I have thought about her so much, the little girl in the village. The last time I saw her, she had a load on her head, her nose was headed to the UNGA mill.! She was in a hurry I noticed, that which she carried in her head was ‘real’. Time and call of duty gave her no chance to talk to the passing wind of reality. She is used to this world of patriarchy, Baba needs tea and warm water. Brother will be here for lunch and the cows will soon need her to unload. When age is in, I know she will miss that game: meeting boys. When nature ‘grows’ her to have all it makes her mama. She will be measured in cows and sheep and chicken. That is the world build around her.
I know she is 8, she no longer carries two on her hands, perhaps she has added one on her head and another on her back. Tasks lie ahead and she will need to multitask- they say they are good at it. Practice, Practice angel. The burden of the “shadow of the cave”[1]. Perhaps ‘more’, seals the mind from the gossip of ‘ideal life? You are ripe to learn, but circumstances won’t allow me to see her. I would have sent her a letter saying … Chepkam[2] it took me 16 years to learn the difference between smile and happiness. But that will cause more pain, don’t you think so?
It worries me to know her and I know something good in her for her. What should I do? I have waited too long to teach ‘cute’, babe and love. She knows not much about that seed in her, that she is a miracle when given a tadpole it warms and makes babies! In her world, patriarchy owns that ‘house’ and rents an old lady, who will soon take that tip of the pleasure in her. She will soon be dry and left a factory of beings. Friends, how did you learn this way, I want her to know this: the power of equality in this and that.
I am downtrodden and beaten to the core! Why did I wait? I should have done something or tell her the real ‘life’. She knows no city and no fashion. Her world is the shadow. Perhaps I am guilty of not saying and I owe that old man a kick she snatched her for a wife at 14…
[1] Plato: allegory of the cave.
[2] Chepkam.. sister
Mshamba Abroad 