Daniel Mengara's Mema is a tribute to his mother, a woman of extraordinary courage who is ready to wield the machete and take on her entire community to hold onto her son. At the same time, Mema is also the story of a culture in transition, one that is face to face with the new world where "people no longer knew their own wisdoms, because the wisdoms of the white man had prevailed".
Notorious for her big mouth and her fiery temper, she was both "admired and loathed, respected and feared" by her own people. Mocked for her barrenness, she was also accused of witchcraft as she managed to subdue her husband completely. After many a struggle she finally manages to bear children, but then calamity strikes her. When her husband's health takes a turn for the worse, she decides to take him to the mimbiri medicine men much against the wishes of her husband's family and other members of the community. The plan backfires as her husband doesn't return from his trip to the world of the dead. Adding to her misery she loses two daughters on the day following the death of her husband.
So her son Daniel is forcefully taken out of her home by her husband's nephew Zula who was an important figure from Beyok as he was trained in the white man's ways. Mother and son are separated for 5 years during which Daniel is educated in Beyok, after which Mema rises once again and takes back her son. Guided by the fable of Osuga Zame and its wisdom "Ntol osu, ntol n'vouss" (Elder ahead, elder behind), Mema fully understands that the child who saves the family is not necessarily the oldest. Sometimes the youngest has to take over the role of the elder.
Mema strives and saves money to ensure that Daniel can learn and "become someone in the white man's world". As the white man's wisdom becomes inevitable, Mema extracts a promise from her Osuga Zame to never forget his people and his wisdom.
This book is proof that Daniel Mengara has not forgotten, for her, he remembers, just as he had promised.
Notorious for her big mouth and her fiery temper, she was both "admired and loathed, respected and feared" by her own people. Mocked for her barrenness, she was also accused of witchcraft as she managed to subdue her husband completely. After many a struggle she finally manages to bear children, but then calamity strikes her. When her husband's health takes a turn for the worse, she decides to take him to the mimbiri medicine men much against the wishes of her husband's family and other members of the community. The plan backfires as her husband doesn't return from his trip to the world of the dead. Adding to her misery she loses two daughters on the day following the death of her husband.
So her son Daniel is forcefully taken out of her home by her husband's nephew Zula who was an important figure from Beyok as he was trained in the white man's ways. Mother and son are separated for 5 years during which Daniel is educated in Beyok, after which Mema rises once again and takes back her son. Guided by the fable of Osuga Zame and its wisdom "Ntol osu, ntol n'vouss" (Elder ahead, elder behind), Mema fully understands that the child who saves the family is not necessarily the oldest. Sometimes the youngest has to take over the role of the elder.
Mema strives and saves money to ensure that Daniel can learn and "become someone in the white man's world". As the white man's wisdom becomes inevitable, Mema extracts a promise from her Osuga Zame to never forget his people and his wisdom.
This book is proof that Daniel Mengara has not forgotten, for her, he remembers, just as he had promised.
I posted a comment earlier - but that doesn seem to show up!?
ReplyDeleteanyway - really liked your review. sounds like a great book. loved the line: "people no longer knew their own wisdoms, because the wisdoms of the white man had prevailed" - so true of what I see around me *all* the time!