{UAH} Fwd.ed, 'when an elphant cries' a review by Odong Aquilinus(cont.):

'when an elphant cries'

a review by Odong Aquilinus (a continuation):

 

I would like you to share this portion of the book as below. Happy reading

 

At about seven o'clock in the evening, they were invited in by the herbalist, Latin Kiro who is an assistant to the witchdoctor. The Wang OO is always situated in the centre of the courtyard and is the heart of the homestead in Acholiland. Family members gather at the Wang OO in the evening to eat, drink and share stories. The Latin Kiro was known to my parents as a young girl and the witchdoctor's lady in waiting who could end up marrying the witchdoctor.

 

Inside the large circular hut, my parents were shown a papyrus mat often used as a bed but was laid down with one side spread out into the sitting room and the other, the folded part by the wall. While my dad sat on the folded part of the mat and leaned backward onto the wall–– to rest his back, my mum sat on the part which spreads out to the sitting room.

 

Women don't sit leaning onto walls even when visiting. Traditionally it is said, welegi pe which literally means, they cannot behave as visitors by doing nothing. They therefore help with household work whenever they happen to be and cannot therefore afford to be too comfortable by resting their backs on walls. In response, women have developed an ingenious way of dealing with the problem imposed on them by the cultural society.

 

When they sit in the middle of a room, as my mum did, they can lean either left or rightwards by using one arm anchored on the floor to support their whole upper body weights. In that way, they can sit for hours without the need of a wall to lean on. When they feel tired, on one arm, they can use the other and change their posture.

　

Although the room was dimly lit by a single kerosene lamp placed by the pillar of the circular hut, my parents soon got accustomed to the light and they could see clearly the witchdoctor's wife whom they knew so well. She was the opposite of her husband in terms of physique because she was big and tall. That evening, she wore beads and corals around her long neck. Tied together loosely around her huge waist, were more than twenty strings of beads of different colours and as she moved around the circular room, the beads and corals around her neck and waist imitated her movement with synchronised noise.

There was also the silhouette bodies of two children aged between eight and ten seated on a raised part of the floor across the doorway. Their small body frames cased a shadow on the far side of the wall. The fire from a curved hole inside special clay which they were enjoying had no flames––just an amber glow. The glow above the floor level reflected on the faces of the children making them look like little ghosts. On the far side of the circular room was a single wall which runs half way to the centre of the hut and separated the bed room from the rest of the circular room.

 

The witchdoctor's house was sparsely furnished. There was a single stool by the pillar in the middle of the hut near a huge pot for water. By the far end of the wall on the edge of the bedroom, were some few drums and more pots. The ceiling was used as a showpiece for all manner of eating utensils including saucepans. Secured by beautifully knitted handicraft strings, they were suspended right across the ceiling in the sitting room. Due to the dim light of the kerosene lamp, my parents could not see the splendour of the ceiling but they understood it. That type of furnishing was standard in Acholi for the well to do and influential people such as Angura.

 

The witchdoctor greeted my parents from his hideout behind the single wall and the edge of the bedroom. His wife joined him briefly before the proceeding which started by the shaking of the rattle gaud. It went on for about five minutes before a distorted voice answered.

"Who is calling me now?"

To be continued, from the Mauscript  'When an elephant cries'

- End.

 

- Peace, To The World.