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Chipo
Kamba is a teenaged member of the gwejana syndicate. He joined the syndicate after his older brother, who was extremely interested in airplanes, snuck onto a plane leaving from the nearby airfield and never returned. Kamba is a big kid, but he’s shy and unconfident. Despite this, though, he regularly stands up for Chipo and even stands in front of her to help protect her from being discovered as a girl when the army takes over the mine. Chipo and Kamba ultimately escape the mine and plan to return to Kamba’s village in the mountains.
Kamba Quotes in Diamond Boy
The Diamond Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Kamba or refer to Kamba. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12 Quotes
Kamba’s words made me realize that finding a girazi was one thing but getting someone to give you money for it, without stealing it from you, was another thing altogether. My girazi was still just a stone as long as I was unable to find someone to pay me money for it. Finding a diamond was hard enough, but selling it was harder, and more dangerous too.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Kamba Character Timeline in Diamond Boy
The timeline below shows where the character Kamba appears in Diamond Boy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
...Jamu introduces Patson to his friends, Chipo (who’s a girl, to Patson’s surprise), Arves, and Kamba. They taunt Patson and Patson’s father, and Patson decides to be different from his father....
(full context)
Chapter 11
After a month, Patson has four friends, fellow teenagers Kamba, Chipo, Arves, and Jamu. Together, they form the secret gwejana (child miner) syndicate within the...
(full context)
...their special spot, Gwejana Rock, arguing about who has the right to mine diamonds here, Kamba “feel[s] a delivery coming” and rushes behind some rocks with a sieve and bottled water....
(full context)
Chapter 12
...how precarious his situation is—though hopefully, with the girazi, he can get his family out. Kamba interrupts Patson’s thoughts, asking how they’ll sell their ngodas if the army comes. Chipo suggests...
(full context)
...teens inspect their stones and consider what they might be worth for a while, but Kamba notes that since they’re just teens, most dealers will just steal their stones. He supports...
(full context)
Chapter 16
...firing on miners. Arves and Patson run with the others until they find Chipo and Kamba by the fence. They all slip under and race for Gwejana Rock—but soldiers appear from...
(full context)
...branches from a thorn tree and lay the branches down. Arves tells Patson to tell Kamba to keep his head down as the soldiers grab a few miners, throw them on...
(full context)
Chapter 17
...be quiet when Arves warns him to “watch out for the man with no eyes.” Kamba stands in front of Chipo so she isn’t recognized as a girl. Almost hypnotically, Commander...
(full context)
Chipo and Kamba plan to escape the camp when the rain hits later, but Patson is unwilling to...
(full context)
...that he’ll bring her Footy Pops, her favorite candy, soon. Patson then joins Chipo and Kamba at the toilets. With a pair of thick gloves, they help one another under the...
(full context)
Chapter 20
...the stone. Patson says they must find Boubacar, sell the girazis, and follow Chipo and Kamba. Arves is excited, but Patson cries: the diamonds and the money mean nothing now that...
(full context)
