By Daisy Okoti
Published May 26, 2023
Although scholars and critics have categorized The River and the Source by Margaret Atieno Ogola as popular literature that is mainly for entertainment purposes because of its captivating plot and characters who are single dimensional, this novel has carved its own niche first as a book that tells the story of a community in Africa through three generations of women and secondly, as a historical book that goes back into time to tell the stories of people which may have never been told.
The River and the Source, that landed on the Kenyan bookshelves in the mid 1990s, receiving a wide critical acclaim that culminated to its winning the prize for the Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in Africa region and Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta Literature Prize in 1995, may not be a piece of literatures that are normally done meticulously with a serious analysis of reality or even without any trace of socio-critical stand-points. The writer knew what she set out to achieve. She may not have been a Ngugi wa Thiong’o who ensures that there is meaning beyond what a reader can see or a Wole Soyinka who has no apologies for making a statement like “I do not write for everybody” because he truly does not if the unending complexity in his works and even conversations are anything to go by. Ogola, who until her death on September 22, 2011 was a paediatrician at Kenyatta National Hospital and Cotolengo Hospice in Nairobi had only her intuition to honour in the course of writing that book.
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Among the issues addressed in the book is traditional leadership, respect for patriarchy and a communal existence among the Luo, a Nilotic speaking community who were traditionally situated along the Lake Victoria region of western Kenya.
In The River and the Source, Ogola delves into the depths of these people and places the story in the heart of the community. Here a reader is able to read about the interrelations among the people, their sources of income and the role of the community leadership. On the very first page of the book, we come across not only a chief but a great chief whose name is Odero Gogni who comes across as a polygamous man because we are told his second wife had delivered a baby. This confirms that, like many African communities, the Luo were a polygamous. This very first page also tells us about the different positions of male and women within the community. When Chief Odero finds out that he was for the first time the father of a daughter, he says, “A home without daughters is like a spring without a source; for it was his right as a great chief not only to lead but to utter wisdom as well, change of heart notwithstanding.”
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The economic activities of the people are also brought to the attention of the reader through the various food crops that are mentioned at the very beginning. It is easy to deduce that the Luo depended largely on land and cattle for their existence. There is also the mention of fish from the lake and wild fruits. The peaceful existence of the people is also brought to our attention.
“At that place and in those days, life went on at an uninterrupted, even keel. Inter-clan warfare was rare, for dak(neighborliness) and wat (a concept that encompassed so far reaching that it was almost impossible to go anywhere and not find a relative) were valued highly. The warlike Lang’o tribesmen were far away, bordering places like Kano and Nyakach and would never dream of coming this deep into the territory…”
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The fact that the author tackles all these at the very beginning of the book answers most of the background questions a reader would have especially about pre-colonial Africa and as such, all the energies are concentrated on the events that unfold in the novel.
When eventually baby Akoko is grown enough and is of marriageable age, it is her father’s task to get a suitor for her. Many suitors come and go but eventually one man, a chief, fits into the preference of Akoko’s father and at nineteen seasons old she marries chief Owuor Kembo in far away Sakwa and a new phase of her life begins.
Through Akoko’s marriage, readers come to grips with the societal preference of male children, a concept that is not unique to the Luo alone. In Africa, with all the civilisation that people claim to have, female children are not considered so much especially when their number outdoes that of the male children; cases of women being sent back to their paternal homes for only having female children abound.
“That a man and a chief at that should even take notice of a girl-child was unusual; after all a son meant continuity and a girl would only would only depart to go and ‘cook’ for another clan…”
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Gradually, the author introduces the white man in the story. The Jorochere are introduced in the story by Ambere K’ Ongoso and Nyaroche who are described in the text as wanderers. One of Akoko’s children, Obura, listens to their stories and gets carried away by the desire to see the whiteman. It is Obura’s eventual disappearance and death in the First World War that opens the novel to the events beyond their territory.
In later years after the death of her husband and the only surviving son, it is Akoko who first leaves the community to go and look for the sirikal (Government)to settle the chieftaincy issue which she believed her brother in-law was clinging to unlawfully. But this is not a usual journey:
“On the fifth day she embarked on a journey which would bring her and her scant offspring to a new era; for the great river starts its journey as a little stream which at first meanders around without any apparent direction, sometimes disappearing underground altogether, but always there, always moving towards the sea.”
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Eventually, the white man’s religion fully creeps in through Nyabera, Akoko’s daughter who goes out in search of solace after several of her children pass away followed by her husband. Her mother(Akoko) her only surviving child(Awiti) and Nephew(Owang’ Sino) agree to accompany her to the mission and together they begin a new life. The two children get an education; they all learn the new religion, interact with different people and their interests in life diversify. Awiti, for example, goes on to become a teacher and later on happily marries Mark Sigu, a former soldier in the First World War; which can be interpreted as a reincarnation of Obura, Nyabera’s brother who died in this war.
“Akoko asked her grand-son-in-law to come and sit next to her. They talked at length and she was seen smiling and nodding her gray head frequently. At one point, she broke into a wheezy breathless laughter and everybody’s eyes turned towards them with interest. She was full of joy. She had lost one son in the whiteman’s war; and by the grace of God she had gained another from the whiteman’s army. Like Anna and Simeon of old she could now die in peace for her eyes had also seen the promise.”
Owang’ Sino, the only surviving nephew who was also named Peter chooses the path of priesthood. He discovers his calling for priesthood at a very young age and decides to pursue it thereby abandoning the possibility of him ever going back to reclaim his father’s chieftaincy title among her people in Sakwa.
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Awiti’s marriage flourishes in the full swell of the new century. She gives birth to seven children who all grow up brilliantly in the 21st century, another aspect of the book that makes it a useful read. At this point in the novel, Margaret Ogola tackles some of the issues that affected the family in the post-independent Kenya: sibling rivalry, marriage settings and the coming of the HIV scourge. For example, the issue of education has developed vastly and in Sigu’s household every child is expected to work hard and succeed in her education in order to get a good employment and lead a good life afterwards. This explains his deep disappointment when one of his sons, Odongo, failed in his Certificate of Primary Education examination. This competitiveness in education is also what makes Sigu totally against the idea of Becky, one of his daughters becoming an air hostess and Tony one of his sons who seemed to have a lot of interest in priesthood. This aspect of preferred careers lingers on even in the modern day Africa. For most parents, their siblings are better off in careers that are considered more competitive.
Sibling rivalry which is also a common feature in families today is brought out in the book through Vera and Becky who incidentally were twins. Becky is said to have been so beautiful but with very little interest in her books. Vera on the other hand, though lacking in her sister’s exquisite beauty, she had a good brain; she was assertive, focused and with so much love. But Becky has perpetual hatred for her sister who seems to get everything she wants from her parents while her own demands are turned down. This is seen in the note she writes her sister on the night she escapes from home to go and become an air hostess.
“… I am determined to become an airhostess…please tell mum and dad not to worry. You always know what to say to them while I have always felt like an outsider. I am sure no one will miss me anyway…”
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The idea of marriage has also changed a great deal. Whereas during Akoko’s era it was unheard of to marry from a different community, Awiti’s children go beyond these boundaries. Aoro, one of Sigu’s sons dates and marries a girl from the ridge country of kikuyu. Dating on its own was a new concept as well. Becky too marries a white man before her unfortunate divorce. It was actually Becky’s immoral acts that culminated to her divorce. Having numerous sexual partners is what led to her contracting the HIV virus which led to her untimely death.
The River and the Source may be a simple novel but into the construction of that novel, went all the skills and sophistication of a master story teller.
This book review was written in 2012
