SEKURU, searching for Silas

248pp., paperback, Hands-on Books, Cape Town, 2025

ISBN: 9781991240477

A memoir by Lesley Lysaght, in which she describes her decades-long search for the Black man she called Sekuru (grandfather), who raised her in colonial Rhodesia and shaped her worldview. She reflects on her privileged upbringing and the lasting impacts of colonialism, and grapples with questions of race, identity, belonging and responsibility.

"Sekuru perfectly illustrates the Ubuntu philosophy: ‘I am because you are’. Lesley Lysaght, born in colonial Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) to a privileged but dysfunctional white family, now living in Australia, searches for the black servant who protected her as a child and became her spiritual father. Racing against time, Lysaght takes us from her Rhodesian childhood she was plucked from, through South Africa, England, Australia and back to Zimbabwe, to discover if the man her parents named Silas is still alive, and whether he had loved her as much as she believed. Unflinchingly honest." Lucy Mushita, author of Chinongwa

Lesley Lysaght was born and grew up in Rhodesia, studied English literature at the University of Cape Town and Education (PGCE) at Oxford University. She worked as a teacher for many years. She now lives in Australia, and has funded projects for the rural poor in Zimbabwe.