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PUBLIC PROPERTY
***This is a story that my Luo friend told me. She says it’s from among the Luo people of Kenya.
In Yoruba we call it “Àǹfààní àdúgbò.”
Please help me translate Àǹfààní àdúgbò to Oyinbo.
Wife 1: Our husband has not yet returned home?
Wife 2: No o. It is now 11 pm.
ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Twenty-Three)
Josephine was embarrassed when I informed her that her white uniform was soaked with blood at the back.
She immediately opened the door and jumped into the bus. As she entered the bus, she realized that the seat from which she got up was already soaked in blood also. She became confused. She didn’t know whether to sit on the bloody seat, but as she hesitated, I gently led her down to the seat. Just as her uniform, the seat was already stained. No further damage could be done. What was most important at that point was her health.
In about 9 to 12 months…
In about 9 to 12 months, the results of the corona siesta will be out: twins, triplets, etc, will be common.
I went to the grocery stores, and the shelves were packed as never before with all sorts of consumables.
There was hardly anybody shopping.
I saw an interracial couple, and they were holding hands!
ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981
As soon as we drove to the front of the house, we knew something was wrong. There was a crowd of nearly twenty people waiting for us.
“Mr. Rufus, good thing you are back,” said a neighbor stepping forward from the crowd. “Nobody knows what the problem was, but we had to break down the door to your house….”
Before he could complete his story, Josephine, ran to the Mitsubishi bus, breathless, “Papa Ru. That your friend almost killed Steve! I ran out to call the neighbors, but when I went out, he jammed the door. They had to force the lock to free Steve from him!”
PARABLE OF IJAPA and CHILD
PARABLE OF IJAPA and CHILD
There is an old Yoruba proverb that says “The child insisting that his mother must not sleep will also not get any sleep.” (Ọmọ tó ní ìyá òun ò ní í sùn kò ní fojú ba oorun).
Women who nurse babies know the challenge of getting enough sleep while a baby is still unable to understand the difference between night and day. The baby keeps waking up to feed, cry, poo and pee.
The mother must attend to all the needs of the baby during the night. Typically, for the mother, therefore, it is a long, wearying night.
The poor mother gets up in the morning having caught almost no sleep, exhausted and drained physically and emotionally.
Yet she must face another day of sleeplessness and ceaseless labor until the baby grows up.
Now think of the story of Ijapa.
THE DILEMMA OF ABANDONING YOUR LANGUAGE
For the first time in my life, I traveled out of Nigeria in 1983 to visit London for a solo exhibition of my work at the Africa Center.
Rufus Orisayomi had arranged the exhibition for me.
Tunde Fagbenle and his wife, Ally Bedford, offered to host me at their home.
Ally was writing a Master’s thesis on my work, therefore, it was convenient for her to keep me close by to enable her to have access to me for clarifications when needed.
