Onoshobishobi Ingelosi vs. Gideon Mandoma

The proposal to have Peekay fight with the future chief Gideon Mandoma made him realize how connected he is to the African people. The following of Onoshobishobi Ingelosi had grown from a few prisoners into 10,000 people in a town Peekay had never been to. Peekay originally attracted the attention of the prisoners when he helped Geel Piet smuggle tobacco, sugar, and salt into the prisons. Word of his boxing skill also spread, and he became a symbol to the prisoners as a warrior, fighting for African people. He also helped deliver prisoners’ letters. These letters are probably how people outside the prison heard of Onoshobishobi Ingelosi. These people spread the word further, which started the attendance at Peekay’s school boxing matches. Africans working near helped Peekay with small things, like doing his chores. Then he is asked to fight. When he hears he must fight the future chief, and that if he loses he won’t be Onoshobishobi Ingelosi, he considers throwing the fight so the legend will die. He says that he should fight because if he didn’t, he would embarrass everyone who has helped him. But he also knows how important he is to the people. He is a symbol of kindness, of power, of respect, of hope. He was kind to prisoners. He is powerful in the boxing ring. He respects their culture, unlike the vast majority of whites. He is the hope that there are more whites like him, whites that would take a stand and stop the persecution of the African people. If they lost their hope in their culture, the only thing besides the physical land that remained after European imperialism, then that too would be swept away, lost forever.