He was blond with a lantern jaw that did not detract much from his handsome face. He held on to her hand just a fraction too long. He was very attractive and far too young for her. She banished all impure thoughts. ‘I’ll start at Kardo and then later on I’ll be based in Mondongo head office. Is it your first time in the country?’
‘No, I’ve been here before. I’m from South Africa. I did my national service in Tamazia. Our brigade fought with MARFO and formed bonds with them. What’s strange is that they are now the enemy of the legitimate government and us as well.’
‘I had no idea that MARFO were once the good guys, 'said Sam. ‘You must feel ambivalent about that.’
‘Yes, it’s really weird but I told Black and he doesn’t mind. He needs a metallurgist. He doesn’t care about politics or wars.’
She could believe that.
The minivan was finally ready to go and they drove into the centre of Mondongo along roads packed with traffic. Most of the roads were in various stages of repair or abandon. The resulting road works created traffic jams that belched black smoke and emitted a cacophony of horn blasts.
Mondongo was smelly. It reminded Sam of the Medieval London Museum where tourists travelled in little carriages through a large building full of different smells through time to the present day. It smelt of sewerage and coffee and cooking and pollution. The pollution by the traffic was mitigated by the fact that most of the cars were new. However, public transport consisted of ancient Hi Ace vans spouting acrid black fumes, which stopped and started at every corner, causing chaos behind them and making other irate drivers sound their horns in fury.
It took over an hour to get to their destination, a combined caravan compound and garage in the centre of town. It was on a derelict site one block from the offices of Gemsite and acted as a staging post for people returning to and leaving the mines in the Tunde Norte province. The compound consisted of a row of ancient trailers parked parallel to a long breeze-block building housing, a workshop and the storerooms where the food and spares were kept in Mondongo before they were shipped out to the projects. A second floor, that looked as if it had been added later, contained the staff canteen, and the technical office where Sam would eventually be based, up a separate set of stairs with metal gates at the top and bottom with huge padlocks on them. It appeared to be empty and disused. Everything looked old and shabby, much like the city itself.
When they arrived at the compound, they were greeted by the accommodations manager, who allocated Sam a room in one of the six trailers lined up on a bank above the main compound building. There was less than half a metre between the tiny bed, which stretched from end to end of the ‘room’ and the wall. There was no space to swing her arms, let alone the proverbial cat. The room was mosquito-infested and only a trickle of water came out of the taps.
She left her bags in the trailer and was shown to the canteen where she would have all her meals in Mondongo. It was a horrible, grimy room with Formica tables and a dirty floor. From the look of the kitchen behind the counter, the quality of the food would match that of the room. She had an awful cup of coffee and was then escorted down the street to the Gemsite office to hand in her cash and valuables and to sign her contract with the office manager, an Englishman called William Collier.
‘Call me Bill,’ he said.
‘Why do I need to hand in my valuables?’ asked Sam.
‘Employees are not allowed to have cash on site in Kardo to reduce the incentive for the locals to rob them. Also it prevents any Gemsite staff from buying diamonds.’
‘Buying diamonds?’
‘Yes, it's illegal to buy diamonds in Tamazia. Local miners try and swap diamonds for money, crates of beer, or any electrical goods