The Giant Tido Tree

"The thing they don't tell you about fatherhood is that, for like an hour a day, you have to get onto the floor and pretend to be a horse."

Jimmy Kimmel

Greetings. Father's day is upon us, and as is the culture of this blog, I'll provide a passage on fatherhood. In line with mother's day earlier this month, this one is from Okot p'Bitek's Song of Lawino. In the lamentations of Lawino, she cautions her husband Ocol to respect his parents, comparing the father to the giant tido tree.

J.R. Isabirye

The tree, Ekebergia capensis, known as "tido" in Luo, is common in Uganda, South Africa and Congo, and can grow up to 15 metres in height. It's wood can be used to make furniture. For medicinal purposes, the bark is used as an emetic and for the treatment of dysentry, the roots can be used to treat headaches, heartburn and coughs, whereas the leaves provide a remedy to intestinal worms. In the days of old, some parts of the tree were used to protect the ruling chief from witchcraft. In so many ways the tido is a metaphor befitting fatherhood.

No one wrestles with his father,

No one looks down 

On his mother,

And even if your father is totally

blind,

Even if his ears are dead,

Even if the world has boxed him,

Even if his legs are dry like

firewood,

If he is rude to you

You say, 'Thank You'

And never answer back

Because he stands before you

Like the giant tido tree

You are but a climber plant.

There is no medicine in the

hospital

For a mother's curse,

None for an uncle's curse!

And when your father's anger 

has boiled over

The white man's medicines 

Are irrelevant and useless

Like the freak rains

In the middle of the dry season.

Happy Father's Day!

Ceteris. Paribus.

Sources

p'Bitek, Okot, (1971). Song of Lawino. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers. pp. 102-103.

Coates, K., (2002). Palgrave Trees of Southern Africa, edn 3. Cape Town: Struik.

van Wyk, B.E., van Oudtshoorn, B., Gericke, N., (1997). Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications.

The Woman Who Hewed You Out Of The Rock

Greetings. Mother's Day is upon us and to me it is an opportunity to indulge my writer's block. There's a plethora of quotations available on how amazing mothers can be. As is tradition I will share an African excerpt with several quotable nuggets.

"Mama Michael"

Okot p'Bitek is perhaps the greatest poet this country has ever produced (and the greatest Luo writer before Obama). Born in Gulu in 1939, he had his education at Gulu High School and King's College Budo, before proceeding to the universities of Bristol, Wales and Oxford. In the epic Song of Lawino, an African woman expresses her displeasure at her husband, Ocol's rejection of his culture in favour of western mores. Lawino defends the traditions of her forbearers, often making comparisons between Acholi and Western cultures. 

The excerpt is from Chapter 10, where Lawino mentions Ocol's intolerance towards both their relatives, denying them entry into his house as they might muddy it. Lawino rebuts, forewarning Ocol not to forget the role of one's parents.

No one wrestles with his father,

No one looks down

On his mother,

You cannot abuse your mother!

Because it was that woman

Who hewed you out of the rock

And moulded your head and

body.

Think of the excreta and piss

The vomit and mucus

With which you wetted your

mother!

Think of the fire

That burnt her finger many times, 

When she cooked for you.

Think of the jealousies of 

others,

The sorcerers and shadow

trappers, 

Poisoners and the Evil Eyes,

Think of the fights

They put up for you!

You sucked those wrinkled 

breasts,

And that's what made you

The big man you are!

A mother's anger is bitter,

It is fierce like lightning

And boils like thunder.

If you make her angry

She will strike below her belly

button,

If you annoy the girl

She will strike the ash

Then you will get 

Exactly what you ask for!

There is no medicine in the 

hospital

For a mother's curse,

Happy Mother's Day!

Ceteris. Paribus.

Source

p'Bitek, Okot, (1972). Song of Lawino. Nairobi: East African Education Publishers. pp. 102-103