Read Online Voice of America by E.C. Osondu - Free Book Online

too, and she began to tell us a story.
    “It was on a moonlight night like this that your father proved that he was worthy to marry me. He took more lashes than all the young men who came to ask for my hand in marriage and took the lashes without uttering a sound. In those days, before it was banned by the government in Khartoum as barbaric and aform of idol worship, it was the custom of our people that if two young men were interested in marrying a particular girl, they had to prove they were strong enough by going through an endurance test. My father told the young men that they had to prove that they could protect his precious daughter and were strong enough to protect their cattle from wild animals. There was another boy who was asking for my hand as well as your father. They both stepped out that moonlit night, their bodies covered in ashes and wearing nothing but underpants. One of the strongest men in the village was holding a long, camel-hide whip, flexing it from side to side to drive fear into the hearts of the young men. Your father was fearless and was smiling, his white teeth glowing in the moonlight. The drums began to pound, and the other young man—I recall now that his name was Dau—stepped forward, and the man with the whip struck out suddenly on his back. The whip curled around him like a serpent, and the young man flinched. The drums pounded even harder, and the whip continued to descend. It was at the tenth stroke of the whip that Dau cried out and raised both hands in the air. The whipping stopped. Our custom demanded that he should not cry out, and his crying out meant it was over for him.
    “Your father stepped forward, and the whipping started. He neither flinched nor cried out but still had the smile on his face. Even on the twenty-fourth stroke, when his back was a mass of huge welts, the smile was still on his face. The whipping stopped and your father was officially declared my husband because he had proved himself capable of protecting me. The other young man, Dau, fled the village shortly after that. He could not bear the shame, and no woman would have agreed to marry him after his disgrace. He left for the big city and later became a rich trader.”
    When Mother finished her story, there were tears in her eyes, and Nur and I, who would ordinarily laugh at every story, had tears in our eyes too. We went to bed thinking of our father. This was why we were more than surprised at what happened next.
    Mother called Nur and me and told us to go with a few people outside the camp to search for firewood. This was a task that Mama herself was usually worried about doing. The Janjaweed patrolled the perimeter fence that surrounded the camp and often would catch girls and ride away with them on their camels into the bush and do bad things to them. Whenever Mother had to go for firewood, she would usually go with a couple of other women and a few males from the camp for protection. We were excited about leaving the camp and went with the group in search of firewood. We were not so lucky, as the wood in the area around the camp was almost all gone. We could have gone farther, but others in the group said some men on camelback had been seen riding into the bush, so we returned to camp. On our way back, Nur pulled me by my dress and began to whisper about Mama.
    “Do you know why Mama sent us out of the camp? It is because she was expecting a very important visitor, and she did not want us to see him. I suspect he is very ugly.”
    “A visitor? Who is this visitor, or has she found a husband for you at last?”
    “I think she has found a husband for herself,” Nur said, and covered her mouth as she laughed.
    “I think she wants to wash her clothes,” I said.
    “If she wanted to wash her clothes, she would have told us to stay somewhere around the camp. She need not have sent us far away.”
    Whenever our mother wanted to wash her sole flowing,multicolored gown, she would tell Nur and me to go