of those day-dreaming about adventure. That Africa flows through my veins and my heart beats in rhythm with her pulse.

I was born in a town just outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, of which I have little recall. Most of my memories start when I was three and a half years old travelling up north by steam train. The train puffed through the spray of the Victoria Falls and headed on in the direction of the Congo. After four days we arrived in Mufulira, a Copperbelt town in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) situated on the edge of the Congo pedicle.

On Copperbelt towns, the Africans outnumbered the Europeans by many thousands. Over weekends the glittering night sky was filled with the rhythmic tribal thumping of skin drums made from hollowed logs. When the drumming stopped, the night pulsed with silence. Those were the days when the strains of ‘In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight’, regularly came over the radio and I felt the thrill and exuberance of living in Central Africa.

I was a sixties kid, part of the baby-boomer generation that had come of age when the world’s youth was bursting with creativity. It was an era of colourful clothing, good music and the good vibrations of the sixties flower-power generation with higher aspirations of bringing peace to the world.

When I had completed my formal education I returned to South Africa where the next part of my life began. It was here that I served my apprenticeship in the School of Hard Knocks.

I underwent a series of experiences that left me longing evermore deeply to be back in the land of my heart. I saw ‘the system’ for it is. I learned many lessons, each being a gift, a key to gaining the insights that enabled me to claim my life’s freedom and live authentically.

My soul yearned for me to wonder alone along hillside paths seeking solace, longing to soar over cliffs and seas like an albatross, all in the hope of freeing my mind from the confines of indoctrination. I longed to discover the very secrets of the wind and eventually found the key to alchemy; that transformation leads to miracles.

During a ‘bone throwing’ ceremony with Dr Credo Mutwa, the great Sangoma (shaman) it was decreed that I was to write a book to share my wisdom with the youth and to tell the truth about ‘those old countries’.

Writing and speaking has been the blossoming of my life’s purpose. It has been my privilege to share my life’s experiences in my first book Returning to Myself (Fish Eagle Books) available from this website or as an e-book.

My second book, The Voice of Reason; Political Insights – a collection of articles that have been published in all major media in South Africa and further afield. These offer higher and better alternatives to political governance. Available as an e-book or hardcopy from Amazon.com.

My third, The Art of Being a Divine Human, Inspirational Insights – a set of books that offers the insights that delve deep into human experiences. These too, are available as a hardcopy or e-books from Amazon.com

My wish for humanity is that each person heeds the call of the beat of their own drum, that it may lead them back to their Essential Self.

Linda Smith

Author, Journalist, Inspirational Speaker – Durban, South Africa

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