Half A Day and Other Stories

The villager stood and stared in wonderment.’This is too much to believe!Do these men wake up in the morning and tell their wives they are going to work?Look at them,all shouting their heads off.What a way to earn a living!’
-The Town,by Eneriko Seruma,Uganda

‘Well-yes-no.I mean,nowhere in particular.’
John saw his father look at him hard, seeming to read his face. John sighed,a very slow sigh.He did not like the way his father eyed him.He aways looked at him as though John wad a sinner, one who needed to be watched all the time.
-A Meeting in the Dark by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o ,Kenya


I’ll take you to The Matumbi,’he said when they met later that afternoon.The Matumbi was as tea shop under a tree,half a mile from the campus.It had a thatched roof that only partly shaded it,and no walls.She went in hesistantly,feeling a little shy and out of place,but apparently Akoto was one of the regulars.He motioned to the owner who came up and wiped a sticky table for them, and then he pulled up a rickety chair for her, dusting it with a clean handkerchief.
-Breaking Loose by Moyez.G.Vassanji

These are just a few excerpts from the wonderful collection of short stories,Half A day, published by Macmillan Kenya.It is among the set books for the secondary schools this season.I have loved the book.Every single story.The stories cover relevant themes like poverty,racial discrimination,female circumcision{fgm},civilization,change,and religion,and the simple lives of ordinary people.A little deep,but it’s all dood.Although I wonder how well I’d have performed in my literature had I done this book-I did-Looking for a Raingod.
Being a shortstory writer myself,I have enjoyed this book.A school mate{www.rimitasites.blogspot.com} lent it to me.He has written a guide for it,published by Jomo Kenyata Foundation,in stores next year January.I am returning it today.
The book has a total of 14 stories:

Half a Day-Naguib Mahfouz,Egypt
The Town-Eneriko Seruma,Uganda
Moneyman-Peter Nazareth-Uganda
The Matryr-Ngugi Wa Thiong’o,Kenya
A meeting in the dark- Ngugi Wa Thiong’o,Kenya
Letter to my sisters-fatmata conteth-Ethiopia
Solitude-Nawal El Saadawi,Egypt
Against the pleasure principle-Saida Hagi-Dirie Herzi,Somalia
Government by magic spell- Saida Hagi-Dirie Herzi,Somalia
Who cares for the new millennium?-Hama Tuma,Ethiopia
Heaven and earth-Wangui wa Goro-Kenya
On the market day-Kyalo Matvo-Kenya
The hands of the black-Luis Bernado Honwana,Mozambique
Breaking loose-Moyez.G.vassanji,Kenya


I felt sad,reading-On The Market Day-I laughed reading-The Hands of The Blacks- a,d –The Moneyman- an d-The Town-I felt angry towards those who practice fgm when I read –Against The Pleasure Principle.
It’s a book that will show you that in truth,all of us are the same,inside.Whether,Ugandan,Kenyan,Somali,Ethiopian, or Asian Kenyan