Story: Souls of Small Places
Author:
Mame Bougouma Diene and Moppa Diallo
Country:
Senegal
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| Woppa and Mame Credit: Caineprize.com |
When Woppa was born, her mum,
conscious of the danger she faces, decided to protect her. But the protection
itself comes with extreme sacrifice –the girl will exist, but would actually
belong to the spirits. Woppa has a kid sister by the name of Awa. So, in the
real, the mother actually has one daughter.
Woppa’s ancestors, stretching
back to her great-great-grandmother are flesh-eaters, coming in their spiritual
form to devour anyone they deem fit. When provoked, their spirits rise to
attack victims, targeting their hearts. To the flesh-eaters, blood is as tasty
as cappuccino would be with us today. This is exactly what Moppa inherited,
albeit without knowing.
Woppa is held late by a
romantic outing. She, knowing she isn’t human, says it is more of a lustful
relationship. As she and Awa walk back home, she felt Awa’s hand slipping out
of her grip. She is prompted by the whispers of her ancestors. She swings into
defensive action. The result is a scene that is crimson-red with gory remains
of human bodies and scattered bits of human flesh.
In the process, Moppa becomes
unconscious, bouncing back only after nineteen days. She is made to believe
there was a stormy rain that unleashed a flood, wreaking havoc on the community
and throwing her into a coma.
Back in school, there is a girl
that wears a fetish pouch around her neck and sees beyond the ordinary, as a
result. She is able to see that Woppa is a flesh-eater. She uses innuendo to
refer to Moppa’s powers to Moppa’s and other kids’ hearing. Woppa confronts her
parents. They can help but admit the truth to get over it, once and for all.
From then onward, Moppa is fully conscious of her powers and her duty to
protect little girls from rapist herdsmen.
Woppa continues to defend the
girls in her village and the neighboring villages. One day, three herdsmen
tried to gain entry into a house next to hers.
She is hinted at by a chorus of voices, as usual. Swiftly, she comes out,
unleashing her powers at the men. She returns home as swiftly as she had come,
without anyone noticing. The commotion draws the attention of men on patrol,
but also her mum, who reaches the scene before the patrol team. The patrol team
arrives and mistakes Moppa’s mum as the killer. They descend on her, taking her
life.
Woppa’s father, devastated by
the circumstance of his wife’s death and the implication, –if people believe she
killed the men –commits suicide less than twenty-four hours after his wife’s
passing.
Awe is left alone, but does not
trust anybody –among her close relatives– to raise her. Her sister’s spirit
stands and watches the funeral of her parents. She whispers to birds who in
turn whisper to the wind, relaying a message to Awa and hinting her to come
over. Awa walks to the spirit of her sister who assures her that she will be going
nowhere and will be there to protect her, forever.
Mame Bougouma Diene and Moppa
Diallo’s innovative writing style delivers prose with embroidery of poetry in a
manner that is breathtaking. It announces their arrival so astonishingly that
we can’t help but notice.
The Soul of Small Places is a
story with a strong chance to clinch the 2023 edition of the Caine Prize for
African Writing.
Story:
Weaving
Author:
Yvonne Kusiima
Country:
Uganda
Yvonne Kusiima
Credit: www.caineprize.com
Thomasina –the younger– and
Jessica are little girls born and raised in Kampala by a wealthy mother who
suddenly dies. The two girls are compelled to move to rural Uganda to live with
a granny in a two-room shack.
Jessica cried the day Grandma
told them they will be weaving with her. For her protest, she is exempted.
Thomasina finds herself weaving plastic mats with grandma, every day. The task
is difficult and Grandma is harsh, flogging Thomasina with every single
mistake. As a rookie knitter, it takes Thomasina a whole year to weave a single
mat, while grandma’s experienced hands finish more than a dozen within the same
period.
It is time to market the mats
and Thomasina is made to sit under a hostile sun trying to woo buyers. It is a Herculean –most that come only watch and move on, never buying.
An American boy, whose mother’s
charity work brought them to the village, approaches and buys everything to
please Thomasina. He gets talking to ten-year-old Thomasina about what seems like
romance to her. While she thinks that love is in the air, the American boy has lust
in his mind, only interested in a hit-and-run.
In the evening, an American boy
walks her to the woods carrying the mat he bought from her. He puts her on
it, stealing her virginity. But then he turns back to his real love, a girl
with fully matured hips that is unmistakably adult. Thomasina is devastated.
Devastation is only a small fraction of her woe as she ends up pregnant.
Jessica and Grandma are divided
on how to deal with the pregnancy. While Jessica wishes that her sister be
allowed to keep the pregnancy and the baby, eventually, Grandma is against it
because it would mean an additional burden.
Grandma, however, had her way,
forcing Thomasina to take a native mixture that terminates the pregnancy.
Yvonne has a humble,
disciplined, and charming writing style that is sure to win her fans across the
continent. Through branches of her story, she is able to let us feel the mood
of rural Uganda: the modest understanding of rural people, the poverty,
gossip, superstition…
With her shortlist for the
Caine Prize for African Writing, Yvonne has pulled herself from behind the
horizon. With or without the prize, though, she has come and would shape
conversations on African literature as long as she stays in writing.
Story:
Daughters, by Our Hands
Author:
Pius Ekemini
Country:
Nigeria
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| Pius Ekemini Credit: www.Caineprize.com |
A mother, Eme, sells nine of
her ten nails. The sole nail in her kitty gives her a much-cherished daughter, Aniema,
who is cherished partly for the mundane benefits Eme expects to get from her nails.
But the Aniema has her own
opinion as to how she intends to use her nails –they will not be sold. She prefers
to donate them to poor sterile women who wouldn’t have been able to afford the
nails. But Eme still hopes her daughter will cave in.
One day Aniema returns home
with three of the nails gone and without money to show they had been sold. The mother
confronts her daughter who said she had donated the three to a poor woman she
met on a bus. Eme is badly hurt by her daughter’s decision, a situation that hurts
deeply their relationship.
The poor recipient of the nail
pays a visit to her “egg” donor three years after their accidental meeting. She
came with three beautiful triplets, reminding Aniema who she is and thanking
her for her generosity.
Daughters, by Our Hands, is “clean”
and makes for speedy reading, as such. The
writer shows an amazing descriptive power that opens the reader's eyes to
possibilities he may not have believed existed.
Any story that makes it to the
shortlist of the Caine Prize has a chance. A lot of times, judges often
complain about how tricky it is to come to a decision on who should take the prize.
Having read the other stories, I think that the judges will again have to crack
their heads to come to a conclusion as to who takes the prize.
