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Songs of the Master River Wabler
Emeino y'Egetinginye Enchome is a captivating book of Ekegusii poetry that celebrates the rich tapestry of the AbaGusii people. The poems within this collection explore the depths of love, the enchanting beauty of the EkeGusii language and culture, and the splendor of the natural world.
From the majestic rivers and rolling hills to the vibrant flora and fauna, the anthology paints a vivid portrait of the Gusii homeland. Readers are invited to savor the essence of Ekegusii heritage through the poet's exploration of traditional culinary arts, cherished dishes, and cultural landmarks. The collection is a testament to the enduring spirit of the Gusii people, expressed through the lyrical power of their native tongue.
The poems in this book were conceived in Ekegusii in a bid to capture the nuances of Gusii's spoken art, culture, language, and way of life, which is surely facing extinction. It persuades the reader to go back not only in time but also to the roots of the essence of Ekegusii. There is an attempt to translate the poems to English for a wider reach.
Anciently of the clan of Masisi of the Bagesaka from Bobasi, Nyansera Otieno is a scribe, painter, curator, cultural activist, and native language crusader. He has taught at the Bugema University (Uganda) and Kisii University (Kenya) at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Languages Linguistics and Literature. He holds a doctorate in linguistics from Kisii University. He is a crusader for Gusii Language and Culture revitalization. He writes poetry and short stories from his rich EkeGusii oral literature background. He patronizes the Bobasi Branch of the AbaGusii Cultural and Development Council and Mwanyagetinge Heritage Council, Bobasi Chapter.
The Year in Gusii: The Naming of Mont...
Abagusii, buna banto bande bonsi bare ense eye, imbabwate enchera yokoroberia chingaki ao ao. Rituko, buna ande onsi ase erioba rikoraba, igo riaye gochake ekemambia ka bokogia naende riaera mogoroba ka bwairire. Kobara amatuko igo bare gochaka na ‘rero’ babara gochia magega gose motwe.
Emetienyi eyare kobwatia okoraba kw’omotienyi (omweri), ekagera omwaka okaba emetienyi ikomi na ebere. Korende amarieta y’emetienyi ao ao igo are kobwatia gose n’engaki y’embura, omobaso gose omorakera na komenta gose n’engaki gokorema, gosimeka gose kogesa.
Ayio onsi n’oyokworokia buna Abagusii bare komanya buna ingaki ki ere egere baroberie keria bagwenerete gokora.
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Abagusii, like all other communities across the world, had a way of relating with time. While the day was dictated by sunrise and sunset, days were separated relatively, with ‘today’ being the anchor relative to other days. Months, on the other hand, followed the moon’s cycle and hence the twelve months of the year. Months were named relative to the weather of the time and the activities it dictated. For this reason, the names of months were largely descriptive.
This provides an overview of the concept of time in Gusii and the rationale for naming the months in the manner they were.
Research Methodology: A Blue Print
Research Methodology is a difficult area for many earlycareer researchers, especially graduate students. This book focuses on major research issues, right from problem
conceptualization, development of objectives, research design, and results interpretation and presentation.
The work discusses effective writing styles that enable exceptionally clear and straight forward communication. It further addresses a variety of ways of proposal writing and
developing it into a thesis.
This book gives examples that provide opportunities for students and other researchers to engage in acceptable conventions of APA style of writing. Further, it demystifies research methodology with a view to improving the quality and standards of academic writing.
The Eye of Mayenga by Jaspher Rori
The Eye of Mayenga is a heart-throbbing novel centred in a remote, rural African village of Mayenga. The village is a lethargic place that appears to have been left behind with respect to world trends and realities. Its residents seem trapped in times gone, dwelling on beliefs like witchcraft and other archaic practices. There seems to be neither vision nor mission, and stuck in antiquated beliefs. Its residents' pastime is drinking cheap illicit liquor, and engaging in pessimistic village gossip, which presents its own challenges. Their own son, Vincent Senta, a practising lawyer in Nairobi, 'sees with his heart' the predicament of the village, and resolves to apply his knowledge, skills and connections to bring change to the village. He successfully organises a women's group and initiates an eye-catching water project, which some people appreciate and see him as the "Eye of Mayenga." However, petty gossip and a troubled family life take their toll on him. To escape the harsh reality, he finds solace in his sentimental secretary. The relationship is ill-fated with him testing HIV-positive of which he eventually dies. Despite the medical exposition on the cause of death, blame is squarely placed on his hard-to-understand neighbours who, due to their religious beliefs, lead lives of solitude. Most residents of Mayenga believe he has been bewitched by the neighbours. In a "revenge mission", the neighbours are burnt alive in broad daylight right in the presence of the local chief. Though rumours were rife that these neighbours carried the cross of Senta's death, nobody had answers to the chief's torrential questions: Who? When? Why? What? How? And what and in the future? And future? The Eye of Mayenga captures a community at a cross-road and illustrates the clash of cultures and the struggle between the past and modernity.
"The Eye of Mayenga is a wonderful piece of art that touches on many aspects of our lives. It tackles contemporary issues of the developing world undergoing social change.These are issues that offer challenges to development." - Elijah Ogoti, English Teacher, Kenya.
"Apart from being an excellent story to read, it is a commendable book for students in community development." - Joseph A. Awino, Lecturer, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
"Jaspher Rori's work is a pretty juicy, practical, and interesting story that is set in a traditional African society, and is interwoven with unique practical challenges, exciting themes and characters that leave the reader yearning for more." - Sakaja Yona, Lecturer, University of Nairobi.
Sakagwa’s Ghost
Sakagwa's Ghost, originally published in Kiswahil as Kivuli cha Sakawa, is a story about one of Africa's legendary heroes. A seer, strategist and medicine man, Sakagwa's legend lives to date, holding that many of his predictions have come to pass. His wisdom, some say, served to assure the survival of the Abagusii community in the face of colonial incursion.
In this this story, Sakagwa finds himself at a crossroads following the death of his father, a prominent leader in his own right. Conservative elders in the community, feeling threatened by this youngster's demonstrated wisdom and knowledge are determined to dim his rising star. Will they succeed?
Sakagwa Ng'iti was born and lived in the Abagusii community in western Kenya at the turn of 19th Century (1800). The unfolding story in this book did take place, probably in slightly a different way from that depicted here.
By chronicling this episode, the author gives the story a new lease of life, through artistic rendering, and offers chance for others to comment or offer versions of the story as they understand it.
The Fear of the Void
When the night touches the ground
the day puts a shroud on its head
a flood of baffling darkness
then the concept of nothingness becomes more real
I get filled with terror
and receive attacks of anxiety
-- the fear of the void
death is imminent
I practice how to die everyday
I die many times
I learn to surrender
to the void
-- to this nothingness.
Orchids in Taiwan
I was deeply moved by Okemwa’s deep affection for Taiwan, and constantly amazed by his paradoxical expression techniques utilized in his poems to guide readers into the trap designed by his measure of insinuations. This ironic statement manner strengthens the positive and affirmative attitude, and produces unexpected and surprising effects.
- Prof. Lee Kuei-shien, Taiwanese Poet, Translator & Vice President of Movimiento Poetas del Mundo.
我被歐肯姆瓦對台灣的深情感動不已，對他詩中運用的逆說表達技巧，以旁敲側擊的手段，引導讀者墜入他設計的圈套中，更是不斷驚嘆，這種以反諷的陳述方式，加強正面肯定的態度，產生令人意料不到的驚奇效果。
— 李魁賢教授，台灣詩人、翻譯家、世界詩人運動組織副會長
Christopher Okemwa's Orchids in Taiwan is a surprising poetry book about life and love, painting Taiwan like you would paint an African woman.
-Prof. Marta Eloy Cichocka, Polish poet and photographer, Iberian Studies scholar and a Francophile literary investigator and translator.
克利斯多福．歐肯姆瓦的《台灣蘭花》是寫生活和愛，令人驚嘆的詩集，描繪台灣就像你在描繪非洲女人一樣。
— Marta Eloy Cichocka 教授，波蘭詩人、攝影師、伊比利亞研究學者、親法文學研究者和翻譯家。
An Ethnopharmacological Investigation...
Before the arrival of Western medical practices in Africa, indigenous communities had many ways of treating various illnesses. Some, like the Abagusii of Kenya, even had advanced medical practices (given the time) such as head surgery which they conducted routinely with success. Western religion and medicine dealt a blow to these proven medical practices and stunted their development. Nonetheless, because of its effectiveness, traditional healing survives alongside Western medical practices that have taken root worldwide. Some estimates suggest that approximately 60% of the world’s population depends solely on plants for medication. As such, in Africa, it is common to find a Western-educated who professes the Christian faith under modern hospital treatment alongside prescriptions by traditional healers.
Indigenous healing relied on a clear selection of specific plants, elaborate preparation and administration. Typically, the administration of the treatment relied on the plants’ medicinal potency, the associated diet (nutrition) and spiritual beliefs. William Nyang’ate Gisesa set out to test the efficacy of some of the plants used for treatment in Gusii with the results presented herein.
The work, An Ethnopharmacological Investigation of Plants Used by Abagusii Traditional Medical Practitioners, relied on interviews with herbal medicine practitioners, their claims and testing the effectiveness of the plants in a laboratory environment. The work, originally completed for doctoral studies, examines (using modern scientific methods) the authenticity of traditional headers’ claims on the efficacy of their treatment.
The results point to the potential for an indigenous, plant-based, pharmaceutical industry to complement the established medicinal drug production. At a time when pathogens rapidly acquire resistance to medications, indigenous plants offer fresh options.
The work focused on practitioners from Gusii region: Nyamira and Kisii counties. Considering that all communities had similar practices, the task of examining plants used by all Kenyan peoples is colossal.
The Naked Shadow
The Naked Shadow is a story of political competition and machinations that underline the thirst and search for power. It is an exposé of the many dark forces of political intrigues and their devastating impact on the protagonists, the society and many innocent bystanders. In the fictitious country of its setting, The Naked Shadow exposes the play between political power, drug dealing and love affairs where see-saw-like swings in alignments seal the fate of many. Here mayors hold office at the pleasure of drug cartels as opponents hatch schemes (many of them evil) to win political authority. There is blackmail and murder. Amidst all this, there is suffering and no one is spared: family, children, and innocent lovers. Sadly the electorate remains a pawn in the ever-evolving chase board of ‘planned wickedness’.
What Others Say
“The uniqueness of this novel lies in postmodernist thought that the world is pervaded by confusion and humankind’s attempt to bring order in chaos remains an exercise in futility. The law, the state, and the police are just ‘organized immorality’ as Nietzsche claims and even the modernist insistence on reward for the ‘good’ and punishment for the ‘evil’ sometimes does not happen. In the novel, punishment and suffering also pursue the upright and noble given the muddled attributes of life.” – Andrew Nyongesa, PhD, author and scholar of literature
“The Naked Shadow exposes a gangster state (not unlike many in the world) that thrives on drug dealing, prostitution and murder through orchestrated eliminations in planned ‘see-saw’ revenge episodes among protagonists with collusions and making love in the mix. ” – Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, Publisher and IT Consultant.
The Vanishing Indigenous Heritage of ...
Abagusii are a Bantu-speaking group found in South Western Kenya, also called the Gusii region. Like other indigenous communities in the world, the people of Gusii have a rich heritage that captures their history and culture. The community’s heritage is at the core of their identity. For instance, Abagusii were deeply spiritual, be it in the administration of justice, an individual’s conduct or relationships with others in the society.
As the community settled down, some places became more important to them. Some of these sites assumed spiritual significance. Others became historical with inscriptions that predate the arrival of the group on present-day Gusii. Places such as Ngoro ya Mwaga, at the base of the Manga Ridge, were important to the spiritual lives of Abagusii. It was sacred, and clear rules governed the manner of conduct while visiting the location. Other locations like the caves in Sameta have rock-inscribed writings that have stood the test of time. They predate the group’s arrival in that land. Some developments saw the transformation of people’s lives, such as the building of the first watermills, which substantially eased the tedious work of preparing cooking flour.
This book points to the potential these places hold for present-day Gusii, Kenya and the world. As the authors write, ‘It is also important to note that other than satisfying the social-religious needs of the local community, if well managed and presented, these sites can become a source of cultural heritage tourism.’ Not only would this promote the heritage of the people of Gusii but also become a source of revenue for the two counties of Kisii and Nyamira.
Further, the work underlines the importance of preserving the sites, and the heritage they represent, for future generations and the world at large. Unfortunately, as the land sizes decline in Gusii, there is encroachment and (in many cases) destruction of what was once sacred. When such destruction takes place, it goes with the historical and cultural representation it holds.