Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Orien Lee Johnston described her Cortes Island book launch, on August 4, in the Cortes Museum’s Heritage Garden, as a perfect fulfillment.
“There we are in the heritage garden of Cortez museum and archives. I counted afterwards probably more than 65 people were there and I'm standing there looking out at my friends and neighbours who are happily attentive and all smiling felt wonderful,” she said.
“Now I know what performers feel like. We were a bit of a performance because Paul Kahn played in mbira to begin, oo to bring in the ambience of Zimbabwe. Mbira is the musical instrument of Zimbabwe. Then Priya Huffman read an elephant poem related to a scene I read about elephants. Zach Sukuweh played his didgeridoo exactly like the elephant. It was fantastic! My son Devin told some stories from the time that he joined me over there to see what life was like.”
Johnston’s book, ‘The Geography of Belonging: A Love Story’ was published by Cortes Island’s own Salmonberry Arts and Publishing in July.
Ann Mortiffee wrote in the preface, “"Having been born in Southern Africa, I love The Geography of Belonging, travelling in my imagination with Oriane Lee Johnston on her amazing journey with Zimbabwe. She opens us to many questions about class, race, nature and the courage to follow love beyond our comfort level in order to discover the heart of another culture. The svikiro, a spiritual medium of the Shona people, said to her: 'To see our traditional ways kept alive with your interest and your writing. That is what you can give us.' Oriane Lee has indeed given that gift to all of us."
The week before our interview, Johnston did a book reading at Nhemamusasa North, a Zimbabwean music festival on Vancouver Island.
“Everyone there was interested in Zimbabwe, so it was super fun!” she exclaimed.
In September Johnston will do a book launch at the Fortune Gallery in Victoria.
“My book is now available at Monroe bookstore, the iconic bookstore in Victoria that is around the corner from my grandfather’s apparel store, that he had there in the 1940s and 50s,” she explained.
“I'll be doing a podcast interview with Banyen Books founder/owner, Kolin Lymworth, Who's a dear friend in a share giver at Hollyhock. The publications in which I've published excerpts from the story, as it was in process, they will also do reviews or interviews.”
Johnston said she never imagined she would fall in love with Africa, in a country that had once been the breadbasket of the continent. She described the collapse of the agricultural economy as Robert Mugabe’s grip on power tightened - but that is not what her book is about.
During her second or third visit she asked, ‘What could I do as one foreign visitor?’
“To a person my Zimbabwean friends - whether they were Shona, White, Tonga or Ndebele - said, ‘Show the world what the news media does not. That our country is beautiful, our people are generous and happy. Our culture is rich and alive.’”
Johnston takes the reader beyond the typical stories of corruption, poverty and a devastated economy presented by the media.
Her story began during a three month volunteer experince with a ‘horseback riding safari. The Genesis of her book is a daily record of what happened.
“The last week I went on a wildlife safari on horseback in the wilderness of Zimbabwe. That week absolutely changed everything about me, about my life, falling in love with Africa, finding perhaps a person that would draw me back there. Being under those stars, sleeping on the ground, riding 30 kilometers a day does something to your body and your mind just falls open,” she said.
“Can you imagine being on a horse coming up close to giraffes and elephants? The horses are trained so well to override their instincts as prey and to listen to what their rider is asking. So there we are, standing there in the pulse of the wild.”
That is where she met Stephen Hambani.
