What did Fiela do for a living?
Fiela Komoetie, a native black woman, spends much of her time tending to her farm and selling ostrich feathers to provide her family a comfortable living. On the farm, Fiela also milks goats, harvests aloe, raises chickens, and sells animal skins.
What is the story Fiela se kind about?
A story of the walls that separate us and the love that unites, Fiela se Kind tells the tale of a coloured woman in 1890s Southern Africa who finds a white toddler on her Karoo doorstep and raises him as her own. Nine years later,he is discovered and sent to what is believed to be his ‘original’ family.
How old was Benjamin when he was taken away from Fiela?
Benjamin Komoetie, the main character in Fiela’s Child by Dalene Matthee, arrived on the doorstep of Fiela and Selling Komoetie when he was only three years old. It is fortunate that Fiela and Selling Komoetie had raised Benjamin as their own from the day he arrived on their door step until was twelve years old.
What was the cause of Dalene Matthee’s death?
On 20 February 2005, Dalene Matthee died unexpectedly of heart failure in Mossel Bay. Her last resting place is Krisjan-se-Nek, one of her favourite spots in the Knysna Forest. Her ashes were also scattered here.
Where was Dalene Matthee born and raised in South Africa?
Dalene was born in Riversdale in the Southern Cape, South Africa, in 1938. She began her writing career with children’s stories and short stories before taking on her first novel after a hiking trip through the Outeniqua hiking trail around Knysna.
What are the names of Dalene Matthee’s books?
Dalene Matthee, author of 13 books, is best known for her four “Forest books” on the Knysna Forest: Circles in a Forest , Fiela’s Child , The Mulberry Forest and Dreamforest. Dalene was born in Riversdale in the Southern Cape, South Africa, in 1938.
When did Dalene Matthee’s husband Larius die?
Her husband, Larius, died in 2003. Matthee’s ashes are scattered at Krisjan-se-Nek, one of her favourite places in the Knysna Forest. In 2008, a memorial was erected here in her memory and the 800-year-old Yellowwood tree standing at that location was renamed Dalene Matthee Big Tree.