A Girl Named Disaster

A Girl Named Disaster (1996) is a novel by Nancy Farmer. At the start of the novel, 11-year-old Nhamo lives in her remote Mozambique village with her late mother’s family. When the local doctor, or muvuki, decides that Nhamo is to blame for her family’s recent misfortune, her aunt and uncle decide to marry her off in an arranged marriage. Desperate to avoid this fate, Nhamo flees the village and sets out in a boat for Zimbabwe. What should be a two-day journey rapidly extends into months. Nhamo’s coming-of-age journey explores the themes of The Impact of Social and Environmental Challenges, The Quest for Freedom and Belonging, and the importance of Resilience and Personal Growth.

This guide uses the 2002 Scholastic Inc. paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source text deals with complex themes, including child marriage, domestic violence, emotional abuse, brief suicidal ideation, and cultural displacement.

Plot Summary

Eleven-year-old Nhamo lives in a remote village in Mozambique with her aunts, uncle, cousins, and grandmother. Nhamo has been an orphan for as long as she can remember. Her mother, Runako, was carried off by a leopard when Nhamo was three, and her father, Proud, fled the village after committing murder when Nhamo was a baby.

Grandmother is kind to Nhamo, but Nhamo’s aunt Chipo and uncle Kufa are hard on her. Nhamo spends her days completing endless lists of chores and wandering around the woods surrounding her village. She spends most of her time sneaking off to her secret hiding place on a nearby hill. Here she has filled a hole with her most valuable possessions. The most important of these treasures is Nhamo’s old magazine cover.

The cover is a margarine ad depicting a woman making toast for her little girl. Nhamo loves the image and speaks to it as if it were her mother. When she’s on the hill, she extracts the magazine cover, hosts tea parties for her mother’s spirit, and updates Mother on her life in the village.

Nhamo starts to encounter leopards in the woods one day. She’s afraid of leopards because of what happened to Mother. When she tells her aunts, cousins, and grandmother about the leopard encounter, they’re convinced she has seen a spirit.

Shortly thereafter, a cholera epidemic sweeps through the region, plaguing Nhamo’s village. Many villagers die, including one of Nhamo’s aunts. Nhamo’s cousin Masvita falls ill, too, but manages to recover. Afterward, the family takes a trip to the local doctor, or muvuki. On the way, Nhamo realizes they’re visiting the muvuki because they think she’s a witch.

The muvuki tells Nhamo’s family that Nhamo is to blame for her family’s and village’s recent misfortunes. The spirit of Goré Mtoko, the man Proud killed, wants vengeance for his murder. To appease the angry spirit, or ngozi, Aunt Chipo and Uncle Kufa decide to marry Nhamo to Goré’s violent brother, Zororo.

To avoid this fate, Nhamo takes Grandmother’s advice and flees the village for Zimbabwe. She ventures out in an old fishing boat, excited about finding her father’s family in Mtoroshanga. However, things start to go awry only hours into Nhamo’s journey. Grandmother told her the Zimbabwe border was only two days away, yet Nhamo tires out much sooner.

Over the course of the following weeks and months, Nhamo ventures alone through the wilderness. She finds islands, wards off hippos and crocodiles, and befriends baboons. She teaches herself to swim, garden, and build. Meanwhile, she makes connections with the spirit world. Finally, Nhamo crosses the Zimbabwe border and collapses on the island of Efifi.

Efifi is a small, scientific community. Its inhabitants, Dr. Everjoice Masuku, Dr. van Heerden, and Baba Joseph are intrigued by Nhamo. They welcome her to stay for as long as she likes, but also help her to find her father’s family.

Nhamo spends a school year in Mtoroshanga with the Jongwes. She enjoys her studies, but her family is unkind to her. Her great-grandfather is the only exception. He accepts Nhamo, spends time with her, and teaches her about her family and past.

On her summer break, Nhamo returns to Efifi. She’s glad the island hasn’t changed. Her old friends exclaim at how grown up she looks. Before returning to Mtoroshanga, Nhamo lies in the grass alone and communes with Grandmother’s spirit.