Wisdom From Rwanda, the Land of a Thousand Hills

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Wisdom From Rwanda, the Land of a Thousand Hills

The East African Standard (Nairobi)

COLUMN

March 5, 2006

Posted to the web March 6, 2006

Egara Kabaji

Nairobi

Prof Francis Imbuga arrived back in the country two months ago as

quietly as he had left six years ago.

The modest East African foremost playwright and author of, among other

books, Betrayal in the City, Man of Kafira, Shrine of Tears, Game of

Silence, The Successor, Aminata and Burning of Rags returned home

having made, perhaps, his most momentous literary contribution in a

new novel, Miracle of Remera.

He has also completed two children's books, 'When the School Bags

Spoke' and How I Became a Millionaire. Besides, he has plans of

building a writers' resort. This, as he notes, " is to give writers an

opportunity to concentrate on writing away from disruptions within

their homes " .

The significance of Imbuga's novel lies in its depiction of the

resilience of Rwandans, their friendly nature, rich culture and the

scenic beauty of the country fondly referred to as the land of a

thousand hills. It brings to the English-speaking world the story of

the tiny central Africa republic that rarely features in literary

discourses.

Perhaps due to wisdom of age, Imbuga records tremendous life

threatening challenges in a way that very few East African writers

have done. He vividly captures the Rwandan spirit and draws heavily

from the fabulous Rwandan social and cultural ambiance. In a way, he

manages to express the Rwanda spirit, the ethos, hopes and dreams of

the people and in a much wider sense, the African experiences in a

humbling and committed way.

The central concern of this novel is the HIV/Aids pandemic that has

ravaged the African landscape like a fierce bushfire. But unlike other

texts on the same subject, it strides a new path, the course of hope

and life.

Indeed many works of literature on this subject adopt a preachy and

condemnatory tone. But drawing from magical realism as a paradigm of

expressing reality on our African continent, Imbuga presents, in a

captivating and engaging way, the story of Maiyo, focused and

well-bred lads who, in a single act of passion, and drunkenness

contracts the deadly virus.

The ideological underpinnings of the text are influenced by the very

nature of the society that Imbuga is handling, a society that has gone

through a traumatic period of 'baptism by fire' and needs to take

cautious calculated and reflective moves against an enemy of this

magnitude.

Given the enormity of the matter at hand and the historical realities

of the society, Imbuga finds magical realism a perfect device of

expressing this rich and complex story. The problematic nature of the

subject is partly in the social attitudes towards Aids and the

mysterious transformations of the virus that causes it. This

conditions the writer to continuously send out signals of hope and

life at every stage in the novel.

But in a more immediate sense, the novel treats Aids as a symbol of

all the forces out to destroy the African society. The behaviour of

the virus, the mental turmoil it causes the victims and the stigma

associated with it all embody the ramifications of a lethal enemy.

Miracle of Remera breathes fresh air into the disturbing statistics

and scientific exploration in this area by opening up new

possibilities of research. The novelist adopts a reflective mode in

order to capture all the possibilities open to the characters and the

flow and pulse of the story as he mediates between human capabilities

and the forces of fate.

By avoiding condemnatory crypts the story endears itself to the reader

in a more meaningful and healing way. But as master of transparent

concealment, Imbuga, in this supposedly simple story, creates complex

relationships and links in a controlled and cautious style.

The inter-textual overtures and paranormal allusions foreground the

text within the African cultural milieu that is fond of the art of

oratory and myth making. His sympathies are visibly audible as he

unveils layer after layer of the story, turning the deceptively

undemanding plot topsy-turvy. By daring the 'acrobat of the sky,' the

novel exalts the human spirit against all odds.

Imbuga achieves harmony between the theme and the style within the

magical realist framework through conveying the reality of one or

several worldviews that actually exist or have existed. Magical

realism tells stories from the perspective of people who live in our

world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective.

In a sense, the writer confronts the reality of Aids in a special way

in a bid to discover what is mysterious in things, in life and in

human actions. The overriding aspect is not the creation of imaginary

beings or worlds but the discovery of the mysterious relationship

between man and his environment.

The key events in Miracle of Remera have no straight and logical

explanation. The reason within the magical realism perspective is that

there are things of which we cannot offer explanations; they just

happen. The novel seems to ask: Could there be somewhere in the

universe a central power controlling our destinies?

Imbuga's characters are vividly drawn to express joy, sadness, and

hope with a loving touch in a setting reminiscent of the Garden of

Eden. In Miracle of Remera the elements of dream, folk beliefs and

mythology combine with the everyday often in a mosaic pattern of

refraction and recurrence. Perhaps we should brace ourselves for more

from this literary giant.

* The writer is a senior lecturer at Western University College of

Science and Technology.

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