Review of Caine Prize Shortlisted Stories for 2023

 Story:  Souls of Small Places

Author: Mame Bougouma Diene and Moppa Diallo

Country: Senegal

Woppa and Mame
Credit: Caineprize.com

For me, the French-speaking West African nation of Senegal resonates in my mind only when there is a political regime change or music superstar –Akon– is the subject of the conversation, or Sadio Mane – the football superstar – is the subject.  Now, A Soul of Small Places, a short story that is shortlisted for the 2023 edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing is the reason why Senegal is resonating in my mind, once again. 

A Soul of Small Places is a short story written by the duo of Mame Bougouma Diene and Moppa Diallo.  It is a story that is set in the pristine Senegalese hinterland. It is a story of a rural town that suffers a horrific ritual of rape that targets girls of elementary school age.

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

Pius Ekemini
Credit: www.Caineprize.com

The story, Daughters By Our Hands, written by Pius Ekemini, finds root in an imaginative theory that a woman who can’t breed can reverse her condition if she meets another woman who is willing to donate or sell her nail. The nail is attached to that of the barren woman. After three weeks, there is a mix of genetics. Once the hybrid nail is inserted into a worthless womb, it magically reverses its fortune.

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. 

Review

                                          Caine Prize for African Writing 2023 Stories

Title: The Tangible Thing

Author: Yejide Kilanko

Country: Nigeria

Yejude Kilanko
Credit: www.caineprize.com 

The Tangible Thing is yet another powerful entry for the 2023 circle of the Caine Prize for African Story. It is scripted by a Nigerian, Yejide Kilanko.

This Tangible Thing is a story of a Nigerian man who travelled home with his daughter that was born in Canada but never visited Nigeria. She is a girl with an identity crisis, given the racial bias, she suffers in Canada, where her schoolmates refer to her as “a joke” –her name is Ajoke. At the same time, she is a girl who never travelled to Nigeria to understand the culture and feel Nigerian.

Father travels home to Southwestern Nigeria with his daughter. A mistake that led to the late arrival of luggage compels dad to return to Lagos. The daughter is left with granny. While they await the return of the father, Grandma uses the chance to get her granddaughter conversant with the Yoruba culture through folktales, a history of the family, and everyday family rituals of the Yorubas.

The story plays the Yoruba firmness of upholding the culture and a strong family discipline that is typical of educated Yoruba families.

The author creates imageries using simple words, albeit in a very creative manner. However, it is common for an African to take a child home to enable him to learn about his roots. It happens a lot of times. Thus, it introduces a tone of ambiguity between fiction and reality.   

Review

                                            Caine Prize for African Writing 2023 Stories

Title: Peeling Time

Author: TloTlo Tsamaase

Country: Botswana

Tlotlo Tsamasse
credit: www.caineprize.com

Peeling Time is a short story that is shortlisted for the 2023 edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing. It is written by a Botswanan author, TloTlo Tsamasse.

Motsumi is a failed video producer who has, against the odds, refused to call it quit. He resorts to the use of Muthi-tech to help him defy whatever forces frustrating his success. Muthi is actually black magic that helps you achieve your goals. In West Africa, it would have been called Juju-tech.  In this case, it involves a brew that, when taken, enables the separation of body and soul. Through this, Matsumi enters the body of women, sucks their essence to recharge and build the power that enables him to succeed as a movie producer. But the women will experience problems in their lives such that anything they do fails. Eventually, they end up on life support that drains the finances of relations. In the end, relations cut off the life support so that everyone finds relief. 

Motsumi believes that, given the sophistication of Muthi-tech, he is immortal. The victims of Muthi-tech grow into a nation. They are able to find a basis to believe that Motsumi is mortal. They team up and decide to fight him. Sewela is the most used of the victims. She leads the others to fight and overcome Motsumi.    

The author likens the story to a song. Thus, the plot is broken into intro, pre-chorus, verse, and so on. If a verse discusses Motsumi for instance, it is said to feature Motsumi.

The story draws the strength of its fiction from Muthi-tech, which is delusory or a conspiracy theory of sorts. The author’s creative use of words comes with a monstrous girth and depth.

A previous winner of the prize, Tope Folarin, believes the Caine Prize for African Writing is the best short story competition in the world. It is believed that the prize has recorded a level of success a thousand miles beyond the dream of the founder, Sir Michael Caine.  It is stories like this that give credibility to this belief.  Of the five shortlisted stories, only one stays visible on the radar of history. The judges of the Caine Prize wouldn’t want this story to be forgotten.  

 

Home Remedies for Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Sexually transmitted infections have become wider than they used to in the past decades. When one gets infected, it ruins not just his/her sex life, but he or she lives with the physical and, sometimes, emotional pains that come with an infection.

Predictably, people would get treated by taking over-the-counter antibiotics. The problem with antibiotics is the side effects of taking them, plus the fact that some cost a lot of money. Nothing can be as beautiful as eating and getting cured of the foods one eats.

You will be surprised by how effective foods are in curing bacterial infections. It leads to the question of why can’t they be researched and documented formally so that we can know what exactly cures what. There is a conspiracy theory that, should that happen, a multi-billion dollar industry will collapse. So, the major drawback of using foods to cure bacterial infections is knowing exactly what cures what. It makes it easier to reach for a particular meal to cure your known problem.

 It isn’t rhetorical when it is said that foods can heal many of these bacterial infections. This is important to build confidence in people so they can go for food when the need arises.  

 Without wasting much time, these are the foods that are known to be curative:

Dates Fresh dates (dabino in Hausa) are known to cure certain bacterial infections. Most times, people just tell you that dates can cure certain infections, without stressing that they have to be fresh. The problem is that fresh dates are seasonal. In situations where you can’t find your fresh dates, you then opt for orthodox treatment.

 Ginger/Garlic:  Ginger and garlic combinations are known to heal certain bacterial infections. It is common to see people selling juices made from crushing ginger and garlic. In some drinking parlors, it is easy to see this juice sold alongside alcoholic beverages. Drinkers often like to mix them with their alcoholic beverages.

Moringa. Moringa is sometimes referred to as a magic plant because of the broad range of infections it cures. Luckily, it is a common plant that one can find around him. All it takes is spreading the leaves on a tray in your kitchen (not under direct sunlight).  When dry, it can be crushed into powder. The powder is added to drinks like tea, kunu or ordinary water.  In supermarkets, one can find moringa teas that can serve the same purpose, but the homemade powder is preferred since it is self-made. Indoors, it takes a mere three days to dry.

Clove. Clove is another wonderful spice that is known to have antibacterial properties. It is known to cure E-Coli, a bacterial infection that has become resistant to antibiotics. It takes pounding it into a powder. The powder is then added to any drink and taken. Some prefer to pour the powder into bottles of water and allow the extracts to be extracted in a few days. The liquid is added to any drink. It is very easy to take in teas because of its high aromatic property.

Cabin Biscuits. Cabin biscuit cures a stubborn form of yeast infection (Candida amblicans) that has been said to be impossible to cure.  This form of yeast comes with a hangover-like weakness that makes it difficult for one to get up in the morning, a weakness that is very similar to hangovers from drinking alcohol. All you need is to buy cabin biscuits and just eat normally. A pack with probably about fifty pieces of biscuits eaten within 72 hours should do. You can also add yogurt, but it is not a must.

 Olive. Olive is also known to have curative properties for certain bacterial infections. The problem is that there are species of olive plants and the fact that olive plants are seasonal. But it cost nothing to just buy and eat olives when you see hawkers along the street.

Green Tea. There is a resilient form of yeast infection that gets women scratching until they bleed. Women suffering from it leave behind odor when they walk the street. For men, you experience itching as well as a severe headache when infected. It is highly resistant to over-the-counter antibiotics.  

 Yogurt. Yogurt is also another powerful antibacterial remedy that can be bought and eaten to heal certain infections. Yogurt is good because of the probiotics it contains. Probiotics or bio flora are bacteria that are present in our guts naturally and help protect us against germs. Even though they are present naturally, certain situations can sometimes lead to their depletion, making one vulnerable to harmful bacteria.

 Cabbage. Cabbage is known as an effective remedy for ulcers. In the hospital, your doctor could prescribe omeprazole to heal your ulcer. But the chemical substance that omeprazole brings is naturally present in cabbage. You could blend the cabbage and drink the juice. Blending crushes the leaf thereby allowing the chemical to be maximally extracted.

In conclusion, it is advised that, when you have a defiant infection, form a habit of eating these foods.

THE IGNORANCE OF HATING GWOTE AND KARKASHI

Gwote. Source:https://eatwellabi.com

Gwote is a semi-solid meal of crushed cereal and vegetable salad.  The cereal could be maize, guinea corn, rice or hungry-millet, while the vegetable mix draws its sources from spinach, cabbage, lettuce, garden eggs, spring onion, sorrel leaves, carrots, beans, ginger, garlic, etc. The leaf sources could also be wild, but edible.

Gwote is native to most northern Nigerian communities. In Plateau State, it is native to the North, mostly. When people from the central and southern Plateau migrate to the north of the state, they often look at gwote with scorn.  It is the same with Nigerians from the south.

Traditionally, it is prepared without adding salt. This is the fundamental reason why people find it difficult to eat it. Cultural reasons could also be why people could find exotic meals unattractive. What makes a meal great? It is the taste, nutritional content and freedom from taboos. The cereals like maize and guinea corn are universally eaten. The leaves mentioned are also universally eaten. So, there aren't any taboos!  And, as mentioned before, gwote is porridge of cereal, infused with vitamins from a salad. Thus, if you like a salad for its nutritional content, you should also like gwote. Moreover, it is not a must that it is taken without salt and oil. There are common variants that incorporate oil, salt and even meat.

During festive periods, like Christmas, when oily meals are all over the place, people eat a lot of oil-free gwote to clean up oily (and thus) morbid stomachs, thereby restoring cravings.

In Plateau State, it is mostly taken at lunch. Thus, it is the most eaten meal on farms. A colleague from Central Plateau told me that where he comes from, gwote is considered a token of poverty. So, I asked him what they eat when they go to farms in their regions. He replied that they prefer to take kunu. This underscores the irony. Tell me, between gwote and kunu, which one symbolizes poverty? It is kunu, which is merely a suspension of powdered cereal. Thus, this view of gwote as a sign of poverty smacks of illiteracy.

So, strangers ask, "how will I take a meal without salt or sugar?"  It takes just getting used to it. Though salt isn't added, some flavouring make up for its absence. The flavouring comes from sorrel, which gives a subtle sour taste. Sour flavour also comes from garden eggs.

Another northern meal that strangers find exotic is sesame leaf soup. In Hausa, it is known as karkashi. It draws just like okra, but the elastic property can be lost if the cook is not careful, just as in the case of okra. The soup can be eaten with any carbohydrate swallow such as tuwo, akpu, amala, etc.

In Nigeria, tribes that find karkashi exotic are mostly Igbos and southern minorities, especially the South-south. The irony though is that it is a meal that is very nutritious and medicinal. It can cure certain illnesses and prevent others. Thus, it helps in cases of hepatitis, typhoid and malaria.   

ECWA ANTHEM - Oh God be Glorified

Verse 1.

Love for the dying and the perishing;

A call to save the lost we heed;

Through the raging storms and all uncertainties;

Our lives we freely give…

 

And through ECWA Your name be glorified.

Oh God be glorified.

 

Verse 2.

The Bible our authority, mission our identity,

Touching lives with what we preach.

In life and speech, faithful we shall be,

Drawing hearts of men to Christ

And through ECWA Your name be glorified.

Oh God be glorified.

 

Verse 3.

Help the poor and homeless, clothe the weak and cold;

Giving all we have for Christ.

Our strength and substance we will not spare,

We shall draw all men to Christ.

 

And through ECWA Your name be glorified.

Oh God be glorified.

 

Verse 4.

The vision of our fathers will not die in our hands,

Like a candle in the dark, we shine.

Breaking every stronghold till the end of time,

Till our Lord and King we meet.

 

And through ECWA Your name be glorified.

Oh God be glorified. (2x)

 

 

 

Song Written by: Mr. Godfrey Alphonsus

Adopted by: ECWA in February 2019

Edited by: Rev.Romanus Ebenwokodi

 

 

Jagaban Never Dies

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria's President-elect.

I am an Obedient to the core. Outside of Nigeria, you may not understand what it means to be an Obidient. But in the heart of it, people know it refers to men and women who are fervent about the presidential ambition of Peter “Obi,” one of the men wishing to become Nigeria’s President in 2023. Today, though, I pay homage to Ahmed Jagaban Bola Tinubu who emerged victorious despite endless man-made hurdles in his way. 

 

 “The road to righteousness is narrow and difficult,” says the Holy Bible. If there is a man who dragged this message to the core of my heart, it is the Jagaban. President Mohammadu Buhari attempted to become president three times. After the third defeat, he was about quit. It was Bola Ahmed Tinubu who went to him and preached that deserters never win and winners never desert. He listened and won the next election. There’s something to learn here: Tinubu is an unbowed politician. 

 

By the time the authorities pulled the curtains open for political activities in 2022, it seemed that clandestine forces within the All Progressive Congress (APC), an amalgam of two old parties, wanted to backstab; Jagaban had supported Buhari on the condition that he would be the next. He fought his enemies within the party and, in the end, rose to the top of the mountain and hoisted a flag of victory! 

 

If you are a Nigerian who frequently logs into Twitter, Tik Tok, Facebook and similar sites, you will recall how Tinubu once noted that he has stopped login into his social media handles because of mudslinging volleys against his character. There are versions of a video of a politician who needed people as braces in order to walk and attend political rallies. There are photos of him snoozing while visiting a native king to solicit support. He was alleged to be sleeping while the king gave his speech of approval. There were videos of him praising a political party he referred to as PD-APC. He was almost praising a rival party, the PDP when he realized it. The worst is one of him dishing out syllables of a word that isn’t in any dictionary on this planet. When asked questions at Chatham House, he referred the questions to some selected members of his team. It was, in the minds of detractors, a goof. It became one of their shells against him. 

 

As politicking built energy, the Nigerian Central Bank declared it was redesigning the Nigerian currency, the Naira. It said that a curious chunk of the total cash that should be in the vaults of commercial banks had gone missing. It believed corrupt politicians had withdrawn the money in small paltry portions to avoid snooping eyes and are planning to use the money in deals for votes. An ugly trend of vote-buying had played during the party primaries. This inspired a compilation of a list of politicians based on their financial worth, with the wealthiest topmost. If you place this list side by side with the list of contestants of primaries by votes, the two lists are carbon copies and proof of the suspicion of vote-buying. So, in a bid to frustrate vote-buying and usher in an era of transparent voting, the Central Bank decided to redesign the currency. Jagaban proved it is not all about money but about brains as well.

 

While the political campaigns lasted, we, the Obidients, thought we were going to win. We were the most heard on social media and had well-wishers everywhere under the sun. We were among the most urbane and globally trendy. We felt Obi would give an elegance we badly wished for our country. But we failed to accept that there are a lot of ignorant Nigerians who aren’t on social media and as such the surveys that built our convictions weren’t a true reflection of the acceptance of the men. We saw it, albeit at dusk. 

 

The feeling of losing a presidential election is worse than the feeling of losing someone you love dearly. It is painful to the Obedients because, within any visible range, there doesn’t seem to be one with the magic that sold Peter Obi to millions, one who was going to lead a shared dream to victory. 

 

I am looking for words to comfort Peter Obi, the Obidients and the Igbo nation. But I know that four years is not far away. At least now, we have the structure our detractors often referred to. To the Igbo nation, we love you and your presence in Nigeria is a source of pride to all of us. Stay hopeful.