BLOSSOMS OF THE SAVANNAH by Henry Ole Kulet

2018 is my comeback year as I explore more on both literature and poetry. I take an opportunity to explore this new novel by renown writer above an excellent story teller who is able to vividly tell the story of FGM and its evils in the Masaai community. Ole Kaleo, the main character of the novel returns home to Nasila after many years of living in Nakuru as a businessman. His wish is  to establish himself back home among his people and be accepted completely as an elder of Nasila.

However this comes comes with alot of challenges. Having been away for many years the the culture of his people seems to demand much more than he had bargained for. His two daughters Taiyo and Resian have been raised up in an urban centre in Nakuru and have very little clue of the exorbitant demands of the Maa culture especially regrading the woman. They come to learn with shock that without going through the FGM they will never be accepted in Nasila. For them it s a practice they swear they cannot accept to go through for they are more focused on pursuing their university education and settling down as career women.

On the other hand, their father wants to establish himself as a successful businessman and a respected elder of the Nasila community. This unwavering ambition forces him to compromise the lives of his two daughtes and the whole family as he falls into a trap with Ole Sudori the villain in the novel. Things get out f control when he fails to deliver his daughter Resian to Ole Sudori as a wife and her daughter Taiyo is abducted and forcefully circumcised. Resian runs away from home and makes it to a rescue camp. Though the gilrs are finally rescued and their lives restored, it is never the same again for their family is totally disintegrated.

The Come Back - Emilio

My literary journey is 2016 comes with big challenge now that I unfortunately find myself on the other side of the digital divide, not by choice but a call of duty. However, I am set out to explore more on literature and currently, teaching, "The River and the Source" by Margaret Ogolla has been a great inspiration considering the prominent position given the woman in the text. A firm believer in the liberation of women, the main characters who span three generations show just how the strength of a woman can surpass everything and raise a strong and successful family. The woman is presented as the epitome of the society and her strength and power is celebrated in every stride and achievement that she makes.
Upon all challenges made in this short era of a digital blackout, I believe I will still find some time to indulge in matters literature.

embokeh: The Twilight Trek by Sefi Atta (Nigeria)

embokeh: The Twilight Trek by Sefi Atta (Nigeria):     The short story highlights the horrors that illegal immigrants from Africa go through as they escape from their home countries in...

embokeh: The Twilight Trek by Sefi Atta (Nigeria)

embokeh: The Twilight Trek by Sefi Atta (Nigeria):     The short story highlights the horrors that illegal immigrants from Africa go through as they escape from their home countries in...

The Twilight Trek by Sefi Atta (Nigeria)

 

 

The short story highlights the horrors that illegal immigrants from Africa go through as they escape from their home countries in search of green pastures in Europe. Jean Luc, the main character who confesses this isn't his real name is born poor to a prostitute mother who at a very young age tries to lure him off to a rich Lebanese a pedophile homosexual. he runs away from home and tries to live off the streets but after being beaten and raped he makes a decision to run away from home to Europe and Spain in particular, for he believes this is where he can make his dreams come true playing professional football. The difficult  journey through the Sahara together with other immigrants reveals the horrible experiences and difficulties that his people have to go through to get across to Europe with no guarantee of reaching their destination.

White Hands by Jane Katjavivi (Namibia)

The short story written by a former bookseller and publisher Jane Katjavivi reveals some of the evils perpetrated by the white regime in Namibia in the colonial era. The story revolves around Angelika the main character a grown woman studying in England ( Birmingham) on a scholarship offered by her church back home. Having led a childless marriage, she decides to visit a hospital in Birmingham and find out the reason for her barrenness. The results of her medical checkup reveals a shocking revelation of what she went through in the hands of white colonial soldiers decades back when she was taken ill and had an operation to remove her appendix. It is revealed that the white government conspired to have black Namibian women sterilized for reasons known to themselves. Although Angelika is happy that her situation is changed and through an operation her problem is rectified and she's able to have a baby, she feels very sad for the other countless women who went through the same ordeal and are now living childless lives without the knowledge of what was done to them. The story gives us an insight of how a system can be so evil as to conspire to maim the lives of innocent people.

Letter From A Contract Worker by Jacinto Antonio

I wanted to write you a letter
my love,
a letter that would tell
of this desire
to see you
of this fear
of losing you
of this more than benevolence that i feel
of this indefiable ill that pursues me
of this yearning to which i live in total surrender

I wanted to write you a letter
my love,
a letter of intimate secrets
a letter of memories of you
of you
of your lips as red as henna
of your hair as black as mud
of your eyes as sweet as honey
of your breasts as hard as wild orange
of your lynx* gait
and of your caresses
such that i can find no better here
I wanted to write you a letter
my love,
that would recall the days in our haunts
our nights lost in the long grass
that would recall the shade falling on us from the plum
trees
the moon filtering the endless palm trees
that would recall the madness
of our passion
and the bitterness
of our separation...

I wanted to write you a letter
my love,
that you would read without sighing
that you would hide from papa Bombo
that you would withhold from mama Kieza
that you would reread without the coldness
of forgetting
a letter which in all Kilombo
no other would stand comparison...

I wanted to write you a letter
my love,
a letter that would be brought to you by the passing wind
a letter that the cashews and coffee trees
the hyenas and buffaloes
the alligators and grayling*
could understand
so that if the wind should lose it on the way
the beasts and plants
with pity of our sharp suffering
from song to song
lament to lament
gabble to gabble
would bring you pure and hot
the burning words
the sorrowful words of the letter i wanted to write you my love...

I wanted to write you a letter...

but oh my love, I cannot understand
why it is, why it is, why it is, my dear
that you cannot read
and I - oh the hopeleness! -cannot write!