CONFUSED IDENTITY

CHAPTER 2

Allow me to tell you a brief story about the family I came from. Legend has it that Mr Adika Ratil, son of Nyangwara, my great grandfather, and a brother to Opuge, Manyala,Ochieng, Ogunde and Abuogi, was a very rich man who had grate possession of wealth ranging from hundreds of cows, goats, sheep and a wide range of land just like his other brothers. Adika had five wives who he treated fairly and never lacked. Many of his neighbors were not as rich as him and, in many occasions, they would come and do small jobs for him then later in the day they go back home with some food to eat because Adika was a very generous man. His first wife was Semo who bore him three sons namely, Njera, Ondiek and Noah. The second wife, who I cannot remember her name bore him only one sone by the name Abil Oloo. The third wife who later on after his demise went and got married somewhere else gave bith to two sons Amimo and Ajwang. The fourth wife who is Janet was from Tanganyika and she gave birth to one son by the name Nyangwara, my grandmother was the fifth and the last wife was from Sidho. People from Sidho, which is just a walking distance from our home, are the Kisii who remained behind during the migration when the Kisii community was being pushed to the highlands by the luo community during the migration wave. Her name is Margaret Rawago Nyolweny. Rawago had five sons namely Wellington Rachuonyo, Omari Saka, Chore, William Okoth “Away Man’’ and Julius Oginga Adika. I have failed to mention the names of my aunts because I do not know all of them and secondly during that time only sons were recognized by the societies and women or girls were there to be seen not to be heard. Adika had several daughters but my grandmother was not blessed with many of them. She only had two daughters namely Risper Juma and Joyce Akumu.

During my grandfather’s time, cattle rustling was still something very common and rampant. The Luo community had been neighboring the Nandi community who were commonly known for cattle rustling. In many occasions they would come to conduct raids and escape with several live stocks. One night they came to do their usual raid and they were well handled by the luo warriors who were well armed and ready to defend their animals from being taken by the asylums. Being overwhelmed and outnumbered, they sensed a great defeat and decided to ran away for their dear lives. One of them was not lucky to escape and was caught by the villagers. My grandfather was one of them. Mr Adika was known to be very ruthless when dealing with such people. The young man begged for his life as he pleaded for his life to be spared. The other villagers saw sympathy for him but for my grandfather, there was not to be any mercy for such a criminal who wanted to make them poor by reducing their main source of wealth which was animals they owned. Adika withdrew his sword and pushed it through the heart of the man. Blood oozed out of his chest and started flowing down like a small stream of rain water. The villagers looked in dismay with their eyes wide open. Adika had committed a taboo which would later follow his entire lineage. He then took the lifeless body of the young man and hanged it on top of a tree using a rope.  The news spread across the Nandi community who came and took the body away for burial. But before they could take his body, they asked the villagers the name of the man who had done such a shameful act. The villagers unanimously pointed fingers to Adika. What followed next is something that only God can know and explain.

As years passed by, the wealth that Adika possessed started dwindling and by the time of his death, he was left by just a few animals. The land could no longer produce enough crops and extreme poverty had started being experienced. Adika died and left his family languishing in poverty. His young wife, Margaret was still a young woman and endured a lot. But she was a very strong woman who loved farming and depended on it for her livelihood.  

My father, Julius Oginga, was the last born of the family. His story is quite unique and sad too. He was born at a time when the family was drowning in poverty. He never saw the grat amount of wealth that Adika possessed but just had the stories which were later passed on to us his children. Margaret was left as a young woman and as per the luo customs, she had to find another man to take care of her” jater”. she first met a man by the name Obera who she bore with a daughter Joyce Akumu. After that they disagreed and separated. Later on, she met a second man by the name Abougi whom she bore with a son who is my father. All these men were the brothers of her late husband and they were not to marry her but to take care of her in her husband’s homestead. Time was changing very fast and things were changing too. Story has it that because of land partitioning, and the increasing population, my uncles were never happy with my father since he was not of the same blood as them. They regarded him as an outsider who should never be allowed to own the land of Adika.