Waiting for the Rain by Sheila Gordon
"Waiting for the Rain" by Sheila Gordon is a poignant novel set in South Africa during the 1980s, a period marked by the oppressive regime of apartheid. The story follows the complex friendship between two boys, Frikkie and Tengo, who come from starkly different backgrounds. Frikkie is a white farmer's son, while Tengo is a black boy subjected to the systemic inequalities that apartheid enforces, which are vividly illustrated through their contrasting living conditions and experiences. As they grow older, the societal pressures surrounding them lead to a painful rift; Tengo aspires for education and opportunities, while Frikkie clings to a life resistant to change.
The novel poignantly captures the impact of apartheid on personal relationships, culminating in a dramatic confrontation during a riot where both boys find themselves on opposing sides—Tengo as a protester advocating for equality and Frikkie as a soldier upholding the status quo. This moment serves as a powerful reflection on their lost childhood bond and the irrevocable changes brought by their environment. "Waiting for the Rain" is recognized for its realistic depiction of this turbulent era and is frequently utilized in discussions on multicultural literature, alongside other works that highlight the struggles against injustice in South Africa. Through its narrative, the novel emphasizes themes of friendship, identity, and the quest for social change amidst adversity.
Subject Terms
Waiting for the Rain by Sheila Gordon
First published: 1987
Subjects: Coming-of-age, education, race and ethnicity, and social issues
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1980’s
Recommended Ages: 13-18
Locale: South Africa at a farm on the veld and in Johannesburg
Principal Characters:
Tengo , the ten-year-old son of the “boss-boy” on Oom Koos’s farmFrikkie , the nephew of Oom Koos, also ten years old, who loves the farm that he will inheritOom Koos , the white owner of the prosperous farm established by his grandfather during the previous centuryTant Sannie , Frikkie’s childless aunt, who welcomes the boy’s visits to the farm, where he spends all his school holidaysSelina , Tengo’s mother, a housemaid and cook for Tant SannieTimothy , Tengo’s father, the “boss-boy” for Oom KoosJoseph , Tengo’s Johannesburg cousin, a young member of the outlawed African National Congress who is committed to change
Form and Content
Sheila Gordon’s Waiting for the Rain is a realistic account of the doomed friendship of Frikkie and Tengo in South Africa in the turbulent decade of the 1980’s when apartheid, the long-standing forced separation of the races maintained by the reactionary government of P. W. Botha, controls the lives of both black and white people. Activist Nelson Mandela has not yet been released from prison, where he has languished for more than twenty years because of his founding of the African National Congress (ANC), which in Mandela’s mind was to be a nonviolent resistance to an unjust authoritarian regime. Apartheid, with its cruel, inhumane policies, has kept black people in inferior positions, denying them decent jobs, education, and living conditions.
Apartheid also tears apart the close friendship of Frikkie and Tengo, who have played together since they were three years old. At the beginning of Gordon’s novel, they are ten years old. It is then that Tengo notices the differences between them. Why are his mother and father called by their first names when Frikkie’s uncle and aunt are called “Master” and “Mistress”? Why do all the black farm workers live in the kraal, a dusty, stench-filled area of small mud huts with no running water and no trees, while Oom Koos and Tant Sannie live in the long white farmhouse surrounded by green grass, jacaranda trees, and flower beds? Why does his family eat only mielie (corn meal) porridge when Selina, Tengo’s mother, cooks for Master and Mistress delicious roast beef, chicken, or lamb served with many vegetables and all kinds of mouth-watering desserts?
The real break with Frikkie comes when Tengo, who wants more than anything else to study, goes off at age fourteen to live with his aunt’s family in a township outside Johannesburg in order to attend school, to pass his matriculation examinations, and to enter a black college on a scholarship. Frikkie, on the other hand, hates school and lives for the holidays, which he spends on the farm. He hopes that life will never change and that Tengo will be his “boss-boy” some day, just as Tengo’s father is the “boss-boy” for Oom Koos.
In town, Tengo’s cousin Joseph has joined the ANC. Tengo, who wishes desperately for enough time to study and pass his matriculation exams, is drawn against his will into the struggle for equality that he nevertheless knows must come before his own desires. Meanwhile, Frikkie barely passes his “matrics” and enters the army for compulsory service. He is stationed near Johannesburg.
Gordon’s most dramatic scene comes at the climax of her novel. The two boys, now eighteen, unexpectedly confront each other in one of the violent riots in the townships—Tengo as a protester fighting inequity and Frikkie as a soldier protecting the status quo. Alone at the edge of a township in the twilight, Tengo gets control of Frikkie’s gun just as the two recognize each other, enemies now. Yet, the childhood bond is strong; neither can kill the other. They go their separate ways in the dusk.
Critical Context
Waiting for the Rain is one of the few realistic novels available describing accurately the turbulent 1980’s in South Africa. Its riveting story is often used in classes that stress multicultural literature. The Middle of Somewhere: A Story of South Africa (1990) is Sheila Gordon’s other novel set in the same period, but it is written for younger children, omitting the violence found in Waiting for the Rain.
Two similar dramatic accounts are Beverley Naidoo’s Journey to Jo’burg (1985) and its sequel, Chain of Fire (1989), in which Naledi, her brother Tiro, and her friend Taolo are courageous young protesters. Mark Mathabane’s autobiographical Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa (1986) is another gripping account. My Name Is Not Angelica (1989) is Scott O’Dell’s historically accurate treatment of the slave trade along the southeastern coast of Africa in the eighteenth century. Based on historical fact, it makes superb background reading for stories of this troubled land. Lesley Beake’s inspiring Song of Be (1991) is another realistic work in which a young bushwoman tells her own story of freedom turned into terror, of recovery and love in postcolonial Namibia.
Although violence and tragedy are themes in these well-written books, the terror that they portray nevertheless leaves young readers with a feeling of hope because in these works the youthful characters act bravely to bring about change. In Gordon’s compelling novel, Tengo and his cousin Joseph are two of the many youths whose voices, like Be’s, ring true. They will survive as they struggle for peace and understanding.