Friday


I got up when piny (the world, down, country, can also refer to the dead) was still cold. As I stood in my doorway, I saw the houses of my sons lined up below me in the dala (homestead). Some on the right, some on the left, as our dala we do plan. I began to think about what I saw. The piny was cool at that time; but what is piny? Piny can talk, according to politicians, as ‘piny says’ - is the name chosen in Dholuo to translate serikal (government). Piny (the departed) is those who have already reached below piny (the earth). Starting with the people of very long ago. They have died, but they are. They talk, they say, they command, they bless, and they lead. If the piny says something, then you must do it.
     The weche (matters/words) that have us plan our dala (homestead) in this way, are of piny. These days people wacho weche (say things) of piny are different to those of God. If it is the piny that rules you, you are a person of piny. You are not yet saved. You have not yet received the new cleansing that the Whites brought. It is hard for a person to leave the weche of piny entirely. The piny can return him. Our laws tell us, that if the younger son is the first to marry while his brother has not yet married, that is a bad matter/word (wach). There are some laws of piny that should not be left.
     “Oyawore”, my wife said. “Oyawore”, I responded. Indeed, it has opened. The darkness is wanting to finish. Light has come into piny. That’s the wach we greet with in the morning. That wach makes us think of something that was closed but now is not closed. Piny has opened up, meaning that light/holy/clean (ler) has entered in. We have a din (religion/denomination) other around us that are called Legio Maria. They can greet people “Oyawore” at any time - even at night. They see that the piny has opened up, by to the coming of Jesus. The darkness of the piny they do see as darkness - as they live in ler every day.
     The mother of the children went into the kitchen. That’s the name I like to call her by. Or, I can call her “daughter of such-and-such a place”, according to where she was born. She has lit the fire. The smoke is emerging steadily from under the iron sheets covering the kitchen. The children have already gone into the kitchen to sit with their mother. They have left me to sit alone. They are not very free with me. Even if they want something - it is not easy for them to come to me. They send their mother. A father is someone who is given much respect (fear). Christians like to lemo “Our Father, who art in heaven” - it seems he is also far away from us. He also is the father (owner) of everything. Because wuon (father of) anything has power over (is the owner of) that thing.
     My shoes are there. They have me fear kneeling (at the front) in the church. Should people see the soles of my shoes, they would realize that poverty is troubling me. Poverty is a very strange wach. Dhier is the wach used to translate the term “poverty” in English. But when we hear that someone is poor, we know he is someone you are amazed at. Maybe you can be amazed because he is wearing two different shoes, or his buttocks are showing through his clothes. That is a person who is dhier and you are amazed (dhiero) about him (her).
     The mother of the children brought the chai to the table. These days almost everyone drinks chai. Our forefathers would have been amazed with the customs of people who are around today. We despise ourselves. The Whites got us easily. First they gave us sugar for free for us to taste. Once our forefathers had tasted, they found that the sugar was sweet – then they desired it. Then, those people who at first had given us for free wanted money from us! That’s how the desires of the flesh direct us.
     Long ago we did not know what a ‘table’ was. A table is part of the civilisation that came just the other day. If you are sitting at a table drinking your chai you feel good. If you feel good, well, you are good. When you feel good, you know that there is nothing that can harm you. You have courage. That is one reason why people say - problems have that which brings them. If someone is feeling good, and then wach changes and he starts to feel sick, or a friend of his dies, or some other disaster strikes, he knows that cannot happen alone, but there must be someone who has brought it.
     I was staying there slowly drinking my chai. Chai we drink in the house. We can’t drink it outside because of jajuok wang’ (the person with the evil eye). I was startled by another woman’s entering the house (family). “Welcome mama”, I wach to her but it seemed as if she had a lot on her mind. Her husband had died the other year. She stays in a bad way. She came in. “Oyawore”, I greeted her. “Oyawore”, she greeted me. I did not lemo. She did not lemo. (Many people these days the thing that they do first on having entered an ot (house/family) is lemo to God to bless the ot. This mama but she just came in and started on her weche (plural of wach).) Mama had a lot to complain about. Her eyes moved back and forth. I was startled to find her looking at the table where I was sitting. She stared at the food on the table. Fear took hold of me. I finished the mandazi that was in my hand. Mama finished what she was doing her weche then she left.