By Ogova Ondego
Published December 26, 2021
That she appears quiet, shy and even self-effacing when you first meet her may mislead you into concluding that Elizabeth Atieno Nzimenya has little significance. In fact, you soon learn that she was chided, derided, mocked and despised in primary school for what was viewed as her zero skills in Physical Education (PE) as she could not turn her body into a letter V (V Balance).
“One day, shortly before an inter-school sports competition, the Headmaster ridiculed me in front of the whole school just because I appeared to lack the necessary skills in PE,” she says in slow and measured tone. “He continued to mock me even after the competition, forcing me to start spending time alone out of embarrassment.”
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But, rather than wallow in self-pity or run away from Mnarani Primary School in Kilifi County at the Kenyan Indian Ocean coast, the now Germany-based Elizabeth Atieno Nzimenya took a step back and started reading any literature she came across: school text books, story books, the Bible and even old newspapers used in wrapping meat by the butcher.
Today, almost 40 years later, Elizabeth Nzimenya has just released a novel that is as engaging as it is long.
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In the novel that is titled Hard Times Aren’t Forever, the writer crafts an engaging story that is felt by all the human senses through vivid and believable descriptions of scenes ranging from police cells to burglaries and hospital wards and from matatu rides and automobile accidents, to bedrooms and women’s gossip and church and divination settings.
Though she reiterates that it isn’t biographical, it is tempting for the reader to conclude that she is writing about real life as the characters, conversations, actions and scenes appear so real and believable.
Admitting she has a fertile imagination, the writer says she uses this to create weird and unheard of scenes in her writing.
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Well put. But Hard Times Aren’t Forever is biographical!
“No,” she says. “I did not restrict myself to my personal experiences because that would have bored my readers stiff.”
She nevertheless admits to having explored the environment in which she lives.
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The novel, that is set at Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast and that revolves around a teenager, tackles themes such as loss, betrayal, hypocrisy, ambition, disillusionment, hope and redemption.
But just what sort of person is Elizabeth Nzimenya whose book is raising lots of attention online?
“I am an introvert and I prefer to spend my time alone,” she says.
Oh!
“In school I was very reserved and shy. This changed when I got my first job with KEMRI and was based in Maternity Ward where nurses and doctors called things the way they were,” she says. “Though I worked in a challenging environment, those were nevertheless some of the best years of my life.”
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But she left for Germany …
“Yes, I relocated to Germany for further studies,” says the writer who attended Loreto High School Limuru in Kiambu near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “I hold a double major degree in Social Work and Social Pedagogy from Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences.”
What influences her writing?
She says her writing is informed by real life situations and that she intends to teach, instruct, challenge and encourage her readers through Hard Times Aren’t Forever as her way of giving back to the community.
Born of Ruth Akoth and James Hajera Ombech, Elizabeth Atieno Nzimenya is a full time social worker who says she enjoys writing, reading and cooking in her free time.
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She contends that though some people believe in and fear witchcraft and chira (curses), these things do not exist.
Hard Times Aren’t Forever is the first full length novel of this married mother of three young adults.
The e-book, paperback and hardcover editions of Hard Times Aren’t Forever by Elizabeth Atieno Nzimenya are available for purchase in Amazon Store.
You may keep abreast of any news about the writer on her Author Page,
