Ngwatilo Mawiyoo
Sins we committed
Sins we committed
Umau has given up on us. He says
if we could teach our children a few words –
to call their mother Mwaitu, their father Nau,
their grandfather Umau – it shall be enough
to root them. Shall have to be.
He gave up before the 60’s. Mummy
was raised on Jesus, school and English.
Umau knew and was told
Akamba wisdom was irrelevant
to the future, couldn’t give his children
the luxury to learn a phrase like “psychic pain.”
Daddy says I speak Kikamba like a Dholuo.
My tone goes up when it should go down.
At Umau’s church, a spectacle unfolds:
The outsider says, “Andu ma Ngai
eka nimukethye siitwaani ya Yesu Kristo.
Mwiaseo?” They laugh.
Umau explains they did not expect
so much, didn’t hope to hear me greet them
in their own tongue. My tongue.
The village of my grandparents is happy
for me. I am doing well.