A SHORT story by a Ugandan poet and short story writer that was shortlisted for 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing was inspired by the brutal effects of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war in the north of the country.
Beatrice Lamwaka says that the idea of her short story “Butterfly Dreams” emerged after she heard the sad tales of child captives at a rehabilitation centre in Gulu district. She is seen in the above picture taken by MORGAN MBABAZI reading the same anthology.
Lamwaka was shortlisted for short story, “Butterfly Dreams” from ‘Butterfly Dreams and Other New Short Stories From Uganda,’ published by Critical, Cultural and Communications Press, Nottingham (UK), 2010.
Butterfly Dreams’ is about a family that has been waiting for five years for their daughter, Lamunu to return home from the hands of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. The family has even buried her tipu (spirit), when word went around that she would not return home. Bongomin, one of the abductees who had returned home from four years of abduction, claimed to have seen her dead body bursting in the burning sun.
The family never believed Lamunu was dead. They also did not want her tipu to roam northern Uganda. They did not want her to come back and haunt them. The family had become part of the string of parents whom listened to Mega FM every day for names of their loved ones. The mother never believed for one moment that her child was gone. It was the mother’s strength that kept the family hoping that one day Lamunu would return.
The mother said she dreamt that butterflies were telling her to keep strong. The night after the dream there were so many butterflies in the house. The other family members thought their mother was running made. They thought Lamunu had taken their mother’s mind with her.
Their father was brutally murdered by the rebels after finding him in the garden and yet everybody was supposed to be in an internally people’s displaced camp. “…They later cut his body into pieces. Lamunu, we did not eat meat after we buried your father and we have not eaten meat since then… We could never understand why another human being could humiliate another, even in their death.”
When Lamunu is finally rescued by the soldiers in Sudan and returned home she is a traumatized and changed girl.
“You were at world vision, a rehabilitation centre for formerly abducted children. You were being counseled there. You were taught how to live with us again. Ma (mother) cried and laughed at the same time. Yes, you were alive. We couldn’t believe at long last out anxiety would come to rest. That night, Ma prayed. We prayed till cockcrow. We were happy. We were happy you were alive. Pa (father) might have turned in his grave…,” the story reads in part.
“You returned home. You were skinny as a cassava stem. Bullet scars on your left arm and right leg. Your feet were cracked and swollen as if you had walked the entire planet. Long scars mapped your once beautiful face. Your eyes had turned the colour of pilipili pepper. You caressed your scars as if to tell us what you went through. We did not ask questions. We heard the stories before from Anena, Aya Bongomin… We are sure your story is not any different,” the story goes on.
“When you returned home, Lamunu, we were afraid. We were afraid of you. Afraid of what you had become. Ma borrowed a neighbour’s layibi. Uncle Ocen bought an egg from the market. You needed to be cleansed. The egg would wash away whatever you did in the bush. Whatever the rebels made you do. We know that you were abducted. You didn’t join them and you would never be part of them. You quickly jumped the layibi. You stepped on the egg, slashing its egg yolk. You were clean…”
“Ma never spoke of the butterflies again. We never heard of the butterfly dreams anymore. We wanted the butterflies to come and say something to Ma,” goes the narration.
“You spoke in your dreams. You turned and tossed in your mud bed. We held your hands. You were like a woman in labour. You spoke of ghosts. You spoke of rebels chasing you in Adilang because you tried to escape. You spoke of Akello, your friend, who they made you and your team beat to death because she tried to escape. You said you didn’t want to kill her. …You said you saw Akello covered with sticks. You saw the blood in her mouth. You watched as the older rebels checked to confirm that she was dead. You nauseated. You tried to vomit but there was nothing to let out…”
“…we listened to you curse under your breath. We watched you tremble when you heard the government fighting planes flying over Katikati. We knew that you were worried about the people you left behind. We knew that you knew what would go on when the planes went after the rebels. We didn’t ask you for stories…”
The story ends with Lamunu back at a primary school of formerly abducted children to pursue her dream of becoming a medical doctor.
A US based Zimbabwean author, NoViolet Bulawayo won the 2011 Caine Prize beating over 120 writers to the converted continental award with her short story ‘Hitting Budapest’ from ‘The Boston Review’ Vol. 35, no. 6 - Nov/Dec 2010.
The Caine Prize, widely known as the ‘African Booker’ and regarded as Africa’s leading literary award, is now in its twelfth year. It is awarded to a work (a short story) by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere.
Lamwaka was the third Ugandan to be shortlisted after Doreen Baingana and Monica Arach de Nyeko, who won the prize in 2007 for a story, “Jambula Tree” from ‘African Love Stories,’ published by Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2006.
Lamwaka has published a number of poems and short stories in different Uganda Women’s Writers Association (FEMRITE) anthologies including her latest story “The Hair Cut” in the anthology Never Too Late. She is currently is working on her first novel whose title keeps changing. Her short memoir, “The Market Vendor,” was published by PMS 9, University of Alabama, USA, 2010. Her poems have also been published in various anthologies.
Ends.
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