CHAPTER 1

HOME, AWAY FROM HOME

The war had been won or lost, depending on one's side of the divide.Nevertheless, it was now how to survive the peace that was foremostin the polity. For some, the peace was as hazardous as the war. Mr.Oke Okoro was a trader and was from a family that, according to hisknowledge, lived in a village in Isokoland. His mother died when he wasyoung, leaving him and an only sister, Ochuko. A stepmother, Uduma,brought them up. She was more of a sister to Oke and Ochuko by age.Their stepmother was more concerned with getting her own children.Fortune was, however, reluctant to favour her wish.

The occupation in Isokoland was peasant farming. The communitywas made up of kindred units. Within a kindred, members were guidedby what was handed down to them by their forebears. According tothe history that was passed orally from one generation to another, OkeOkoro's ancestors migrated from a place across the big river calledOsimiri. Oke Okoro's forefather had lost his father when he was young.His paternal uncles denied him access to the land and crops that werehis share from their father's assets. When the mother of his forefatherdied, the pieces of land that she cultivated were also taken over byanother woman. This woman was expected to look after the orphan.She did not and no one cared. Now in his teens and able to work, OkeOkoro's forefather left the village without telling anyone. After a fewdays and weeks, it was assumed that he had been eaten up by wildanimals. Again, no one cared. He travelled for several days, finding foodfrom fruits, tubers, fish and meat from wild animals along the way. Hecrossed Osimiri and continued until he reached a tiny settlement. Hewas surprised at the hospitality of the few occupants of that settlement.It seemed as if they were in need of new settlers. They gave him a largepiece of land in addition to the communal farmland. He soon took awife and began his own family. The other settlers had done what he did.The settlers developed a language that was, at best, a mixture of dialects.The community itself became known as Umuderi village in Isokoland.Kindreds were formed over time. The new settlers, beyond folklore, didnot maintain links with their ancestral homes because the journey backto those homes was stressful and dangerous.

With changes creeping into communities, people began to travelfar from their ancestral homes to look for the proverbial greenerpastures. It required a somewhat higher level of enterprise to leaveone's home and settle among strange people. Often, that entailed theacquisition of a new dialect or a new language altogether. Tradingwas on a higher social order than peasant farming was. Oke Okoroscaled that ladder and travelled to Zungera, up in the North (UgwuAwusa). He served as an apprentice to a rice and beans merchant whowas from a neighbouring village called Mukabia. At the completionof his apprenticeship, his master settled him generously because Okehad served him meritoriously. Oke never stole from his master and wasexemplary in obedience. Normally, a freed apprentice was not permittedto do his master's business in the same environment as the master. Thiscustom was waived for Oke Okoro. His master felt that he could dowith his assistance from time to time. While he was undergoing tutelagein food commodity trading, his sister, Ochuko, got married and beganto have her own children. Her husband was another peasant farmer. Shetook to petty trading to make ends meet.

Oke Okoro bought rice, beans, and onions, which he transportedto Umuderi and sold these commodities there. He had been doing thisbusiness for some five years. Buying up the items in Zungera was notdifficult. The customers who sold to him were acquainted with him. Healways paid for the commodities before transporting them to Umuderi.He had to sell off his commodities before returning to Zungera. Thisarm of his trade took some time. He had nasty experiences when heentrusted the sales to a younger cousin. The latter sold the goods andoften kept the money or part of it. Whenever Oke confronted him torender accounts of sales, this cousin had a pack of lies to give in placeof the money he realized from sales. Oke began to spend a longer timein Umuderi to sell most of his stock before returning to Zungera. Theeffect of the new strategy was that Oke Okoro began to make moremoney. When he saved enough money, he convinced his father thathe was ready to marry. It was the custom to marry from near one'sancestral home. Oke Okoro's father had a friend whose daughter wasripe for marriage. Oke Okoro had known the girl from a few occasionsshe bought yams from him. On some of his trips back to Umuderi, hewould make presents to the girl's parents with Ugwu Awusa yams. Hesoon extended his generosity to their daughter, Adaego. Thus, whenOke's father suggested his friend's daughter, Oke agreed that he likedthe girl. The traditional rites were soon completed and the couple, OkeOkoro and his wife, Adaego, travelled to Zungera where they settleddown. Oke continued with his trade.

Not long after the couple returned to Zungera, Adaego complainedof not feeling well. Neighbours told her and her husband, Oke, thatshe was pregnant. When it was obvious that the pregnancy was to stay,at about seven months gestation, Oke Okoro took the opportunity ofanother trade trip to Umuderi to inform the family. Everyone was happybecause Oke was a likeable and helpful young man. However, Oke'sfather and his only sister, Ochuko, insisted on consulting the nativedoctor. Oke was not interested because he did not believe in manyof the customs in his ancestral home. This was common with peoplewho relocated to places of different culture and custom. Such peoplebelonged neither to their people nor to their hosts. When he returnedto Zungera, his father and sister, Ochuko, satisfied their desire to goto a soothsayer. Ogbuefi was both a medicine man and a soothsayer.He dispensed herbs and concoctions composed of insects, reptiles anda special type of chalk called nzu. He also claimed to see visions. Theconsultation by Okoro senior and Oke's sister was to tell them whetherthe pregnancy was going to go to term. They also wanted to know whowas reincarnating through Adaego's pregnancy. Ogbuefi assured themthat the pregnancy would lead to a birth but some sacrifice needed tobe made to avert certain unspecified difficulties. He would find out whoreincarnated after the delivery of the child. Without discussing withOke, Ochuko provided what the soothsayer had prescribed. She wastold about the difficult labour but not about the consequent Caesareansection.

Adaego delivered her baby by operation in Government HealthCentre (GHC), Zungera. After the birth of Oke's son, Ochuko visitedthe soothsayer to thank him for his mediation and intervention. It couldhave been worse without that intervention, Ochuko thought, pleasedwith her foresight. The soothsayer took the opportunity of the visit totell Ochuko who the baby boy was. He was Ochuko's maternal uncle,a wealthy yam farmer, who had reincarnated. That was good news. Theboy was, therefore, expected to be wealthy, either through yams that hisfather also sold or through some other vocation that he would take up.In Isoko tribe, it seemed that only the rich or famous reincarnated. Onewondered why there were poor and lowly people on reincarnation.

As was the custom, Oke and Adaego had to take their son totheir ancestral home, Umuderi, for naming and circumcision on thesecond market week. The...