Bisho Jarsa, trained as a domestic servant, went on to become a teacherWhen Neville Alexander used to visit his maternal grandmother Bisho Jarsa as a boy, he never suspected the extraordinary story of how she had come from Ethiopia to the South African city of Port Elizabeth.
Bisho was one of a group of Ethiopian slaves freed by a British warship in 1888 off the coast of Yemen, then taken round the African coast and placed in the care of missionaries in South Africa.
"We were overawed in her presence and by the way she would mumble to herself in this language none of us understood," recalls Mr Alexander, now 74.
This was Ethiopia's Oromo language, Bisho's mother tongue, which she reverted to as she grew older.
If you know these people - the freed slaves who decided to return home in 1909 - please use the form below to let us know:
- Aguchello Chabani
- Agude Bulcha
- Amanu Figgo
- Baki Malaka
- Berille Boko Grant
- Dinkitu Boensa
- Fayesse Gemo
- Fayissa Umbe
- Galgal Dikko
- Galgalli Shangalla
- Gamaches Garba
- Gutama Tarafo
- Hawe Sukute
- Liban Bultum
- Nagaro Chali
- Nuro Chabse
- Rufo Gangilla
- Tolassa Wayessa
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