tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56278805155389870322024-03-14T03:34:42.646-04:00Cultivate The SeedHana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-16300901649076437542016-01-24T15:06:00.001-05:002016-01-25T04:39:39.936-05:00In Quest of Justice, A Memoir by Rebeka Njau<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A first look at the memoir of Rebeka Njau, author of The Sacred Seed, Books Horizon (2003), Ripples In The Pool, Heinemann (1978) and The Scar</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> (1965)</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Here is the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">first chapter of her soon to be completed <span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">memoir.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In Quest of Justice, a Memoir</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by Rebeka Njau</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chapter One</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">WHEN I
decided to write the story of my life, I struggled to find the best way to
express my deep and complex emotions. Finally, in memory of the poetry of my
earlier years as a writer, I chose to open this memoir with the following
lines:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My ears are plugged up</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By poisonous spittle of a grimy
tongue;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Times without number,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Little birds have been twittering,
joyfully at my backyard,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But I cannot hear them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Falsity, scattered like seeds</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Everywhere I tread,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Has driven me to extreme bitterness
and pain,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Making me feel powerless to forgive
and forget.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like a piece of rock that stands on
its own,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I stand alone beside a sweet-scented
bush</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To ease my heavy heart.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then in desperate helplessness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I approach the Mugumo tree, in my
compound</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To offer my supplications</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To the Comforter, the Maker of all
Things</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And erase the agonies of pain.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But my attention is diverted;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I see images of Ondiri’s swamp,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Looking like a large carpet of mossy
green;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Decades ago it was a sight to
behold;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A sight to take one’s breath away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Memories of that natural spectacle,
flood my mind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I recall the day I waded through it</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The ground swayed from side to side</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Scaring me to the uttermost.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When I recollect that act of courage</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Inspired by Guka’s captivating words
of wisdom</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And the amulet he wore</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To shield himself against evil
forces,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I ask myself:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Who will shield me against the fangs
of the unjust?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As I lift up my eyes, suddenly an
apparition flashes across my face,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Leaving behind haunting images of a
day I will never forget.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">THAT
DAY, August 1975, lunch-time. Very cold. I had had a restless night, for no
clear reason. I picked up a book by Henrik Ibsen, one of my favourite
playwrights and decided to finish reading A Doll’s House.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But before
I reach the part where Nora, Helma’s wife, decides to escape from the clutches
of male egotism, my telephone rings. I pick it up, but hesitate to answer. The
caller says ‘hallo’ twice. I recognize the voice. It is my sister, Keziah. We
exchange greetings. Then unexpectedly, she drops a bomb-shell that almost
lacerates my ear-drums.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Your
husband, Elimo Njau has formalized his marriage to his African-American
girlfriend.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What?”
I exclaim in disbelief.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Don’t
say you do not know. It is a public scandal. They were joined in so-called holy
matrimony in Moshi, Tanzania and they have a baby girl.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That
can’t be true. He is still married to me,” I gasp. ‘It is against the law.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What
law? Take courage, my sister. It is not the end of the world. The sky won’t
fall on you,” she says and hangs up.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My mind
reels. My lobes are on fire. A sinking painful sensation stirs inside me. I
take a long deep breath to calm my palpitating heart. But like a withering leaf
blown into a windstorm, my entire body is hurled to the centre of a whirl-pool,
where my energy is sucked out of me, making me feel like a swamp drained of its
water. I keep taking deep breaths. I shake my head with disbelief, anger. I try
to convince myself that my sister's words cannot be true.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To me,
polygamy is not an option. It goes against the Christian values that my mother,
a devoted Christian evangelist instilled in the whole family. As growing
youngsters, brought up among Christians who were ‘born again’, we were taught
that a Christian marriage was meant to be monogamous. If my mother had
suspected that my future husband would one day become a polygamist, she would
have refused him permission to marry me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I rested
my head on my desk and appealed to my Creator to grant me courage to overcome the
pain and bitterness. I appealed for strength as I did not want to let
humiliation devour me and wreck my confidence, my hopes. After a while, I stood
up, walked to the window. A six-storied building in the horizon held my gaze. An
image flashed through my mind. It was the picture of the Mukungugu tree, a
hardy tree that grew on Guka’s land near the banks of Nyongara river. Clinging
to the tree was a tender yam plant which had twined its delicate limbs around
its mother’s neck, like a child. That image captivated me. I fascinated over the
bond of love and harmony displayed by those two creations of nature, linked together
like the inseparable needle and thread. The image conjured up different strands
of my life, and like in a dream, I heard the echo of my mother’s voice singing
one of her favourite songs, “Blessed Assurance.” And my voice joined hers in
the chorus, humming. “This is my story. This is my song.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before
I could complete the chorus, ugly memories pervaded my mind. I recalled all the
lies that my husband had drummed into my ears, regarding his relationship with
his girlfriend. I felt humiliated when I remembered the sworn oath we took on
that warm day of December 19, 1959 at the chapel of Alliance Girls High School,
Kikuyu where I was a teacher. All the talk that we engaged in concerning
sticking together was now meaningless. And as those corrosive memories
continued to flood my head, I saw the images of my son, Morille and my
daughter, Hannah, in their early teens, groping in the dark trying to reach me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
returned to my desk, shaking in helpless fury. The tears came and I let them
flood and cleanse my face. After a while, I composed myself, opened the last
page of Ibsen’s play and read the final conversation between Nora and her
husband, then left my office at the National Council of Churches of Kenya
(NCCK) where I worked. That night, in the seclusion of my room, it occurred to
me that the little goodwill which might have existed between Elimo and I had
finally blown itself out. The faint light of understanding that might have been
glowing inside our hearts had been strangled.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The next
day, I got out of bed earlier than usual. I took walk outside and stopped in
front of a leafy tree and listened to my favourite bird and her joyful twitter as
she jumped from branch to branch. I circled the garden and stopped to lean against
a huge blue gum tree. I looked up and the sun rising in the horizon caught my
attention. As I gazed at its blazing beams, I recalled the words of my Guka
(grandfather). “Focus your eyes on the rising sun whenever you feel distressed
and the dark clouds will dissipate.” With these words, he always sprinkled his
bare chest with tiny drops of his own spittle, reciting a prayer, not only for
me, but for many of his kin.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
image of the ‘Mukungugu’ tree and the yam plant continued to ha"nt me.
After debating with myself about my future, I made up my mind. Unlike Nora, I
decided not to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no other
place to call home and no resources to start a new life on my own. Moreover, I
had to stay for the sake of Morille and Hannah. I could not leave them under
the care of their father who had clearly shown that his uppermost allegiance
was to his art and not to his family. I had to wait and see them not only
growing but fully grown.</span></div>
Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-8112746519896241942008-12-28T18:46:00.000-05:002008-12-28T18:45:12.864-05:00The Sacred Seed, By Rebeka Njau<div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qDNBJ7aS_c0/SU2HZ6Sfa1I/AAAAAAAAAJo/Q1npDO_GzIg/s1600-h/Sacred+Seed+Cover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282026817188752210" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 263px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qDNBJ7aS_c0/SU2HZ6Sfa1I/AAAAAAAAAJo/Q1npDO_GzIg/s400/Sacred+Seed+Cover.jpg" border="0" /></a>(Books Horizon, 2003)</div><div align="center">Cover by Morille Njau</div><div align="center"><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>REBEKA <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">NJAU</span></strong> was born in a village near the city of Nairobi in Kenya. She was educated at the Alliance Girls High School and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Makerere</span> University in Kampala, Uganda and taught at Alliance Girls High School and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Makerere</span> College School before spending five years as the founding headmistress of Nairobi Girls School. From 1975-1990 she worked with the National Council of Churches of Kenya and was editor of its fortnightly newspaper, Target.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">When she was growing up, her mother, a Christian evangelist in the 1950s, and her maternal grandfather, a medicine man and a specialized blacksmith, became her greatest source of inspiration.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Rebeka <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Njau</span></strong> is better know for her prize-winning play the <strong>Scar</strong> (1965) and a novel, <strong>Ripples in The Pool</strong>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Heinemann</span> (1978). Her folktales and fables have been included in several published collections. She enjoys textile <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">designing</span> and picture making. As a young girl she was determined to be an actress. She has a daughter and a son.<br /></div><br /></div><div align="center">***</div><div align="left"></div><div style="text-align: left;">In The Sacred Seed, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Tesa</span> the heroine, is a talented music teacher at a city high school who has been raped by a corrupt President, Dixon <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Chinusi</span>. she is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">devastated</span> and decides to leave the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">city</span> and seek help from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Mumbi</span>, a traditional woman with special powers who has set up a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">sanctuary</span> for abused and traumatised women in a secluded place inside a primeval forest, which is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">eyed</span> with greed by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Chinusi</span> and his associates. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Tesa</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">travels</span> to the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">sanctuary</span> to seek healing and peace of mind. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Mumbi</span> immediately recognises in her special talents and an intriguing supernatural phenomenon. She <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">places</span> a gourd seed in her <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">hand</span> and requests her to plant it behind the awesome sanctuary to be a symbol of an eternal seed which grows in the midst of weeds and thorn bushes; the sacred seed from which the dreams of love and hope are created.</div>Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-26579496407903415852008-12-28T18:39:00.001-05:002008-12-28T18:41:48.371-05:00Kenya Women Heroes and Their Mystical Power (1984)Risk Publications, Nairobi, Kenya.<br /><br />This volume of Kenya Women Heroes and Their Mystical Power contains biographies of ten women heroes ranging from political detainees in the early 1900s to seers, medicine women, poets and natural healers with special abilities in traditional Kenya.<br /><br />Featured too are exciting folktales inspired by oral narratives from Mozambique and myths and fables of our times.Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-117926220913619572008-12-28T18:33:00.000-05:002008-12-28T18:39:24.310-05:00The Hypocrite and Other Stories (1977)Published by Uzima Press, Nairobi, Kenya.Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-14367673045485230762008-12-28T18:28:00.000-05:002008-12-28T18:38:39.497-05:00Ripples In The Pool (1978)Published by Heinemann Publications, London, England.<br /><br />The protagonist, a prostitute - Selina negotiates post-colonial constraints and expectations in Kenya.Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-6921619101124466432008-12-28T18:04:00.000-05:002008-12-28T18:37:46.471-05:00The Scar: A Tragedy In One Act (1965)Published by Kibo Art Gallery Publications, Moshi, Tanzania in 1965.<br /><br />This prize-winning play was first presented at the Uganda Drama Festival in 1960 and then performed variously in the United States, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya. The play marks it's author as the first Kenyan woman to write about female genital mutilation.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"A physical operation as empty as a cave."</span><br /></div>Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627880515538987032.post-78514128282581004412008-12-26T13:49:00.000-05:002008-12-26T14:05:42.995-05:00The VillageBy MARINA GASHE<br /><br />Kanyariri, Village of Toil,<br />Village of unending work.<br /><br />Like a never dying spring,<br />Old women dark and bent<br />Trudge along with their hoes<br />To plots of weedy maize.<br /><br />Young wives with donkeys<br />From cockcrow to setting of the sun<br />Go about their timeless duties,<br />Their scraggy figures like bows set in a row,<br />Plod up and down the rolling village farms<br />With loads on their backs<br />And babies tied to their bellies.<br /><br />In the fields all day they toil<br />Stirring up the soil with hands and knives<br />Like chickens looking for worms.<br /><br />Nothing here seems to sit still.<br />Even the village church is like a favourite well<br />Where the 'Revivalists' with their loudspeakers<br />Never cease calling people<br />To confess their sins and drink the Water of Life.<br /><br />At dawn men ride away leaving the womenfolk<br />To fend for the bony goats and the crying children.Hana Njau-Okolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15978662559579409259noreply@blogger.com3