Ekwefi---- E ji kwa efi?

    When I read books or hear voices over the airwaves, my imagination, I suppose, always kicks in and paints a picture of the characters in the books or the faces behind the voices. Sometimes, the pictures are so off that I have to laugh at myself or at my imagination when I finally see a real picture or actually get to see the person in real life.
  I remember years ago, when I would listen to the radio with my young son as we drove around running errands. Like clockwork, the voice of this teacher will come over the airwaves, authoritative,strong and confident as he taught and advised and encouraged his listeners. In my mind's eye, my imagination created a picture of big athletic figure with black hair, delivering the message. Then one day, I came across a book authored by this teacher and while looking through it, saw a picture of the author. I had to laugh at myself at how wrong my imagination was. There was this fatherly face with a big smile looking up from the page.

  During childhood days, most of the books we read apart from the Bible and Bible stories were the typical children's classics, and the fairy tales, and a few vernacular books.
Shakespeare,s plays and some children's poetry books, were also available, and apart from the vernacular books, all the others were usually based on  cultures and backgrounds from far away lands. It was a tough game trying to imagine the scenes and characters in those books, and only the pictures and illustrations in the books provided material for the imagination to work with. For the Bible stories, many children, including myself, actually thought that the towns and cities and everybody mentioned were not in this world. Then I found out that Jerusalem was and is actually in this world. Pleasant surprise! Still planning to go see for myself one of these days.

    In this day and age, things have changed so much and one can see every part of the world on television and even communicate by telephone or the Internet. What an advancement.
For some people, mostly children, especially in the developing countries, the world outside their environment, is still viewed mostly through the imagination.

     Chinua Achebe's book, "Things Fall Apart", with a story line based on everyday village life experiences, was such a spectacular eye opener for children of that generation. To actually have what one was reading play out in the lives of people around, was such a refreshing experience. Other writers took the cue and came up with their own books. Writers like Flora Nwapa (Efuru), Chukwuemeka Ike, Cyprian Ekwensi, (then James Ngugi (Weep not Child) and others, provided books with African themes for children and adults to read and enjoy.
 For Poetry and Drama, Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara and Dr James Ene Henshaw provided their works. Dr Henshaw's " This is our chance" was a hit for secondary schools in those days. I remember losing out on an audition for a part in the play to another student who had a more forceful voice. The jaw-breaking grammar of the main character, Bambulu, in " This is our chance" was thrown around by students for good laughter, and performing those plays highlighted the acting gifts and talents  in some students.

  Camara Laye's " L'enfant Noir", translated into English, " The African Child" was one of my English Literature textbooks in class one. In it Camara Laye shared the village life experiences of tribal peoples of Guinea. Another English Literature textbook, titled " Our Sister", ( I have forgotten the name of the author, starred a heroine, OluFunke, who helped bring pipe-borne water to her village.

Following  the debut of Chinua Achebe's classic "Things Fall Apart" there were plenty of African culture-based  books around, including more by him, to add variety to the choice of books available.

Coming to my point in this story, it was refreshing to read  names of characters children could pronounce and identify with: everyday names, name of neighbors and relatives.

  One character in Chinua Achebe's " Things Fall Apart"  stood out in my mind--- Ekwefi-- which I understood meant--- E ji kwa efi?, or E ji kwa ehi?, or E ji kwa evi?, depending on the dialect, a name posing a question---Was a cow brought?
 In Igbo culture, a cow was and is still a big deal, as a gift or token. A cow is a symbol of wealth and power. Bringing a cow as a gift to a funeral or marriage celebration is a significant gesture.

   Igbo names always have some message attached to them. No name is given just for the sake of naming a child.
The full name for Ekwefi should actually be " E ji kwa efi bia" ---- Did they come with a cow, as part of the dowry? That puts a non monetary value on this daughter.
Other such names include Nwakaego, meaning a child is more valuable than money, then there is Nnuola or Nnuona, meaning --- four hundred ( uncountable pieces of gold), again indicating the high value of a daughter to the Igbo. Akudiola-- ( Future wealth), is another such name.
These names show the high value the Igbo place on their daughters, not just in terms of bride price, but also in their meaningful contributions to society as Umuada and Umuokpu and as wives and mothers also.

  Ekwefi's character reflected in "Things Fall Apart", potrayed that strong will, that love and passion for children and family,and the strong desire for respect from society. All good, and pointing to positive self esteem. I have always wondered why Chinua Achebe chose that name for the main female character in his first book.


E ji kwa efi ?
I have always wondered.



Chinwe Enemchukwu
Sorrento, Florida.
4/05/2013.

Ps: Camara Laye was from Guinea, not Senegal, as I originally wrote. My apologies