milayetu

From the moment I received this book as a gift from a special person in my life, I couldn't put it down, it was simply captivating. It is a marvelous book that talks about the struggles of the Nobel price winner Wangari Muta Maathai. It talks about the challenges she had to face to get to where she is now. The language used is very simple, but with a few words that one can add to their vocabulary. She is among the few Kenyan women to have an autobiography, but that does not mean she is the only story worth writing. Other autobiographies of Kenyan women include Muthoni Likimani, Fighting without ceasing, there are some who believe Prof. Wanjiku Kabira’s book, A reply to Marima Ba is an autobiography (an equally interesting book).

By the end of the book Unbowed one feels motivated to face life despite the problems that may present themselves. It is among one of my favorite books. Depicting how a simple young girl from the rural areas became to be a powerful woman, and the intimidations she had to face especially from the male and powerful men for that matter. She has created a new path for women today, not to be intimidated by powerful people, especially if you belief in what you are fighting for.

I can’t help but put it in the same category as Buchi Emecheta’s book, Joys of Motherhood. Where she writes about the irony of the joys of motherhood, a sad irony. This also is among my favorite books. Both books talk about the problems that women and more specifically mothers have to go through, especially when they do not have husbands who can support them. The difference is the while Unbowed has a happy ending, joys of motherhood has a somewhat sad ending. Nevertheless it is a remarkable book. The themes both writers highlight are practical for both African women and men. Both books create awareness among women and also seek to empower them.

Watch out for a more detailed analysis of Buchi Emecheta’s book, the joys of motherhood

For the first time in a very long time the renowned writer Prof. Ngugi wa Thiongo delivered a three day lecture at the University of Nairobi at his home country Kenya. His lecture focused on mainly three issues;
Dis-membering Africa, which occurred during the days of colonization.
Re-membering Africa, which occurred during the struggle for freedom from colonization. Remembering Africa, which is and on going process and is also the area he emphasized most.

Africa has forgotten who it was before colonization. It seems Ngugi shares the same sentiments with me regarding the language used in Africa (see my previous post a letter to all Africans). He criticized the aspect that Africans, shy away from their indigenous languages viewing them as being backward. Indigenous languages are associated with the poor.
As I reflected on his speech I realized African countries need to take some of his ideas seriously. Take for example the issue of illiteracy in most third world countries. If books were written in their indigenous languages we can be able to eliminate illiteracy and ignorance especially in the rural areas, or more specifically among the elderly. Why is it that everything in Kenya for example has to be taught or written in English? There are very few mathematics books written in Swahili, or any other language, in fact I am yet to see one.
His opinion is that English should be used as a link between the past and the present, the old and the new. The old should not be forgotten. If we forget our old we will be a nation without identity. If we fail to remember the past there will be no healing, no wholeness. The question then arises, Kenya is a country with many indigenous languages, have we healed to the point that we are ready to express ourselves in these languages without causing conflict, like in the case of Rwanda?
He continues to explain that African renaissance (re birth of Africa) is evolving through the struggle against European modernity to give birth to African modernity. He stressed that African languages are important for the decolonization of the African mind. (More of this is expressed in his book; decolonizing the mind). He agreed that translation is a way of joining African language. It is hard to directly translate one African language directly to another, without using a third language. He agreed to this, and further emphasized that “European language should be used to enable without disabling.” Finally he finished by saying that Africa can only fly if it remembers it wings. For a bird can not be given new wings, he/she has to use the ones he/she has been given, he/she has to remember that it was created with it owns wings, it cannot borrow new ones.
All in all Ngugi wa Thiongo is a good speaker compared to Wole Soyinka whose speech I had to struggle to concentrate.