Brandon Khawla Art & Culture’s Podcast

Brandon” Article written by HH Sheikha Khawla Bint Ahmed Al Suwaidi.


For around 20 years, Brandon never left this island. The island that he once came to as a visitor.. And here we are now, with this unique opportunity, visiting him. Brandon..A British soldier who first set foot on this island fifty years ago, searching for spiritual freedom after his suffering during the wars. Onboard the armored vehicle that was taking him to the airport to return home, a breeze of fresh air unleashed passed his face bringing back life to his heavily worried heart. A breeze that made him realize what he is missing. And a similar breeze blows on his face on the shores of Seychelles, specifically on the Mahe Island..
He goes to its shore and right by the beach, a little local boy comes to him and asks : { “Do you want to own an island in Seychelles?” “Yes, how did you know?” I answered playfully. I was just joking. He said “Let me take you to your island.” And here he is, taking me while we face each other and talk in his small boat to Moyenne.. Once I set my foot in that island, that same breeze passed through me, the breeze that visited me in my previous days when I was a soldier dreaming of freedom. Taking a deep breath, I said to myself : “This is my island. I will own it one day.” And that is what actually happened, I bought it from its owner and lived with my friend Charlie who shares the same hobbies as mine, and helped me sow my beautiful land. I lived and am still living a beautiful life here; I never felt loneliness like I did when I used to sleep alone in the camps as a soldier when my colleagues go home to their families at the weekends. In Moyenne Island, I am surrounded by nature, we tend to chat in times of loneliness ..
And from the one hundred twenty five turtles, the oldest of which is almost seventy years old; I get my source of living.. tourists from around the world come to see them and to meet me. }
He is eighty seven year old. However, in spite of some slight bow of old age, he still has a straight figure that tells of pride and struggle. He walks slowly as if he is counting his steps. What got my attention was his long fingers.. almost double the length of his palm, with frozen ends, as if it was a spading fork used to plow the land of his Island, Moyenne, in which he said he planted twelve thousand trees and plants.. Before that it was a semi waste land with no people and no greenery.
I was also taken aback by the size of his feet, that were bigger than normal human feet, with diverging fingers as he was often barefoot, using these fingers to cling to the rough land of which he was an integral part. The last three fingers in his feet seem as if they were merged into one, with skin grown in between like the wings of Seychelles bats. Brandon starts his speech very gracefully and tactfully after I greeted him on behalf of my colleagues and asked him to talk about himself. He moves from one subject to another without any interruption. He goes on about rich memories full of events. “I have a mango tree planted by Ms. Mary who used to own the island one hundred years before me,” he said.. “And Here I am now, picking its fruits that will be ripe next February. Whenever I enjoy their taste, I talk Mary’s spirit and tell her how I wish she was enjoying the fruits as well. Whenever its fruits are ripe, almost a thousand bats come attacking it and drinking it’s mellow juice..

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