Portia’s story: Patience in our lives by Dawn Baaba Arthur.
Illustrated by Garth Jacobs (BIS Publications)
Portias Story is a book with a few moral aspects, one of which is that, if you persevere, you will get far in life.
The story is set in Ghana, West Africa. It is about Portia, a happy mother of three. After a short illness her husband dies and she has to face many difficulties. After the funeral she is kicked out of her house by her deceased husbands family – and Portia is surprised when her friends make excuses why she cannot stay with them for a short time while she sorts out her life.
On hearing her story, a client of her husbands allows Portia to stay for the night. She gets a part-time job as a cleaner in the morning and as a waitress in the evening. But she cannot afford school fees and her children drop out of school.
Portia learns to trust in God and one afternoon, in a dream, a voice tells her to go to a job agency in a nearby town. She finds a job and, after working hard, is promoted.
For a time everything goes well, but through circumstance she loses her job. Portia doesn’t lose hope, though, and is eventually successful.
After many years an old friend, who hadn’t been willing to help Portia when she needed it, comes with her son to apply for a job at Portia’s business. When she realises Portia is the boss, she is ashamed of how she had treated Portia.
This story is for young children and has nice illustrations. Young children will learn a lot of valuable lessons from this book.
Daniel Opperman is a grade 7 learner at the Deutsche Internationale Schule, Johannesburg