Blind Moses by Peter Latz
Moses Tjalkabota Uraiakuraia, a proud Western Aranda man, was just a small boy when German Lutherans first entered his country in 1877. The founding of their mission at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) began a period of sweeping change for the Aranda.
Tjalkabota came to embrace the Christian faith, taking the name Moses, and in turn was a teacher and guide to the missionaries including Carl Strehlow, and later his son Ted (T.G.H.). He grew to local renown in his lifetime as the black 'messenger', a Christian evangelist of deep conviction.
Tragedy dogged his life - the blindness that struck him in his thirties, the loss of all nine of his children and some of his grandchildren too, the many premature deaths of his countrymen, from violence (mostly internecine) and disease. Yet, till the end Moses remained an inspiring presence, unshaken in his belief and sense of mission, knowing that if his people were to survive, they had to change.
As a child growing up in Hermannsburg Peter Latz was deeply impressed by this Aranda 'man of high degree'. Latz draws on his lifetime of experience amongst the Aranda and in their country, on archives, historical literature and Moses' own fascinating account of his life, to bring this remarkable story to the general reader.
