BY THE RIVER / A DAUGHTER OF THE MOON

Oloibenia is my name and ours is a pastoralist community. In my community, men and women have their traditional roles which dictate part of the gender difference between men women, boys  girls divide. Gender roles as my grandfather taught me, is culturally determined in many societies. This is normally not the case in societies which have attained “cultural independence” where individuals are free to chose what they want for themselves regardless of what their cultures dictate. 

In accordance with my community’s expectations, by the river I would sit after a long day's work herding my father’s animals. The cattle is sacred to our people. We believe that of all the communities in our small world, God Enkai made the cattle specifically for us. There is a very special bond between a Mansun man and his cattle. Thus taking care of my father’s herd of cattle is something I’ve always cherished just like any other Mansun young man. Part of the reason for this is because of the inheritance factor among other important societal  rites which calls for slaughtering of large number of cattle during such events like the men’s initiation. Thus every young man for the two above reasons would protect his father’s herd with his own life if it gets to that extent.

As earlier briefly introduced, Mansun community like any other African community has specific roles for the different groups of people. Part of the reason I sat by the river during this hot afternoon was to water my father’s cattle as this was part of my duties as a Mansun young man. 

Just to give you the bigger picture as to why the River Suwa qualifies as my plot for the narration, this water body according to our people is the source of life. It is argued that from this river our great grand parent, the father of the Mansun people emerged. Legend has it that the first Mansun man emerged from these waters with his wife and a herd of cattle. From then on, the story has been told and retold to many generations . This thus made the river be called the mother or source of life. It sounds more of a myth to a mind that has accessed civilization but not to the Mansun people. This is our version of the creation story as the Genesis is to the Jews and Christians. 

Its relevance as a source of life over the years is also emphasized by the fact that the community depends entirely on it as a source of livelihood. We water our animals at the legendary river and our people come for washing and bathing at the different points of the river along the valley. More important, our women come for cooking and drinking water from the same rive. Yes, our young ladies too came to the river for water to take to their mothers back at home.

Thus, this river is the centre of Mansun people’s daily life. It is so significant that our people say failing to come into contact with it in one day was like missing out on oxygen. A story is told of a young man who drowned in the river for talking ill of it. River Suwa is our sacred Shrine because our god’s live in the deepest point of the river and its from there that they created man and our cattle.

Until after my initiation followed by the frequent visits with  the young men to the river Suwa to water  the cattle, watching and teasing the young ladies coming for water  with their pots, I didn’t get why my grandfather used to call my late grandmother  “My Suwa of Life”

Life for any Mansun family starts by  river Suwa when the young people meet in the course of performing their different culturally gender prescribed roles. This is when they have undergone initiation and are allowed to freely interact with their counterparts of the opposite sex. This is followed by the traditional strict courting supervised by the uncles and the aunts not excluding the grand parents whose constant counseling is key for marital preparation. After a guy had identified a suitable lady, he would introduce her to his uncles whose role was to do thorough investigation into the lady’s family back ground.  This was not necessarily done with the lady’s awareness. She would be left out of this until the young man’s side was certain of her suitability.

I had already had my share of the famous boy-grandfather man talk with my old boy, my grandie. In addition to this, my father had not been left out. From these lengthy talks, I was confused at some point as to who was in need of this “water of life” as he liked putting it. With his constant prodding, I developed this habit of taking longer than usual watching as I grazed my father's herd by the river. Not that knew what this stay longer by the river advice was all about. 

Grand Pa insisted on this adage that the grass is greener by the rivers. As far as I am concerned, I don't think this was or is the only place where grass grows greener. I have my own eyes and trust me, I can see far and wide. I've been in the business of feeding these animals since I was five years old thus I know where the grass is greener. I am also familiar with the colours. I can differentiate blue from green, orange from red and so on. I have in fact crammed the colours of the rainbow. Despite the fact that I consider my wisdom reliable enough as far as judgment is concerned, the old men's words make me doubt my judgment. "Son, I know you have come of age and I believe you know what is good for yourself but it does not hurt following the wisdom of those who have been there before you. Ever since your great grand mother begot me some hundred and something year's ago, I have never heard of anyone dying because they opened their ears to word's of wisdom. If an old experienced sailor points out to you the deepest parts of a sea, will you doubt him?" he asked after a long monotonous conversation. "I wont doubt grand pa" i replied absent minded. Its latter on that I came to know who the experienced sailor was and his been there stories.

Grand pa had a habit of following his lectures with saying which he never explained. Thus I had to derive meaning from his long never ending talks. Grand pa like any other wise and respected member of our community lived by his words. He believed that the most nutritious and greener pastures were by the riverside. This thus offered the basis for my thoughtful evenings watching the young ladies and trying to question the old man's reference to grand mother as his "Suwa of life"


This habit of grazing the animals and taking them to river Suwa long before the other young men and leaving late went on until one this feminine character emerged. 
This is not to mean that she was the first i had seen. Our mothers have brought up many beautiful daughters. I had always seen, met and talked to some of the finest feminine creatures that came with my visits by the river.
This time round, there was something about this one character that was above normal. I was seated under an acacia tree staring into the distance. Nothing of interest was visible and my mind was wondering off into the horizon. I was almost dozing off due to the effect of a warm evening breeze and the comfort and serenity offered by the acacia shade. Some of the animals were peacefully regurgitating the day's cud.

Ole is the daughter of the moon. Surely as far as i am concerned, the beauty that struck me was way beyond the normal. I can clearly remember how she invaded my dreams long before she came into this earth. Its like i saw her descending from the clouds with grace and style. Before i could comprehend what i was seeing, i woke up from my dreams and from a distance i saw beauty like nothing else. With a smile that radiated and still radiates than the rising sun, eyes glaring like the morning star, a nice African curvature, golden brown skin, she greeted my eyes. I cant tell what really ensued after this but i only remember my mouth uttering something like "Can I help you get the water? I know of where the river flows gentle and the water is Cristal clear and clean"

May be i flattered her with my acted superficial gentleman's nature but she obliged to my request and i took her for a walk along the river to where the waters flow clean. This was the best day of my life in the company of a lady i kept wondering later on" Where have you been all these days?" I had been all over our village but i never set eyes on her. Surely she had come from the moon.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months which bore years describing  life in the company of a daughter of the moon. Ole is a lady everyman would kill to have. She passed the uncles', aunts', grandpa's test of an African woman. She makes my wisdom complete cause she has her own unique perspective of issues. If only she had a chance in the white man's education ladder, the top would have been her destiny. Principles govern her life and hard work and the desire to succeed defines who she is. The last time i overheard the women speak, they called her the wise woman described by a man they called Solomon in Proverbs 31. Maybe I'll have a look at this famous book one day since Ole has been mentioned in it. She is a defender of our fathers' faith and a key observer of our people's traditions.  

As i write this article, its been close to eternity since the occurrence of the narrated events. My Ole  has been by my side close to infinite years. She just left for the river a while ago and i already feel the pinch of her absence. I know its going to be a hard day for me cause i hear she is taking our little Marion for an evening walk. Apparently, Marion is 10 years old and being the woman she is, Ole is training her in the ways of being a woman of substance. They have left for the river. Yes, for river Suwa. 

Grand Pa is long gone but his wisdom is still fresh on my mind like the morning dew and the echo of his voice calling Grand Ma "Susa of Life" still rings in my ears. Life is one big circle. Nothing gets lost. Words said long ago are still in the air waiting to be repeated. Our son Musa is coming of age and soon and l promised to tell him my story of how i met Ole, my "Suwa of life" by river Suwa. He will soon be visiting River Suwa to water the animals and the cycle will be repeated.
This now makes sense. Moses's wife, Isaac's wife Rebecca among others are products of a water source somewhere. The river is the source of life.