T
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he story of Shaka is unique, as
seen through his perceptual prism, but is not markedly different, in recalling
his life, from that of the childhood of thousands of Jamaican children who grew
up in the land of 'wood and water' throughout the 184 year period since the
1833 Slavery Abolition Act, which set in motion the process of freeing his
ancestors from slavery.
S
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haka's forebears were indeed
brought to the famous and, for the native Taino Indians who were the island's
first inhabitants, and the African slaves who replaced them, infamous Island of
Xamaica, later becoming known as Jamaica, from Africa. It is unlikely that
Shaka's blood-line or lineage, were he to trace it, would take him back to the
famous and indubitably courageous Maroons of Jamaica, who were the first slaves
brought to the Island by its first European colonisers, the Spaniards, but were
set free after the British took over the Island and drove the Spaniards out.
No, it is more likely that Shaka's family tree would take him back to the
later arrival of slaves who came from West Africa, and probably people coming
from the Mediterranean and slave-owning white plantation owners.
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hat as it maybe, Shaka was one
of 6 children born to his parents in a small district called Hillside, in the
mid-Eastern part of Jamaica. This part of the Island has a notable history,
being the parish in which the famous/infamous Morant Bay Rebellion took place,
on 11th October 1865, leading to the death of nearly 500 black Jamaican men and
women, including that of two Jamaican National Heroes; Paul Bogle and George
William Gordon.
I
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t is not surprising that this
comparatively small Island, of only about 4,423 sq.miles, or 146 miles long and
52 miles wide, at its widest points, has an ambivalent reputation, but also one
which is exceeds its size.
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haka and his 5 siblings and
parents lived in the small village of Hillside, which had probably no more than
about 150-200 people at its most populous time. The district is situated to the
east side of what Shaka came to know as the Johnson River, which, when it rains
heavily, would sometimes cut the district off from the rest of the neighbouring
districts, such as Surge Island, Bath, Seaforth, Whitehall, Morant Bay, Duckensfield,
et al, as the water would wash away or damage the bridge. This was because the district is situated between the River, on the west,
and the mountain ranges between the parishes of ST Thomas and Portland, to its
north.
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he family lived in a two
bedroom house, made of timber, with its roof made of sheets of zinc. The
family's kitchen was a separate structure, made of bamboo wattling, and its
roof made of coconut leave thatching. The kitchen had an earthen oven and a
wood burning fireplace for cooking. The toilet which Shaka and the family
used was situated several yards from both the kitchen and the house. The walls
were made of board, with a zinc roof, and had two seats built into a raised
counter or platform, situated above a wide hole dug several metres into the
ground under it. Shaka remembered well how fearfully he was of falling into the
pit, when he first used the toilet. Shaka could also remember a time when there
was another small building on the property, where his paternal
grandmother, Mrs Leanora Bennett, used to live, and would be cared for by his
older sister and his mother. During the dark nights, the family would be
reliant on paraffin fuelled lamps and the Moon and stars for their lighting.
OWOHROD
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