The Adventures of Zumba and Rumba: Book Three - the Quest to Find Their Mother

By G. Alan Brooks and Ruby A. Brooks

The Adventures of Zumba and Rumba is a childrens book. It is designed for seven- to twelve-year-old readers. The story takes place in Africa, mainly in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia. Zumba and Rumba are brother and sister who are separated from their parents when warriors raid a village where they are visiting. Zumba is the boy, and he is eleven years old. Rumba is ten years old.

In Book 3, they are searching for their mother. They must travel across Tanzania and Kenya to reach Somalia. Once in Somalia, they must find where their mother is being held by slave-trading pirates. They are aided by a fourteen-year-old Somali boy whom they rescue. He is an excellent sailor, and they are able to sail along the coast of Somalia to attempt a rescue. Warriors, crocodiles, sharks, pirates, cyclones, and wild hogs put them in constant danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503567542

G. Alan Brooks

George “Alan” Brooks was born in central Florida in 1940 into a Florida pioneer family. The Brooks families settled in central Florida around 1815 and were sustenance farmers for at least 150 years.

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Copyright © 2012 by G. Alan Brooks, Ruby A. Brooks, And Other Grandchildren.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2015907092

ISBN:        Hardcover          978-1-5035-6752-8

                  Softcover            978-1-5035-6753-5

                  eBook                  978-1-5035-6754-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/22/2015

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CONTENTS

List of Characters And Places

Prologue The Search For Their Mother

1 Crossing The Dangerous River

2 Mount Kenya And The Maasai Boys

3 Rescuing A Young Somali

4 Arriving In Kismaayo

5 Selecting A New Boat

6 Organizing The New Boat

7 The Trip To Mogadishu

8 Looking Rich In Mogadishu

9 Making A Deal With The Somali Pirates

10 The Rabbit Stew Cooking Contest

11 Starting For Tanga

12 The Cyclone

13 Arriving In Tanga

14 The Journey To Londazi

15 Improving Life In Londazi

16 Visiting The Caves Again

17 Zumba And Rumba Leave Londazi

To children, grandchildren, parents, and grandparents who love to read books together.

LIST OF CHARACTERS AND PLACES

Afibo – A smart Somali rescued by Zumba and Rumba. He is an excellent sailor. He is fourteen years old and becomes a good friend.

Ajani – An old man captured with Chief Rutumba.

Akiki – A brave young man from the village of Londazi who is traveling with Zumba and Rumba.

Antar – The beautiful palomino stallion that Zumba and Rumba ride throughout their adventures.

Binga – The village in Uganda where the captives are held by fierce warriors.

Boko – The head warrior who captured Chief Rutumba, Zena, and other villagers.

Chief Rutumba – The father of Zumba and Rumba who is captured and taken to Uganda. He is the chief of their village, Londazi.

Dayo – The wild dog tamed by Rumba who is traveling with the group.

Faloo – A stranger they meet in the jungle. He helps them find a honeybird and a tree with sweet honey.

Kasabo – Warriors captured Chief Rutumba and his wife Zena in this village.

Kismaayo – A coastal city in Somalia.

Kusumi – Zumba learns to shoot a bow and arrow in this small village. It is near the caves with treasure.

Chief Kato – Chief of a village in eastern Tanzania visited by the family on their way home. Chief Rutumba visited this village as a young man.

Kirabo – Wife of Chief Kato.

Londazi – The home village of Chief Rutumba, Zena, Zumba, and Rumba.

Mogadishu – Coastal city in Somalia where Zena is held captive.

Ratna – The donkey who carries their possessions.

Rona Lana – A teacher they find along the way, and who travels with them.

Rutamba – Chief Rutumba’s brother and the uncle of Zumba and Rumba. He is the acting chief of their village, Londazi, after the raid.

Rumba – An eleven-year-old girl who is the daughter of Chief Rutumba and the sister of Zumba. Her mother is Zena. With her brother, she is searching for her father and her mother.

Tanga – Coastal port in Tanzania used to organize their final trip home.

Zena – The mother of Zumba and Rumba, and the wife of Chief Rutumba. She is captured and taken to Somalia.

Zumba – A thirteen-year-old boy who is the son of Chief Rutumba and the brother of Rumba. His mother is Zena. Along with his sister, he is searching for his father and his mother.

Map of Africa where Zumba and Rumba were born and where they experience their adventures. Their home village is Londazi, located on the southern edge of Lake Victoria. Kasabo, Kisumi, and Binga are other imaginary villages mentioned in this adventure story. Kismaayo, Mogadishu, and Tanga are real cities visited in this story.

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PROLOGUE

THE SEARCH FOR THEIR MOTHER

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T hey were racing the animals as fast as they could run. They could not spare the time to look back as they heard the yells of the warriors chasing them: hiya, hiya!

Zumba and Rumba were running for their lives! They had just left the hospital where they hoped to find their father, Chief Rutumba.

Their father had been taken to the hospital from a prisoner compound. He was taken to the hospital three days prior with a high fever. The warriors were returning to the hospital to take him back to the compound when they saw Zumba and Rumba.

Zumba and Rumba had just discovered that their father jumped from the window of the hospital a few hours before they arrived. He escaped just in time to avoid the warriors. But he also left before Zumba and Rumba could find him after months of searching.

They did not find their father, and now the warriors were chasing them.

They needed to outrun the warriors to survive, and then find their mother, who they thought was being held a prisoner in Somalia. At least they had heard rumors she was in Somalia, but they did not know for sure if it was true. Nor did they know exactly how to get to Somalia. It would be another dangerous adventure to make the long trip from Uganda, and to negotiate with the pirates who held her.

Six months ago, savage warriors captured Chief Rutumba and his wife, Zena, along with other men, women, and children. The warriors were holding the villagers as prisoners to sell into slavery as soon as they could find a buyer.

Zumba and Rumba were the children of the village chieftain, Rutumba. They lived in a small village called Londazi, on the southern edge of Lake Victoria in the African country of Tanzania. They lived happily with their highly respected father and their mother. Zumba was a brave young man at age twelve, and Rumba was a smart and talented young girl at age eleven.

Suddenly, their world had been turned upside down when they were separated from their parents!

The chief and his family were visiting another village when savage warriors made a ferocious attack. Some of the children had time to run away into the jungle because a friendly runner had given an early warning before the attack. Zumba and Rumba were among the children who managed to escape, but they were all alone in the jungle.

The warriors captured their father along with other men and a few boys.

Zena, their mother, tried to protect the small children who could not run fast enough to escape the warriors. The warriors captured Zena, and those children, and took them to sell as slaves.

Her decision resulted in a family separation that would cause heartache and trouble for the family for a long time.

After many difficult months in the jungle and numerous adventures, Zumba and Rumba returned home to their village. Their father’s brother was now the acting chief of the village.

After staying in the village for a few months, they decided it was time to begin the search for their parents.

Their uncle wanted to travel with them in their quest, but the needs of the village required him to stay in Londazi. Instead, they decided to take their best friend with them.

Akiki traveled with Zumba and Rumba to help them find their father. Zumba and Rumba were close friends with Akiki, and he was a skilled hunter and fighter. It was dangerous to be traveling in this area of Africa, and Akiki was there to help protect them and avoid the warriors.

Zumba and Rumba managed to acquire a horse and a donkey in their travels; the horse they called Antar, and the donkey they called Ratna. Rumba also tamed a wild dog she called Dayo. The animals were an important part of their group; they could ride Antar, and Ratna could carry many supplies.

Dayo had an excellent sense of smell and terrific hearing. He was always out in front of the group to listen and smell for trouble of any kind.

In their travels, Zumba and Rumba learned that the warriors had taken the men and the boys to a Ugandan village called Binga, on the north side of Lake Victoria. They heard that the women and the children had been taken to another country called Somalia.

A few months ago, after learning about the Binga location, Akiki was sent to find Chief Rutumba and the other prisoners. Akiki found a compound, and he spoke with the head warrior, Boko. They did not let Akiki see any of the captives, and he was not certain that the chief was there. Boko promised he had the captives, and he would release them for jewels.

Zumba and Rumba were sad that their mother was far away in another country, but since their father was closer, they had decided to search for him first. Their plan was that after rescuing their father, they would find their mother and bring the family back together again.

They traveled to Binga with Akiki, and