Surviving prison-hell in Brazil
How does a South African financial adviser and English teacher end up being arrested as a drug mule and then manages to survive four years in one of the world’s most notorious prisons in Brazil?
The answers to these questions are part of an absorbing book, Rice,
Beans & Abandoned Dreams, just published by Calitzdorp resident Gary-Lee Smith.
While teaching English in Thailand in 2010 Smith was enticed by a colleague to transport a bit of marijuana from Brazil to Madagascar and receive almost R50 000 for his efforts and all expenses paid. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The only hitch was that Smith was probably used as a decoy and the bit of marijuana which was given to him in a sealed bag turned out to be 3,3kg of cocaine.
He was arrested at the airport in Sao Palo, tried and convicted within days and spent four years in the infamous Itai prison in the jungles of Brazil.
If one takes into account that only ten days after his arrest a policeman asked him what they should do with his body if he dies, it paints the picture of what he was about to face.
In the 326 pages of Rice, Beans &
Abandoned Dreams the reader meets the criminals, dangerous characters, ganglords, corrupt and cruel officials and all the rest who became Smith’s world in Itai prison. The reader also experiences the terror and anguish of a soft-spoken man who does not know when his life will end or whether he will ever see friends and family again.
Smith launched his book at Die Handelshuis in Calitzdorp with about 40 guests last Friday and spoke about the long road writing the book. He was released from prison in 2014 and returned to South Africa without a cent and without a job. Over the past three years, he has started to build a new life on a farm outside Calitzdorp.
Rice, Beans & Abandoned Dreams is available at Wordsworth Books at the Garden Route Mall in George or can be ordered from Smith at 073 074 0061 or 083 330 2831.