Nkosi's Story
 Jane Fox
 (Associate Reviewer - Gail Evans)
 2002 The Life Story Project & Spearhead
  ISBN: 0864865333
Amazon-UK's price is: £9.95

Nkosi's biological mother was HIV-infected & unable to look after him, so Gail Johnson took the two-year-old into her home. This is the moving account of a fight that is intensely personal--even when it becomes political, as they engage government policy.

This is the extraordinary story of a black boy & his white mother, & their courageous, doomed battle against AIDS.

Associate Reviewer Gail Evans writes:

If there is one book you have got to buy then it is Nkosi's Story by Jane Fox, with a profound Foreword by Actor Danny Glover.

Why? For a number of reasons:

Firstly, although it is about this incredible little boy who eventually died from AIDS at the age of twelve, Jane Fox has put together an entertaining & insightful biography of Nkosi & the many people who were part of his short, & influential life. Rather than being depressed by it, you will find that the story is a testament to his bravery, & the courage & determination of Gail Johnson, as well as the legacy his life story has left to the world, & South Africa in particular.

This little boy advertently, or inadvertently depending on how you view it, managed to change perceptions with regard to the innocents who are born with & infected by the HIV virus, & the growing need for hospices to care for the many mothers & their babies who are dying daily from this scourge. What is more, Nkosi stole my heart. He will steal yours too. He was intelligent beyond his years, wise beyond what was expected of him. I loved his humour & jokes though it seemed at times that others didn't “get it,” & his compassion for people, in spite of his own fear & pain, is an example to us all. I wanted to reach through the pages, hold him in my arms & tell him that his love has transcended space & time.

Secondly, as a South African, I have to laugh. Jane Fox has got Gail Johnson down to a T. I don't know how the rest of the world will respond to this incredible character with a personality bar none, but I am proud that she is, well to me anyway, the epitome of many South African woman that I know. No nonsense, down to earth, does what needs to be done & gets on with the job &...has the “nails,” the “false eyelashes,” & the make-up (doll!) to prove it. She also swears, smokes & enjoys wine--what a human being! Jumps into her car shoeless, with cigarettes in hand & shoots off in the middle of the night...because, that's what needs to be done. Hello? Never once is this lady a damsel in distress, she is rather Joan of Arc in shining armour...& very few could keep up with her. The right woman for the right job at the right time. Nkosi, by the way, was not & is not the only child in need who has passed through her loving arms. There have been many who owe their very lives to her compassion & ability to “get the job done!”

Thirdly & lastly, you have got to buy this book & tell all your friends to do so. They will be doubly blessed because they will:
  a) have a biography of a truly great little man
  b) with every copy bought, the proceeds are going to help mothers & their babies who are infected with the HIV infection & will most probably die from AIDS or an AIDS related disease.

Nkosi Johnson truly deserves to be buried in “Hero's Acre” at West Park cemetery in Johannesburg. As the saying goes, “Some of us are born to greatness and some of us have greatness thrust upon us.” Greatness was thrust upon this delightful, insightful & beautiful little boy who was more than up to the job that he had been given in life, & because of him many changes in schooling & government policy have & still will come about in order for us to deal with this disaster that Judge Edwin Cameron accurately describes as, “...a challenge bigger than apartheid.” I think we are up to it. Don't you?

Nkosi's spirit lives on. He has become an international icon for the fight against HIV/AIDS & for children's rights. He was posthumously awarded The World Children's Prize for the Rights of Children, commonly referred to as “The Children's Nobel Prize.”

Nkosi's Story is available on amazon.uk or from:
http://www.lifestoryproject.com/index.html
(02/16/03)

Gail Evans
2003©Gail Evans
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I currently live in Johannesburg, South Africa & am the author of: The Firstborn of God: Resolving the Contradictions In The Bible, Time Trials & Meditations In My Favourite Places In Southern Africa.