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19 May 2018

THE RIVER AND THE SOURCE - INTRODUCTION


Margaret Ogola’s charming novel The River and The Source is a tribute to the African woman. In a list of acknowledgements, she says it is partly based on the life and times of her own great grandmother, and she also names a living person, Grace Hagoma Okumu, as most closely portraying the spirit of the book – that of the undefeatable womanhood of Africa. The novel opens with the birth of a baby girl who screams all night and soon acquires the name of Akoko – the noisy one. Her birth occurs early in the 20th century, “about thirty seasons before that great snaking metal road of jorochere, the white people, reached the bartering market of Kisumu.” The book immerses us completely in Kenyan tribal life. The luo tribe worshipped were, “the god of the eye of the rising Sun.” and they were steeped in their tradition, which they called chik. Chik governed every aspect of the life of the people…without chik to tell each person where he fitted in the exact order of things, where he came from and where he could expect to go, there would be confusion and apprehension.
When Akoko reaches marriageable age, formal proceedings begin for her betrothal, and after negotiation between her father and chief Owuor kembo entourage she becomes chief Owuor kembo’s wife in exchange of thirty head of cattle – an unprecedented amount. Owuor becomes so devoted to his wife that he takes no other, even though in luo cultural practices a monogamous man was an unknown animal. When he dies, she mourns him with solemn dignity: she dons his monkey skin headdress that he came courting in almost thirty years before, takes his spear in one hand and shield in the other, and sings dirges in his honour. The narrative also tells of changes to a way of life which had existed for centuries. Many of these concerns changes in religious beliefs, the transition from traditionalism to Christianity, leadership and administration, cultural changes and changes in education. In this chronicle of a family and really of a nation, over the course of the 20th century, Akoko becomes a legend, and so in a way does Wandia, the girl from the hill country who becomes a physician and is given the highest academic award at the school of Medicine the University of Nairobi can bestow. Vast changes takes place in that century, but members of the family whose destiny we follow illustrate clearly that no matter what the changes, self-discipline and strength of a character are always virtues to be prized.

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