How the video "Vagabond of God" came to be made
"John Bradburne" is a name that seemed to pop-up in conversations with fellow South African Catholics fairly often. Not having read any literature on John, I did not have a deep interest in his life, but I certainly was intrigued by the accounts of John related to me by a friend, Margaret de Haast, who had known John whilst living in Zimbabwe.
When visiting Johannesburg in 1998, a TV-producer friend, Bridget Whartonhood, brought up the subject of John Bradburne with the prospect of producing a documentary on his life for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. For various reasons her documentary never materialized, but, even though my knowledge of the John's life was scanty, the thought stayed with me of personally pursing such a production some time in the future. This reached a head sooner than I had anticipated when, about a month later, my brother invited me to visit Zimbabwe with him after winning two return airplane tickets to Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls at a Christmas function at work. This was to be my first visit to Zimbabwe. Providence was at work, I soon realized, and I accepted the invitation.
We flew to Zimbabwe in March '99 and stayed for a full week, visiting Harare (the capital), Mutemwa, Silviera House and The Victoria Falls. Having just completed Fr John Dove's book "Strange, Vagabond of God" for the first time, John Bradburne's story was fresh in my mind and I almost had a sense of what to expect. In his book Fr. Dove recounts the intriguing tale of John's life, from the time of their meeting in a Gurkha regiment in India. Looking back, I am glad that I had saved reading the book until then because the sense of enthusiasm and expectation created as a result of just having read the book enabled me soak up the experiences of the week like a sponge. I was determined that my "third eye" (the camera lens) would capture it all too.
Dave Clarke, a long time friend of Mutemwa, was our guide. We drove east from Harare: the Mutoko road and popular route to Mozambique. Zimbabwe was at its greenest. During our stay in Mutemwa, Deacon Cyril Kawisi, gave us a tour of the leper camp where we had the opportunity to meet most of the resident lepers and to witness their life of patient suffering. I pictured John Bradburne encouraging them to endure all for Christ until their earthly end (which would not be far away) before reaching their heavenly home.
Another highlight of our visit to Mutemwa was The Mother of Peace community where Derek and Lise van der Syde and Jean Cornneck gave us a tour of the work that they do amongst the AIDS babies. This important work seemed to signal the ongoing presence of John Bradburne at Mutemwa inspiring the service of neighbour in a pandemic that today dwarves the Leprosy plague.
From Mutemwa we returned to Harare for a day. Here we had the opportunity of meeting and interviewing Fr. John Dove SJ. Since Bradburne's death in 1979, Father Dove has been the protagonist in promoting an awareness of the life of John Bradburne. I had decided that my approach to creating the video would primarily be to create a video version of the essential elements of Father John Dove's engrossing book "Strange, Vagabond of God". In order to do this the obvious choice of storyteller would be Fr. Dove himself, a man who surely knew John's story better than anyone alive today. The video would thus be seen not just as a document of John Bradburne's life, but equally as a document of something of the personality and spirit of Father Dove. During the interview Fr. Dove's captivatingly recounted events from John's life with profound insights drawn from the deep friendship they shared.
From Harare we flew to the world famous Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe's greatest tourism boast. The Falls were flowing at their strongest - a sight to take the breath away. This bought the trip to a close and we returned to South Africa with a mission well accomplished.
Back in South Africa, the video was carefully edited over a period of 3 months. It was released on September the 5th 1999 to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of John Bradburne's death, and submitted to South Africa's weekly Catholic Newspaper, the Southern Cross, for review. In commenting on the video, Owen Williams, a respected South African film critic, writes "Fr. Dove speaks with feeling, but his cultured voice has always the clear, level tones of reason. He must be the man who knows the subject best... this timely and extremely well made video of 59 minutes captures the essentials in an engrossing story of an extraordinary man in a way that should hold the attention of all, including those who are not Catholic."
An important aspect to the video is the music. Appropriate themes composed by Michael Brewer sensitively complement the images and provide an ambient backdrop to the mood of the narrative and to the African context. The video also features original recordings of John Bradburne reciting two poems as well as much footage of the scenery of Mutemwa and Zimbabwe. In fact, the first seven minutes of the film are aimed at foreign viewers: the stage is set by focusing purely on the wildlife and landscapes of Zimbabwe (particularly the Victoria Falls).
Developing a presence on the Web
Developing an Internet presence was the next project that I chose to give some time to. Having read an article in the Winter '98 edition of the JBMS newsletter inviting website developers to use their talents for a John Bradburne web page, I decided to take up the challenge. As a result www.welcome.to/johnbradburne was set up - a web page that now features a guided tour through the life of John Bradburne (with pictures), a tour through Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement, an article by Professor David Crystal on John Bradburne's poetry, and information on the Mother of Peace community at Mutemwa. I intend to add more in the future. So, if there are any JBMS readers out there who are connected to the Web please pay the page a visit and leave a message in John's Internet guestbook.
Your John Bradburne connection at the southern tip of Africa: Norman Servais