I referred to him in the last blog, as the guy who took us to our safari three hours northeast of Durban, South Africa and even accompanied us on two of our three treks into the
bush. But his own story is deserving in its own right.
Anoop Singh (pictured on our boat safari of the St. Lucia Estuary, with my colleague Matt Barrett) was driving some passengers in his minivan about 10
years ago when he was shot in the shoulder and robbed. He lost so much blood
that he should have died. He suffered extensive nerve damage, went on morphine
for three months, and still has limited use of his disfigured left arm and
hand.
He says a preacher healed him and he was able to stop taking
the morphine. Although he never drank or smoked, he became born again and
cleansed himself of any vices, including gambling. Two days after he was born
again, he says his assailant was shot dead.
On another occasion, Anoop suffered a rare eye disease and
went blind for 10 days. At least that’s what his doctor said, but he thought it
was from straining his eyes from driving too much.
With Singh, the stories kept coming. He claims his first
ancestor to immigrate to South Africa, in 1860, had two wives and worked in the
sugar fields. After five years of working, the family was given the option
of going back to India or getting a piece of the land they had worked on. They
chose the latter. He said his family in South Africa now consists of 930
people, and many of them work in the transport sector.
The only one I was really wary of was his claim of being
related to Ghandi. Isn’t it a myth that every Indian says he's related to Ghandi, or something like that?
Nevertheless, he said Ghandi’s granddaughter, Ela Ghandi, was married to his
“granny’s brother," which at least seems pretty feasible.
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