“December staggered in like a weary mud-encrusted vagabond who had been on her way to someplace else but whose legs had buckled and now she was here. On the second, which in Mapeli Town was known as Epitaph Day, the townspeople awoke while the sky was still silver, still tinged with ruffles of pink and blue. They gargled salt water. They greased their elbows. They tucked a flower in their hair or pinned it on their lapel.
They marched to the schoolhouse, where the flag flapped at half-mast for all those who had drowned in the river or choked on a fishbone or stepped on a puff adder while walking to the marketplace. With eyes bleary and heads bowed, the townspeople thought of all the ones they had ever lost. They sang Luwere-luwere-luwere until their voices crackled. They murmured, Go well, Opembe, or, Greet our people, Makokha”.
These words from the magical and beguiling novel, Things They Lost, by Okwiri Oduor, describe a beaten-down people. The novel is an elegy, like a plaintive melody that stirs the heart — told not just in English but in the language of the heart — in a lush beauty that is otherworldly, blissful, passionate, and peaceful in places. Of course, there is also pain in other places but even that is beautifully told, like distant pain, but pain transformed into beauty.
These opening words have hints of Oduor’s trademark motifs, melancholy refrains, tear-stained and heart-breaking — unspeakably sad. Discord and pain seem to have sharpened their blades to wreck things. Bleary eyed. Heads bowed. Voices crackling. An unfortunate lot whose fate seems to be misery. Tortured souls.
Hard economic realities
These words can be used to describe the current reality of most Kenyans due to the hard economic realities — made worse by the drought ravaging the country — leaving many people trapped, frustrated, and confused.
As President Ruto asserts his authority, he is a study in a baffling paradox. On one hand, he is the superstar politician with sophisticated funk and accompanying acclaim. On the other hand, he has taken on a job that’s inherently difficult, usually unglamorous, and often unsuccessful in meeting all the expectations people have on a new leader. He also has the difficult task of being in touch with the common man (hustler) even as he stays in his airconditioned offices.
It’s easy for well-to-do people (like the ones who have recently regaled us with tales of millions of shillings in net worth as they were vetted for Cabinet Secretary positions) to forget the reality of millions of unfortunate Kenyans. In their affluent mansions soaked in comforting smells — garlic, carrots, and bacon fat simmering in the kitchen — it’s probably hard for some of them to imagine how some Kenyans are going without food; a rugged people living a scattered life, living here and there, scrapping for what to eat to just barely stay alive.
Like the characters in Things They Lost, since Independence in 1963, Kenyans have lost many things ranging from lost opportunities to failed promises or unfulfilled dreams of overcoming the three enemies of poverty, ignorance and disease.
In Oduor’s novel, the townspeople grapple with the complexities, mysteries and pains of life just like now when many Kenyans are embroiled in the hard issues of contemporary struggles for a better and more humane society. Apart from the rising cost of life, Kenyans are also shocked by some of the allegations and revelations of extra-judicial killings that allegedly happened in the last few years.
Oduor’s novel addresses this in detail. The novel is based on a 12-year-old character, Ayosa, who delves into the unknown, daring, and dangerous spiritual world — into gloomier pits where the sun doesn’t shine. She has supernatural abilities to tell things that happened in the past before she was even born.
Human rights
According to the novel, some of the “things they lost” include the “disappearances” of people during the 1978-2002 Moi era, when the government of the day was responsible for numerous human rights violations, unlawful detentions and torture. Since literature is a mirror of society, Kenyans can identify with this as there have been media reports of alleged “disappearances” now coming to light even as the new government cracks the whip.
However, there is another way in which the character Ayosa typifies the Kenyan voter. She is always longing for things or people. She longs for the possibility of even Mbui Dash, “a throwaway girl”, hoping that she would make her feel desired and wanted as Ayosa had a scorching relationship with her mother who was always away, leaving her “lonely”.
This is probably exactly how the Kenyan voter now feels — lonely. For several months before the August elections, politicians went from door to door and interacted with voters almost daily, sometimes even giving them handouts. Now that the elections are over, voters have been left “lonely” and probably their calls for help are going unanswered.
One of the most important lessons from Things They Lost can be gleaned from the character Ayosa. Like many Kenyans, she has a difficult upbringing, but she has an insurmountable survivor’s spirit. Kenyans need to develop that survivor’s spirit as they grapple with the myriad of challenges life throws their way. As the famous saying goes, “tough times never last but tough people do”. BY DAILY NATION