Gcengeca: Gkinyithia Nginyi

Gcengeca: Tracing Our Steps

Wer r Njogu Kamande

The Plains Infested with Elephant-eared Flat Beetles

By

Njoki Wanjema Osotsi

Maat Publishers Limited

Nairobi

Shesheset: http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/sistrum-164263
ii
 Dedication

To Ramenga Mtaali Osotsi, who introduced me to this

song.

To Gky Musicians, who have kept the fire burning.

iii
 Table of Contents

Picture of Gcengeca ii
Dedication iii
Table of contents iv
Pharaoh Akhnaten and Gky Pig-tail Coiffure v
Selections from Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage vi

1. Tene wa Tene: tuunyani, ngr, na maa 1

2. Itmi cia gtene gtrra 3
3. Gthoomo ga kru 5
4. ta n krim ka guo 7
5. Wa kuona teeaga wa mwene 8
6. Mmenyi n arigagwo 9
7. Njra teeagwo n ng 10
8. Thiomi cia and air ciothe ciumte gtina kmwe 11
9. Wa Ngai raaragio n igoto 12
10. rugri na Minre wa Wer r Njogu Kamande 12

11. The African Peoples Past: Robbery, Guile,

Deception, and Truth 14
12. Control of the Past 15
13. The Fading away of our memories 16
14. Then What Happened?: White Supremacy and
the Obliteration of African History 18
15. ta n krim ka guo: The one who does
not know it is unintellingent about it. 19
16. Mmenyi n arigagwo: An expert can lose
his/her knowledge 20
17. Njra teeagwo n ng: A footpath is lost
because a different one is used 21
18. African languages have a similar root 22
19. Wa Ngai raaragio n igoto: Gods fire is seen
through the night by a strip of dry banana bark 23
19. Interpreting and Performing Wer r Njogu Kamande 24

19. Rwmbo rwa Wer r njogu kamande Part 1 26

20. Rwmbo rwa Wer r njogu kamande Part 2 63
21. Glossary 82
22. References 93

iv
 Gkinyithia Nginyi: Tracing our Steps.

Akhenaten (Lange, Kurt and Max Gky Pig-tail Coiffure (Cagnolo, C.

Hirmer, 1968: 186). 1933: 102-103).

Some young lads prefer to bind the back

part of their hair into a narrow compact
bundle like a cabbage stalk or pig-tail...
and two more bundles of hair to their
temples. (Cagnolo, 1933: 102-103).

v
 Selections from Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage

what the ancestors foretold has arrived at [fruition . . .] the land is full of confederates, and a
man goes to plough with his shield.

the tribes of the desert have become Egyptians everywhere.

indeed, [the face] is pale; the bowman is ready, wrongdoing is everywhere, and there is no man
of yesterday.

When the wise man speaks, [he flees without delay].

Indeed,thedesertisthroughouttheland,thenomesarelaidwaste,andbarbariansfrom
abroadhavecometoEgypt.

Indeed, men arrive [. . .] and indeed, there are no Egyptians anywhere.

Indeed, the builders [of pyramids have become] cultivators, and those who were in the sacred
bark are now yoked [to it].

indeed, laughter is perished and is [no longer] made; it is groaning that is throughout the land,
mingled with complaints.

I say: "It is too heavy for me,"...

Indeed, the ways are [. . .], the roads are watched; men sit in the bushes until the
benighted traveler comes in order to plunder his burden.

(Gardner, A. H. 1969. Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage).

http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/ipuwer.htm
 Tene wa Tene:
tuunyani, ngr, na maa

ra mth y waathagrra mand mara meegi gtene, n tuuge, ra

tuuaga kana taraga meeciiria na mawooni ma and a th mara megi gtene,
cio n we waathaga ra and megtakwo n mand mara magooka rci;
Nake ra waathanaga mand-in ma mth, cio n we waathanaga
mand-in mara meegi gtene. (ciugo cia George Orwell, 1984).

Hnd ya ra-ngr, maheeni na tuunyani, kwaria maa gtukaga krega

waatho kana kwenda kgarra thirikaari. (ciugo cia Orwell).

Ciugo icio n cionantie at tari wa mand mait ma tene ndkoreetwo moko-in

mait kuuma hiingo ndaaya, amu and air ttikoreetwo tkyaatha kna kwa maka
ming. guo n ta kuuga at, ara maraathana mand-in ma mth y tr, n o
maraathana taku-in wa gtene ka ndra ciit na mawooni mait moothe, na kwoguo
no o makoreetwo magathana mand-in mara magooka rci. Gtmi ka maathe
taku wa gtene git, n nd n makoreetwo mena hinya wa kuuga ra ggwkwo
gtkra. N nd cio, gkorwo ttekwyaatha kuuma maka ming mhtku
(gthoomo-in, mtugo-in, na mand-in maang maing), n gtmte twage hinya wa
gwtoongoria mand-in meegi gtakwo gwit gwa gtene giit, na kwoguo taku
gakorwo moko-in ma and ang a kuuma na nja, ara maraatwa.

Ndrr cia th iria ciyaathaga n ir njra cia mwanya-mwanya cia kwririkanagia,

kmenyerera, na kraangra irra ciao cia ndire. Rng ona and a ndrr ta icio
matitiindaga magciiria horo wa njra icio, amu njra icio cikragwo meciiria-in na
njra ta ya ngano, rthiomi, gthoomo, kameeme, thenema, TV, na computer, kuuma
ciana ir nyiinyi, na itraga irmrire and acio ta ciruru ciao. Njra icio cia
kwririkania gtene itihaanaine; n cikraine kana ikaga tiganu kuuma o kabira o
kabira, toond, ta ra Gky kiugaga, Ndakagwo ta ya waakin.
No kaing no kaigua and a ndrr iria ina maahinya ma mathara-ita makenda
kuonania at, mand mara meekirwo tene n ndra cia and ara mth y matar na
hinya wa mathara-ita, macio ti mand maar ma bata, na kwoguo matir na bata
kririkanwo mth y. Niing gkoonanio at and ara na o matareciiria na matareeka
mand maa o ta and a th icio ci na maahinya, na matareeririkania mand ma
gtene ka na njra ta ya acio mena maahinya, acio mand mao n mathaahagio. Gtmi
n nd and acio a th iria ci na hinya, wendi wa o n hnd ciothe kwraga and a th
iria itar na maahinya, Tkrgra haaha! Na n nd wa kwaga gtmra maa, th
icio ikeenda meciiria ma and othe a th mariingane na ma o, amu th icio
irmbyanagia na mabata o ma ing wa indo cia th, ona itar cia o, na matacithiginire.
guo nggturia no woone at ndrr cia th, itir ciakorwo igtwarithia meciiria ma
gtene na njra ikriingana. O rrr o rrr n rr njra ya ruo mwanya ya mbaangre
wa mand maruo meciiria-in, wtkio-in, na ciko-in. No ru n hnd njru ya ra-
ngr na tuunyani th no tr; na ta guo George Orwell oigte, mnd kwaria maa
ru n ta kregana na waatho; na kr and metkantie na at, Mar guoya mainkire
nyina.
Kuuma ta maka ngiri mwe guo, n tuuge kuuma and a cr gtuunyana Misri ya
tene, na and air a ndra ciit kuuma brri cio, and air n maathuguundire njra cia
g cia khithania, kraangra na kririkanaga krra kao ga tene. Hatir ngaanja,
raangri cio rng n tmaga krra ku krre eene ko - njiarwa cia and acio air a
tene. Wa mbere, and air mooima Misri, n maariganirwo n gthooma mwandko ra
waar waao wa tene, na kwoguo krra king n ka moorire. Na gtmi ka mariganrwo
n nd and ait ti oothe maar athoomi na aandki: wra waar mgayane, na kwoguo
n kwar ara maar a krutaga wra cio. Niing ta ra njugte haaha mhuro, and
mangnyaagio na maikarrwo gwa kahiinda karaaya, n marigithagio ra moo, na
makariita.

Itmi cia gtene gtrra

Mand maing ta, ithaama kuuma gikaro, mtugo ya ndire na krra, rthiomi, na
gthoomo, mar bata mno gteithrria and meciiria-in makoni mririkanre wa
mand mara meekkire tene. Igarrra ra nd ona mwe wa macio ndagweta haaha,
n tmaga mnd agarrke mno meciiria-in na wooni-in waake wa mand ma
th, nd ona ngtma arigwo n wtkio na mtugo yake ya ndire.
nd ta gthaama kuuma kra ndra cia mnd itire, n gtmaga mnd ariganrwo
n kra ataroona, na rng ona ggatma agarrre mtugo yake ya ndire. Konereria
kega haaha n ka horo wgi thaama, ra gthaama gwatmire Agky magarrre
mhthrre wa mt wa Mky igoongona-in. Rra Agky mathaamire brri taar
na Mky, n maambririe khthagra Mgumo, ta ra thimo yuugaga at, Ciatura
ngy iraga ngumo. N ta kuuga at Agky gthoondeka thimo no, n kuonania at
and n moo at ithaama n ratmire magarrre mand makoni mahooya ma o.

Rekei ngwete haaha at Mky waar mt wa bata mnene mno har and a Misri ya
tene, nd ona mthamaki wa Misri (Pharaoh), etagwo Gky kana Mky ra
Mnene. N ta kuuga at, rtwa ra Agky riugte, and a mthamaki cio wetagwo
Gky. nggeria gthathara martwa ma ndrr cia and air, no woone at maing
ma mo makuute irra na ngano nyiing cia mand mait ma ndire.

Gthoomo ga kru

Gcookeraga kaing mario ya gwkra ngaanja maa wa wtkio wa and, n tmaga

nd wa maa waage kwhokwo, na mno angkorwo ngaanja icio iroima thirikaari-in
(amu thirikaari na hinya na hoti wa gwathithia ithuguunda ra yo). guo n guo
gwatari, rra khtka kgeranio ga cukuru kwagiritantio na gcookera ra mrutani
(wakuuma na nja kana thoomeete gthoomo ka na nja) ekuuga. Rrr-in ta rwa
Gky, toond gthoomo ka mara koimire na nja (gkreehwo n athng rra
maathanaga gk), n gkoragwo gkuute mtugo na wtkio wa athng mno. N
nd cio gthoomo ku n gkoreetwo gkgera ngero nene mno mwena-in wa mtugo,
krra ka Agky, na ona mno mtakre-in wiit wa ngano ciit cia ndire.
Gtmi ka gthoomo ga kru (kra koimire athng-in) kreehe thna, n nd
rutani wa gthoomo ku n tgagria mtugo ya athng, na ta guo njugte haaha
igr, gkararrria mtugo ya and air. Niing n gkumagia mathh maing horo-in
wgi mand ma athng (na kuonania weega wa mo), na kmemeerekia mathh
makoni mtugo ya and air (na kuonania cookereru wa yo). Kriingana na gthoomo
ku, nd woothe reekwo n athng wtagwo kru; na kru ku khragwo rri
rwa waagrru, rngrru, na maa. Wa keer n at, nd woothe toimante na
athng (ta mtugo ya and air), n thaahagio na geekrwo rri rwa whia,
ru, waagi wa khooto kana maa, na nyiinyi wa meeciiria. Krarrria na
kmenereria ku kwa irra cia and air n kuo ndoiga hau kabere at n kgereete ngero
nene kna, na to meeciiria-in mait tu, aca, ona ciko-in ciit; and air hara hoothe
twarma, n twamenyeririo n gthoomo ku kwhthia, krarrria na kima krra na
mtugo iit gto.
menyi kana taku wa mand ma tene, har mnd we mwene, na har ming, n
watukire wa gtoongoragio n ara endi kru. Kriingana na thuguundi wgi
kru, athng matukaga at n o makoreetwo mar aguundria a mand moothe,
na atoongoria kuuku-in wa mand moothe ma th, kuuma haand ha maka ta
magana mataandat kinyagia mth y tr. g y na kuuku wa kguundria
mand, tukaga toongoreetio n waandki. No and ru n marktie kmenya at
waandki wa mabuku waambririe na ackr ait brri-in wa Misri ya tene. horo wa
maa n at, athng n makrtie menyo wa and a th, no to o aiki: n har bata mno
kririkana at, Gtir gtatirie kng, amu taku wa rrr o rrk, wohantio kana
keehocia har menyo wa rrr rng. menyo ra athng makrtie, ming
waguo waambririe Misri, na makwooerera kuuma rra moire waathani wa brri cio.
menyo ng ming na guo umante na ndrr ing nyiing cia th, toond kuuku wa
and a th haana ta maa ma iria inene, rra rkoragwo na maa maing, amu ritrirwo n
nj na tci tuothe twa th (ona Armah, Masks and Marx: 40).
rutani wa gthoomo ga kru ra ng na guo koragwo r mathh ta macio ma
ngano cia kuuku wa waandki thin wa th, kana ona waambrria wa rmi na maang
maing. Niing r, mhari y mware n and a th meerekeire na mbere na toongoreetio
n athng, koragwo nyiitithantio na raangi kana theeku wa gkoonde ka mwr: o
ra and mar air, guo no guo me thuutha mhari-in cio mware, na no guo g kana
menyo waao nyihte. Niing o ra g wa and wna tiganu na menyo wa
athng, guo no guo g cio w mkiingiitaru.
toongoria wa athng rgendo-in ru rwa kru, ganagwo kana gatarwo ta and
othe a th maarte mhari me rgeendo-in, na and air hnd yo n akuumana thuutha
(na kaing n eeroreri), amu menyo waao n wa cooki wa na thuutha mhari-in cio
(haand ha kwerekera na mbere). Kriingana na wtkio y wa kru, n ta gkiuga
at, toond gtikr hnd athng acio magaagtithia (thii-in wa o wa na mbere), kana
makrgame at n guo mageterere and air, tggtra tmoimte thuutha
mand-in moothe kinya tene na tene.
Angkorwo n haana ta ndraanana na ngatiindrra ra gthoomo ka ru kraragrria g
na irra cia ndire cia and air, ra gtmaga irra ciit cirwo n hinya wa gkra na
kwandatka, na ra kgaathagrria irra cia athng, n nd n ndaranagia ra
uumrro wa wtkio cio koreetwo kgmba na knha mag maing ma ndrr
nyiing cia th. N thiomi ciigana cia th iteetwo n geetha and maarie thiomi cia
athng? Njoorua cia athoomi na arutani n moonantie at rthiomi ona rr rwa and
anyiinyi ata, rrkmicrra na rwathira bi, n rkuuaga na g ming mno wa
mand ma ndire na menyo wa gtene, ra and acio makoragwo moongantie na
magacookanrria gwa kahiinda karaaya.
hoti na uumrro wa gthoomo ku ga kru na math maa o maing, hamwe na
mbeca (kana ona hinya wabatarania), n iriinganagrria kana igathinganrria wtkio
cio wa mathh meegi ngano na krra giit ka ndire, na ngano nyiing itar cia
maa ikoni gtgria gtene ka athng. N nd cio, gthoomo ku n kgarraga
mtugo na mawooni ma and ara maikarirwo n th iria ina mathara-ita, na njra ya
khotomia horo ra wgi gtene ka and othe air a th.

Rwmbo rr rwa Wer r Njogu Kamande n ruonantie at, kinyagia rra and ara
endi maa makaumbrania kaimana horo ra tire w mhithanie koni and air a
Misri ya tene, ra ackr ait moimire kuo na magka kra ru tr, ngano ciothe cia
gtene ka and othe a th igtra nduma-in. Na toond, Gatuma kainagia mrigwa:
nduma yo iit gtra heega athng rme wa kheenanagia at Misri ndar ya and
air, o hamwe na hinya wa gwtua at rrr rwa o n ruo tu rwanaguundria mand
ma bata, na rwanakria th. Na n mathikagrrio n th yoothe, mno n nd wa ithu
gkorwo tw nduma-in gi gtene giit, meciiria-in. Niing gthkia mno, athng
metkagio n th magtgria toond maambire magthaka gko kinya tgtuka and
anuungi na ariitu, gko kinyagia mth y ttar twahota kwhuura, amu mathiiaga o
na mbere na gkongere hnd ciothe. Na ithu and air, twetirwo rtwa tgtka, na
tkrtkra kna.
rutani cio (wa athng gthaka gko na o ene gwtgria) koragwo tar na ira
kana maa, no toongoragio n hinya (wa mathara-ita) na knyararo, amu, Mmena ng
amrutaga mbak yaake inir. No toond ru ithu and air n tgte na menyo wa
ra tene gwatari, na niing tw na thiomi na ngano nyiing iria iroonania ra gwekkire
bi, ra ara-ngr a haaro nyiing maatuunyire na magtma ackr ait moime
brri wa Misri, ithu ene no ithu tngtoongoria wethere-in na meemeerekia-in wa
krra ku ka ndire ciit, na khuura and air gko na gkr ku twanahakwo, hamwe
na kmagiria maithori.
Ibuku rr rraageria gthathara krra ku ga tene, rkageria gwetherera taku cio, na
kgeria krugra na gtheeremia maa wa kra gatmire krra ku gtrre, nghthra
njra ya nymbo cia Ggky cia tene. Nd na mwhoko wa githria gkinyithia nginyi
na kriindria gtene giit, toond Gky kiugaga at, Maa ndkuuaga.

ta n krim ka guo.

Rwmbo rr ndambirie krigua rkinwo kameme-in ka Voice of Kenya, ta mwaka-

in wa 1983. Thuutha cio n ndaagrirwo thaani ya ruo n mthuuri wakwa, na
twarthikrria naake, n anjririe ndmtarre ra rwoigaga. Na ona gtuka n
ndaiguaga n rwa Gky, ndiaiguaga wega ciugo ciaruo ciothe. N ndaathiire na mbere
krthikagrria kaing, no n kwar na ciugo nyiing itangaiguire wega kana menye
gtara.
Gtmi ka njage kigua n nd aini a rwmbo rr n mahthagra mario ta ya thimo,
mno cia tene iria itookaine matuk-in maya tr. And a tene ara maartuungire n
maageragia khitha th ciao ra moigaga. Maahithanagia ra maroiga toond rwmbo
rr rrmbyantie na thaama ya and makra kuuma brri-in waao. N nd cio
aini n makoragwo magtaarana o ene, magkunyanra th, kana makrana hara gwati
ngonekanra. Kaing niing n meekranaga caamba, mataanya, na weetereri wa
kwhonokia thuutha-in.
nd ng niing n at, ciugo icio n itrigaga mno n nd n twariganirwo n krra
kra rwmbo rr raheeanaga. Ciugo nyiing ci rwmbo-in rr cia koni mand
mara maathiaga na mbere hnd yo, na matar kuo ru. Ciugo icio imwe ni itangatuire,
n ciatigire khthrwo, na n maa ciugo imwe n hinya mno woone mnd nghota
ggtarra mth y. Ni mwene ndracookire kmenya tari wacio o ica-ikuh,
rra ndrahotire gthooma maandko ma rthiomi rwa ackr ait ma tene.

Rwmbo rr rtwrte mand manene mataano:

Wa mbere n at, and air a tene, n tuuge, macc na ackr a and air oothe,
n o maar ene brri wa Misri, na n o marutire th yoothe kwandka na rmi, na
magaka manymba mara mth y marigithagia and a ru ra maakirwo.
Wa keer n at, rwmbo rr rroiga ra and acio ait a tene moonirio thna n
th cia kuuma th ngeni, na magkinyio haand makona at no mhaka
mangathaamire moime brri cio waar waao kuuma tene. Niing rwmbo n
rcokeete rgatwra ra and acio ait moimire ku, na niing kra gatmire
moorre na mwena ra ru tr.
Wa gatat n at, rwmbo rr n rroiga ra and ara matuunyanire brri wa
Misri maatari, n ta kuuga, kruka kao gatari ata mhrga na mtugo-in;
tgakrwo at maar and a raangi haana ta ngaruthi kana tmcr. Kwa
mtugo yao, tkeerwo at maar and a rciaro rwa mbe njth, and matar
mbuguro.
nd ng rwmbo rr rroiga n at and air, matoongoreetio n Nymba
Nene nymba ya athamaki aao, n maahikirie and-a-nja a th ngeni (acio
meetagwo Caga). Mini agakiuga at hau n ho thna wa ggaatuunywo brri
woimire (ona kbuungo ka Ndombanire Caga).
Kriingana na maandko ma ackr acio ait, mand macio moothe maar
marathe n arathi aao a tene, gkeerwo at brri wa Misri n gatuunyanwo
mthenya mwe, na wooywo n th cia and a kuuma brri wa na nja (ta guo
kuugtwo n maandko mau haaha igr mareetwo Admonitions).

Wa kuona teeaga wa mwene.

Mthuuri mtiga-ir wa bata mno na mcarrria khumo ka and air, wetagwo Cheik
Anta Diop, ra waciarirwo brri-in wa Senegal kra Africa ya ithro, ataanakua n
atririkanirie at, And ona manghootwo bi na maathwo na hinya bi n th cia na nja,
angkorwo matir maate rthiomi rwao, no magakoragwo na mwhoko wa gkeehonokia
rci rng (Diop, 1981: 214 ciugo ciake itartwo kuuma Gthng). Gtmi
Diop oige guo n nd n maa rwmbo ta rr tngremwo n krtara, kana
rtaangr ho, ttiingkaamenya ngano ciit cia tro wit wa tene, kana horo ona
mwe wgi ackr ait. N maa ttiingkaamenya na kra ndra ciit coimire hnd ya
tene mno, n tuuge ngano iria citagwo na Kngeretha history ya rruka rwit.

Kwragwo at mnd too kra oimte, ona kra aroreete ndangmenya, na atraga
ahiragio ta mtura wa ih n ara meetuire imenyi cia th. Na n ko kinyagia mth
y, and aing air tkragwo at tuomire mtit-in ya Congo, o rra mnd ra
wetagwo Louis Leakey aguundrire at and oothe a th makunkire mabrri-in mara
makuhririe iria ra Nyanza, kra mhaka-in ya Kenya-Uganda-Ethiopia. No ona
mbere ya Leakey kuuga kra and a th moimire, rwmbo rr n rraatuonia at
ackr ait moimte, kana makunkire hara r-in rwa Ngabi rkunkire, mbere ya
macoke mathi mambatte na r ru kinyagia o Misri ya tene (ona kbuungo kra
kroiga, Na mait oimire kabi).
Rng niing no kaigua tkrwo n athng at, ithu and air, ackr ait maatire
njaga, o rra ithu t wega martwa maing ma nguo nyiing mno cia tene cia
Ggky (nguo iria ciekragwo hnd ya tene ngeretha itaanoka Gky-in). Rng
tkeerwo at and acio ait a tene gtir nd ona mwe moo, na mand maang
maing tgeetkia toond ithu ene tti hara maa r, amu rrr rwit n twariganirwo
n ngano ciit cia tene.

Rthiomi rwit na ngano ciit cia tene n iraatwra nd y: and makunkra Africa ya
irathro, n maacookire magikrkania na r rwa Ngabi matherereete na mhuro. And
ait n maatmirie brri-in wa Misri, magtra brri-in cio gwa kahiinda ka maka
ngiri nyiing, na makkria maa. And acio maatrire brri-in cio, na makwaaka
kna, acio no marainrwo rwmbo rr. Acio n o maar ackr ait, kriingana na
rwmbo rr hamwe na nymbo ing nyiing cia tene cia Agky (na cia ndrr ing
cia and air), na kriingana na rthiomi rwit (hamwe na thiomi nyiing cia and air
ngweteete ibuku-in rr).

Rwmbo rr rraarmbyania na ra and acio ait a tene maatire matharkagrwo

n and a kuuma th ya cr, ara maageragra haara th ya Misri gathkanirio kana
nyitanire na th cia na mwena wa irathro, cia mwena wa na mhuro, na cia kraaya
(heetagwo Gaza strip). Thuutha-in wa maka ming na haaro nene, ackr ait n
magtuunyirwo brri wa o.

R n tkrktie kmenya at and ait a tene mno, n o maar ene menyo ra waar
mnene maa, na at n o moonirie th yoothe mand maya: kwandka, khooya na
gtgria Ngai, rmi, mwako mnene maa wa mahiga, mwako wa meeri na ttar, na
mand maing mno ma bata.

Mmenyi n arigagwo.

No n k gatmire and air matuke and matar na menyo, na maage bata na gkria
mand ma o guo ru kr, na kinyagia makriganrwo at n kwar hnd maar na
menyo ming ma?

Thimo ya Gky yuugaga at, Mmenyi n arigagwo, na guo n kuuga at mnd

angtaangwo mno n arigithagio horo ona ra we mwene oo wega. Mrutani cio ti
Diop niing n oigte at, and mangtoongorio na hinya n th cia ageni, n mariitaga bi
na makeerigwo bi, at toond knyariirwo knene no krigithie mnd nd oo bi
bi. guo rutani wa Diop n wtkantie na thimo yo ya Gky. Na n ko niing
Gky kiugaga at, riuga mbiimbi n ngnng, at gthnio kinya rigwo n ra
, kana kaine n and othe.

Arutani anene eethi khooto moigaga at, ruwo na keha knene ngoro-in, kana ruwo rwa
meeciiria-in rngtra hiingo ndaaya, n rtmaga mnd ariganrwo n mand oo
(ona maandko ma Sandra Bloom, 1992: 2). Bloom oigte at, keha knene na ruwo rwa
ngoro ingtra mno, mnd n agarragwo bi taku-in, kririkano-in gake, na
mawooni-in maake moothe, ra onaga and ara ang mahaana, gto kra eheete, na
akahe and ara ang, na meeciiria-in maake moothe mara makoni mand ma th.
And maar oog no mariite marmrire atoongoria ooru me na hinya, amu n tuoneete
and ait makoyanra hi, matim na mciinga, na and air agima magathnja and
ara ang air ta mbri; ona kinya ciana magathnja, ona angkorwo mbere yo maraar
and a itra ra o, kana araata aao a bata. N tuoneete and ang makoera aciari aao hi
na mciinga, na wega at krra-in giit ga tene, mciari akoragwo ta Ngai he mwana
waake. Na hnd yo eroreri kaing ona matiroona at guo n gcooka na thuutha
meciiria-in, o toond rng n arhe na mbia n ara maraattoongoria.

Niing he nd ng riitagia and air mno (na umante na keha ka ngoro, ta guo
ndoiga haaha igr, na rutani-in wa kru): wtkio wa at nd woothe umante na
ndrr cia na nja iria itikarire, iria ir na gkoonde ker, ona ngkorwo r nd
mthku ata, and ait aing meraga at n thii wa na mbere. Na kwoguo n
tkoragwo hnd ciothe meciiria-in mait twthagathagte gte nd woothe toimante
na mthng, kaing ra woothe kuruhante na ackr ait. Gtmi n nd, ithu
and air, n twekrirwo guoya wa kuonekana at tr and agima kaimana, toond ir n
waatuirwo knd kru na knuungi n and a th iria itikarire, na ithu tgtkania nao
na tgthra. N ta kuuga at, twatuirwo rtwa, tgtka.

Njra teeagwo n ng

Ni nd mniini n ndoo gtuma kondo, no ru ndi; n ndoo ngano, nda na thimo

nyiing cia Gky, na mag maang maing, mara ru itoo. N k gatmire
ndiganrwo?
Gky kiugaga at, Njra teeagwo n ng, na guo n ta kuuga at, nd tiganagrio
n nd wa nd ng. Mtugo na krra ka rrr o ruothe, n cio itemagra rrr ru
njra ya kgerera rkrmrra mand ma th, n geetha rrr ru rhote gkria
mand ma ruo na njra ra rwagrire. Na kwoguo krra na mtugo ya rrr ingrra,
no kinya nayo njra ya gkrra yrre. And air n maariganirwo n ngano na mag
maing maao o rra moir mtugo yene, thiomi ciene, na ngano ciene.
N maa and mangrrwo n mag maao, moerere rthiomi rwene, na mate rthiomi
rwaao, matingcooka mahote kwyohora koombo-in (meeciria-in na ciko-in ciao)
matar na rthiomi ru, na mno angkorwo matir na mand maao ma ndire yaao
eene, mandktwo na rthiomi ru rwao. Gtmi n nd ta ra Gky niing kiugaga,
Wa kuona teega wa mwene. Kuoerera ngano ciene na menyo wene n kuo
gwatmire tte menyo wit wa kuuma tene, na tkhaana ta tuonja meciiria-in, kwoguo
tgtmra gkra kuuku-in na guundri-in wa mand.
Ndrr nyiing ikragia g ra mkr, ona ciamenya ng mwer, kaing ona
igatukania mag macio meer. ngturia no woone at th iria ciothe ciyaathaga bi
(iria itar na mnd racira na hinya ra ciagrirwo n gwka mabrri-in maacio, n
tuuge mabrri mara matar na th ona mwe ngmeenyenyia, kana raarha aimwo-n-ir
ara aregi nyina, n guo maanaange and aao na brri waao), no woone at gtir th ona
mwe ya th ta icio ciyaathaga maa tatmagra rthiomi rwayo. Gthoomo kraarutana
ra bi gwatari tene, no gkoonagia ciana g wa ra th iria ing iraakria menyo
waacio na gtmra thiomi cia cio, na ra th ta icio cierutire koombo-in wa gikarrwo
na gwathwo n th ing cia na nja, na ikambrria gkria mag maao ma ndire na
maa wao na kyo.
N ko har bata kririkana at and matiinghota kwyaatha angkorwo matir rthiomi
rwao; na mwendi kwyaatha bi no nginya aithrie rthiomi rwake. Niing angkorwo
ithu ttiinghota gthooma maandko ma thiomi ciit cia kuuma tene, ttinghota
gtwarithia na mbere g ra waguundrirwo n ackr ait at n guo hiihi thote
gwkria kana gkria brri wiit.

Gtmi kng kgi kra gatmire thaane ta twariganirwo n g na ngano ciit cia
ndire n gk: gwkka kwa nd, na mario ya and, kana ra and macookaga kuuga
gwkkte, ti kaing mand macio meer makuruhananaga wega. Na maagaga
khaanana amu nduka imwe cia and a th no tr (na mno nduka iria ru ci na hinya
wa mathara-ita) n ciariganirwo n kwaria maa horo-in wgi mand mait and
air. Gtmi kao kwaga maa n toond wa korokeru wa indo cia th. koroku cio wa
anene a mabrri macio n watmire meemenyerie kwaragia na gcookeraga kaing
ndeto cia maheeni kinya athikrria makaagaga ngrani ya maa na maheeni, na kinya
mageetkagia at maheeni-in n ho maa r.
Naguo koroku ndkoragwo mwena-in o wa mtuunyani tu; koragwo w wa mena r,
wa mtuunyani, na wa mtoongoria wa and air ra neanaga brri. Mnd mir
mkoroku ndangguna brri amu aga gtuunywo na hinya, n aheeagwo ihaki, na
agakunyanra and aao, ona kana akeendia brri. Rwmbo rr rroiga at ene brri
hamwe na atoongoria aao, n maahikanirie na th iria ciokte ku Misri, na gtukana ku
ggtma ttuunywo nene na brri, na thuutha cio tkingatwo kuuma kuo (ona
kbuungo ka, Nguuga ndombanire Caga).
Ti kaing waathani wa hinya ngtwarana na maa, na gtmi n toond mnd ra
mikarre ndangcooka eerwo hara maa r ndakoohge arege gwathwo. Niing toond
mnd o cio mikarre na hinya no we mruti wa wra, na wa igooti, ndaangcooka
eerwo maa ta wa ra koni ra igooti rake rraahthrwo (ta ru guo na njra ya
koroku na ici) ndakaregane na thirikaari yo ya hinya.
Na toond and ait a tene aing ao matio kwandka (amu waandki waar wra wa and
anyiinyi meyaamrte), maanyariirwo gwa kahiinda karaaya, n maarigithirio ngano na
menyi waao wa ndire. Na rra moorire na gk tr ru, n maathiire na mbere na
kriganrwo n mand maao o kahora o kahora amu kwragwo at, Matuk no
ngrrr, na guo n ta kuuga at mand mathiiaga o makgarrkaga o ra maka
raahtka. Niing and ait n maathiire na mbere na gtharkrwo kuuma na mena
ming n ndrr o icio ciamatuunyire brri igcaria ngoombo na indo nyiing iria
ikoragwo brri-in wa Africa na itar mabrri-in mara maang. Na n nd wa
knyariirwo ku gwa kahiinda karaaya, n maathiire na mbere krigithio n g ra
moo wa ndire.
nd ng twagrirwo n kririkana n at, and ait mathaama kuuma Misri, n
maathiire mabrri rng matatari kra moimte, rng n th icio kwaga khaanana ta
kwa rera, tri, mmera, kana ona ing wa maa. Acio n ta o njugire o kambrria at
moigire, Ciatura ngy iraga ngumo, n ta kuuga at maaga mand mara
maamenyereete, n moereire mtugo mer na makriganrwo n ra moo kuuma tene.

Thiomi cia and air ciothe ciumte gtina-in kmwe.

Rwmbo rr n ruonantie at and air ithuothe n ithu twar Misri mbere ya tke
gk ru tr. Kriingana na ra thiomi cia and aria ang air ta Kalenjin, Maasai, na
ing nyiing cionantie rwmbo-in rr, n ta kuuga at hnd yo twar kuo, and air
twaragia thiomi ciakuruhante, kana hiihi ciar na gootiganu kaniini. Thiomi icio n
ciacookire igthi na mbere na gtigana o kahora o kahora, mno n nd wa and gthi
o makinghaga, na niing ona kwikaria gwa kahiinda karaaya kuuma tr Misri na kinya
ona tuoima kuo.
Thiomi-in nyiing cia and air kuuma cia Africa ya irathro kinya ya ithro, o kinya
Africa ya na igr, ciugo iria cia kuonania kra twoimire, ra twarire na and a gka
kuuma th ing ngeni, tkhrwo na tkhootwo n o, na tgtuunywo brri, ciothe n
iroonekana ihanaine rwmbo-in rr. Ciugo iria ihthrtwo n rwmbo rr n cia
thiomi ta: Kujamaat (kuuma brri wa Senegal, Africa ya mwena wa ithro); Ga (Ghana,
Africa ya mwena wa ithro); Setswana (South Africa, mwena wa na igr); Luganda
(Uganda, mwena wa irathro); Maasai, Kalenjin, Luhya, Gky na Kiswahili.

nd mwe r bata mno kririkana nyoneete ngandka rwmbo rr n at, rra and
air ara maar Misri maahuruunjkire brri-in wa Africa, gkuundi o gkuundi ka and
n gathiire na ciugo imwe cia rthiomi rwao. No ciugo imwe n maariganirwo n cio,
kana hiihi magte o ra kahiinda kaahtkaga, na kriingana na ra brri ra moorire
watari. Kwoguo no woone kiugo kmwe gkutwo n thiomi nyiing, na ciugo ing cia
mwanya niing ikuutwo n thiomi gkuundi kng. N nd cio, no mhaka mtari wa
nymbo ici cia Gky ga tene agaikaraga akgerekanagia rthiomi ru rwa tene na
thiomi nyiing cia and air ara ang, n geetha akahota kmenya ra ciugo nyiing iria
ciariganire Gky-in iroiga (iria itariganire thiomi-in icio ing). N ko Gky
kiugaga at, Mnd mwe ndeheragrwo njra.

N maa mnd mwe ndangehererwo njra-in no ya gwetha g na ngano ciit cia

tene. Gtmi n gkorwo at, kuuma ta mwaka wa 1822, rra th cia athng ciamenyire
gtara rthiomi ru rwa ackr ait (mahthrte ihiga rra ratigirwo n ackr ait
rtagwo Rosetta Stone), n itire ihthagra maahinya mao maing mno (ma mbia na ma
mathara-ita), ikgeria kuonania at ithu and air ti ithu kna twar ene g cio wa
tene, na at ti ithu twakire Misri ya tene. Athng n mageragia kuonania at rthiomi
ru n rwakuire, na at ene ruo matiingmenyeka maar aa, ta hiihi moorire na mri ya
mkoongoe. Ta ra Gky kiugaga, kna, Mmena ng amrutaga mbak yaake
inir, ona oo at ndngmguna.

Wa Ngai raaragio n igoto.

Maka mnyiinyi mhtku, gtir mnd ngretkirie at mthenya mwe, and air n
makaagundria bi horo cio wgi tro wa ackr ao a Misri. nd, ta ra Gky
kiugaga, Mwaki wa Ngai raaragio n igoto, amu nd woothe mraathime ona
nggerio gthkio n kana n, ndngaga khiinga (ona Mnene: 156). And acio
ait a tene meetaga rthiomi rwao ndeto theru kana ndaathime, guo n meetktie at
Ngai n amaheete rthiomi rtheru, rwa maa na rraathime. ngkyria-r, n maka
ngiri ciigana ihtkte kuuma Misri yatuunyanwo, maandko makaihrio mabrri ra
and acio ene krra ku mataaar and air, na thuutha mnene, ithu and ttar na
maahinya ta o, tgacooka khota khithria horo mhithanie na hinya guo? N
ngeciiririe at mwaki cio no tre kinya mth y?
Nymbo ciit iria twatigirwo n ackr acio ait, n ciagitire krra ku ga tene bi bi.
Mnd ru ngenda krra ku no akone nymbo-in ciit cia tene. Niing ona to
nymbo-in tu: thiomi ciothe cia and air n ikoragwo ikuute ngano na horo wa tene,
na nghota gthathara rthiomi o ruothe rwa Africa, no menye ngano na krra ku ga
tene gothe.
Niing mnd ngenda kmenya horo y wa tene, no oone krra gk maandko-in
ma tene ma rthiomi rwa ackr ait, yaani, mwandko-in wa rthiomi rwa Misri ya
tene (ra ru wtagwo na Kngeretha, Ancient Egyptian writing). No n hakoragwo na
mhngca mnene mno: krra ku n khragwo mno n irra cia ndini cia athng
na ndini cia and a kuuma na mwena wa Icr. Gtmi ka ndini icio ihre krra ku
giit ka ndire, n nd ndini icio ciothe, ona gtuka khumo ga cio no krra-in o ku
giit (amu giit n ko kambririe mbere ya cia o), ene ndini icio cia gka thuutha
matiingtkra ku ka and air gkorwo at n ko gatoongoreetie.
Thna ra kr ho ru n atr, irra icio cia and a kuuma na nja (cia kuuma na mwena
wa athng na wa Icr) n cio ru itoongoragia wtkio-in na meciiria-in ma and
air haand hoothe marma. Na ko gtmi kra gtmaga ttoongorio meeciiria-in, n
toond and acio na maciaro maao n o maatingatire kuuma brri-in cio waar wiit
wa Misri. guo matingkenda tkre meciiria-in, tmenye ra twar and a bata maka
ngiri nyiing htku, ttikanaae gkaanahiingka maitho trege gikarrwo na ttue itua
ra gcookia r mkaro.

rugri na Minre wa Wer r Njogu Kamande

Wer n knd kwaraganu, rriiy-in (kaing gwa krithio), kana knd baraganya
gtar na and. Brri ra rainro reerwo kwaar knd wer, toond hiihi kwar
knd kwaraganu na kwari. Brri cio rainrwo rariingithanio na wer, na mini
akoiga ra ene brri matharkirwo n and a kuuma brri ng, acio areeta Caga.
Kiugo Caga kroonanaia ra and acio maar a gtheemba ka and a gtra
morraga, mategkiindria gikaro kmwe, na kwoguo maar and mataangakririe
brri wa o.
And acio ti Caga mareerwo at maar na mat manene ta ma njogu. Njogu n nyam
mat manene mno. Thimo-in na nymbo-in (ta Gcaand), Agky n mahthagra
kiugo njogu makenda kuuga gt knene gwa khnga horo kana gwa gthikrria
horo wene, mno mnd akenda gthikrria njuuk ikoni teti kana mand ma
thirikaari, kana niing mnd agciiria at n we raacuukuo.
Kwoguo kuuga at brri r na njogu kamande n ta kuuga at kwna thna koni
mat manene, na toond gt wra wa kuo n gthikrria na kigua, n ta kuuga kwna
and brri-in cio (kaing mokte kuuma na nja), maraahnga horo, magathikrria
ra and ara ang ene brri maroiga, hiihi matmtwo n anene a brri ra
moimte. Rwmbo rroonania ta and acio a gka n moete nene wa brri cio
toond rwmbo n rroonania at n mareetigrwo, na n ko and maraina na thimo cia
Gky n guo matikaigukane ra maroiga n th icio.
Kiugo kamande kiumante na kiugo kmanda, na ko kiugte: wa mbere, gtuunyana
na njra ya kwemeema, na ya waara; wa keer kiugte, knyamaaria and na brri,
kwaragania indo cia brri na njra ta ya gtharria manymba, kharagania indo, na
mand ta macio, mara monekanaga rra kwaga mbaara.

Mini ambte akagooca na agathaathaiya Ngai wake hiihi n kmhonokia gku, na

niing kmkinyia ku ar ru. Acookeete agakaria horo ra wonekanire n geetha atue
itua ra gthaama, ra mahrirwo n and a gka (acio areeta Caga), na mand
mara we mwene eyooneire na maitho maake e knd ku rriiy-in areeta Kbogo.
Niing n acookeete agatwra kra ru aroreete, na gtmi ka erekere brri cio. Ar o
hau n artie horo wa rgeendo ru (toond e njra-in), ra aroona, na mwhoko wake
koni ku araathi.

Kbogo n knd rriiy-in kwna ig na ndooro, knd ta kra r rnene ritrire

iria-in. Rwmbo-in rr, Kbogo n Misri mwena wa na mhuro, kra r rwa Ngabi
(Nile) ritrire iria-in ra Mediterranean, toond n kwar na ndooro nyiing mno. Na
toond wa ra gkuhririe mabrri ma and ara maahranaga na and ait a Misri ya
tene, n guo and acio macooke matuunye and air brri, ku Kbogo n kuo
kwambririe gtuunyanwo. Na ta guo mini aroiga, n gwakr na haaro nene mno
and ait maggeetkia at n mahootwo, na metkre kuuma brri cio wa o wa tene, n
geetha moorre na igr gk tr ru.

Rwmbo rr ndrgayantie maita meer:

Gcuunj ka mbere kna ibuungo 20. O kbuungo gtoongoreetio n mhari r
igte ta kbuungo mwanya. Mhari wa mbere (wa yo r) wna ciugo cia mbere
cia kbuungo kra gkrmrra. Mhari wa keer naguo koragwo r na ciugo
iria ikute rtwa ra rwmbo rr, na icookagrwo thuutha wa mhari cio wa
mbere hnd ciothe o kbuungo ker gkambrrio.
Ciugo icio (cia mhari yo yeer ya gtoongoria) ciinagwo n mkithia wa
rwmbo e wiki, ir ta konereria ga kbuungo kra areenda kinithia, n guo aini
acio ang matikahngcwo kana marigwo n ciugo cia kbuungo kra
ggcookerera, na maage krmrra rwmbo me hamwe wega. Kwoguo o
kbuungo o kbuungo gtoongoragio n ciugo cia mhari wa mbere wa kbuungo
kra gkrmrra.
 Gcuunj ga keer na ko kna ibuungo 10. No haand ha kbuungo gtoongorio
n mhari r yaa konereria ga ciugo iria irmrire kana iroreete kinwo, mhari
yo r koragwo mthia-in wa kbuungo, gacookerwo kbuungo gathira.
Na ko gtmi ga ciugo icio gkorwo ci mthia-in wa kbuungo, no tuugire at
hiihi rwmbo rwatuungagwo guo mno n guo ciugo icio igeekra horo ra
rainrwo ngumi na gcac, na mno niing n nd wa ciugo icio kmatia
rwmbo bi.
Ibuungo nyiing n irooneka ta ciorire kana ikriganra. Gtmi ka njuge guo n
toond, ciugo icio cia mhari yo r ndaagweta ya mbere, n cia kuonanrria
kbuungo kra krmrire. nd rwmbo rr rwna mhari ta yo r ming tar
na ibuungo imrmrire ihaanaine. Kwoguo ngakoona at n kr na ibuungo itar
ho. guo n ta kuuga at rwmbo rr rwar rraihu gkra ra ru rtari. No
hiihi ibuungo ta icio cirte ingcario Gky-in guothe, itiingkaga
kuongerereka.

Rwmbo rr rwainagwo na mbth yetagwo Gcengeca, toond, o ta Gcaand,

yakoragwo krtwo mbeg ta cia mwethia, iria ciagaambaga cegecege mbth
yainainio rkinwo. N nd cio rwmbo rr ona ruo no rgeetwo Gcengeca, ota
ra Gcaand ar rtwa ra mbth ya rwmbo ru, o nd mwe na rwmbo rra
rinagwo nayo.
Mkithia wa Gcengeca (ota mkithia wa nymbo cia tene cia Gky), aaragia ta ar
we mwene wkte mand mara araarrria (tiga o rra anggweta mnd kaine
rtwa). Kwa guo no wciirie at n we (mini) reerwo, kana reeinra. No athikrria n
moo at n mnd ng raatemwo kana raarrrwo. Kaing niing mini akoragwo
akaria horo wgi rrr ruothe ona angkorwo aroiga at n we mwene.

Ibuungo ici nyaandke haaha, aini maraina rwmbo me rgeendo-in, toond n maroiga
at me knd mahatkante, na niing waarora ciugo cia o (kwa mhiano makria,
Nguuga ngwambatrio n? na niing ona kana, Na gk n k tr?), n kuona at
me njra rgeendo-in merekeire na gk tr. N ta aini maar meeri-in, hiihi r-in rwa
Ngabi, maambatte, maroreete na gk ru tr, kabi, ta ra moigire kambrria-in, na
n ko maroorania guo. Kwoguo hiihi ona matir na Gcengeca ga kina na ko,
kriingana na at n kra moorte kuuma brri-in waao.
No niing ngrora ibuungo imwe (ta cia kinra Ikenye), no woone at rwmbo rr
rwatuungirwo mbere ya mathna mau ma gthaama. Niing ona no njuge at hiihi
rwmbo rr n rngerutirwo na rinwo and makhaarria gthaama na makrana ra
meegwka ona mbere ya gthaama.

nd ra nyoonete khngca mtarre-in wa rwmbo rr, n ni krigwo n krra

kmwe kra gkuutwo n rwmbo ruo rwene o ta guo njugte haaha igr. ra
ndktie kmenya n at, ngkorwo nd krra kra and acio a tene, yaani, ackr
ait maarmagrra, ndngcooka ithrie bi kana igue wega ra rwmbo rwatene
rroiga.

Kwoguo, reke njuge at, mawooni makwa n at:

 Mnd woothe ngenda kmenya gtara rwmbo ta Gcengeca, no mhaka
eerute gthooma maandko mara maandkirwo n ackr ait. Kmenya
gthooma maandko mau n khiingrrwo menyi wa krra kra ackr ait
maarmagrra, na ra th ya o yatari. Na gtir ngaanja at, rwmbo ta rr rwa
Gcengeca n rkuute krra king mno kra ithu and a ru ttoo amu n maa
kroreete gtrra bi.
Niing to krra tu: maandko ma rthiomi ru rwa tene n makuute ngano
nyiing mno cia tene, ta cia ra th yoombirwo, kra and a th yoothe moimire,
na cia kra ithu eene tumte, ra twakuruhante na and ara mathirrkirie
brri wiit, yaani history ya and air.
Wa gatat n at, thii wa na mbere ra and acio a tene maar na guo, and air a
ru matir maamenya ra waatari. g ta wa gwaka manymba manene
mahaana ta irma (ta mara maathikagwo athamaki) and mateegtmra thimiti,
g wa ra and acio mooyaga mahiga mau makamaigrra nymba-igr
knd kr igr ma, g wa kiga and aku magaikaraga maka makiri
mateekbutha, g wa khonia mrim ming ma, na mag maang maing,
moothe mahithtwo maandko-in mau.
Tnghota gthooma maandko macio, hiihi no mathiingrre njra ya kwruta
koombo-in wa meeciiria, wa kwiiraga hnd ciothe, na wa krurkaga
mand mait ma tene. Hiihi twahota kwambrria kwhe gto na gwtgragia
(ta ndrr iria ing cia th) toond ndra ciit kna n cio ciambririe thii wa na
mbere thin wa th yoothe. Twehe gtyo n kmenya ra ndra ciit ciekire
mand manene, n tkhiingka maitho, na tmenye ra tngykrria kna,
na ttgrio n th iria ing na nduka ciit iria igooka thuutha-in mnene.
koombo uumaga meeciria-in; kwoguo tngthirwo n rim meeciiria-in, no
tuone ra tngiga ta and agima, ta gcaria ra tngcooka gwthoondekagra
indo iria itbati, haand ha gtra twetereire gthoondekerwo n th cia na nja ta
tw ciana. N ta kuuga, twambrrie khaica mt kuuma na gtina ta th iria ing
thiu na mbere, na ttegwtkria th ona mwe tnyiite guoko rng.
 The African Peoples Past:
Robbery, Guile, Deception, and Truth

I will tell you something about stories, [he said]. They arent just
entertainment. Dont be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have
to fight off illness and death. So they try to destroy the stories, let the
stories be confused or forgotten. They would like that Because we
would be defenceless then. (Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony: 2).

The word history in Gky roughly translates as, stories about the past. Stories
about the past permeated every-day life in a Gky household when I was growing up.
Though the stories are still retold in many rural homes, the Agky people do not
consider their stories about the past as history. Rather, the stories are seen as evening
entertainment for the family, and particularly the children. While this stance to the stories
may be related to the modern attitude to what is truly history as instilled through
formal education, vis--vis the Gky stories about the past, the attitude may also be
related to our peoples distinctive way of discussing their history.
Formal education steadily inculcates in the Gky childs mind the dogma that real
history is found in books, written by Western-oriented guild scholars, while the
ngano-cia-marim (ogre stories) recited in homes are simple entertainment distinct
from real history. Following my Western-oriented mentors staunchly, the history-vis-a
vis-stories narrative appeared indisputable, and totally acceptable to my young mind. In
the Western historians promotion of theories that serve White supremacy, Silkos
statement above is discounted and ultimately entirely removed from the Western-oriented
historians concept of history.

As a child growing up in Gky community, I absorbed the stories about the past and
preserved them in my memory, albeit differently. Most of the stories were about the
seemingly unreal, foolish-like creatures with no sense of justice, with whom ordinary
Gky people interacted in the distant past. The mysterious and ambiguous time and
space obscured the stories authenticity, and created the impression of a vague, imaginary
past in my childs mind. The idea of the lack of veracity in Gky and other African
societies past because it was not recorded anywhere, was gently and gradually instilled
into my academic studies. Eventually, my mind was totally blocked about th

Unknown to me and other Gky children, everyday activities involved a retelling of the
communitys history. Childrens games I participated in were stories about our heroes,
and the evil foreigners who had defeated us and taken our lands. The childens songs
talked about our former territories, how we had lost them, and eventually migrated to our
present lands. The whole language is charged with real history, whether in songs,
provebs, or stories. After our ancestors had lived in their new territories for many
centuries, the meanings of the often-repeated stories soon began to fade away. The people
gradually forgot the main history narrated by the stories, the implications and the need
for the children to know, and eventually, the past became a blurry story about an
imagined bygone. Even as the memories of their history faded away, the stories, songs,
provebs, sayings and their message remained, waiting to taunt the real historians.

The ancient Egyptian language, that is, the language of our ancestors, recorded in writing
virtually all that they experienced, as if they could forsee what was to become of their
progeny. Their word for story and story-telling seems to be similar to the words used in
many East African languages:

gnwt, records, annals. [Ancient Egyptian].

ngano: tales, fable, folk-story, myths. [Gky].
ngano: fable, tale, story [Kiswahili].
nganeek: words, stories, news. [Kalenjin].
tsingano: stories. [Luhya].

As can be seen from the above, the ancient word included the concept of histories, and
records, and may have changed with the change of time and space, to include the telling
of stories.
The late Senegalese scholar, Cheik Anta Diop, has shown how language can be used to
reconstruct the African past, stating that:
Even when archeological data and written documents are missing, one may in some
privileged cases, use linguistic, ethnic (ethnonyms and toponyms) and sociopolitical facts
in order to succeed in reconstructing the African past with a near certainty (Diop, 1995-
1996: 1). This study shows that present-day African languages are outstanding pointers to
the African past.

Control of the Past.

He who controls the past, controls the future; He who controls

the present controls the past - George Orwell, 1984.
In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act Orwell.

George Orwells words above show that the understanding of the African past has not
been in our control for a long time, because black people have not been truly independent
for many years. This lack of autonomy has led to outsiders meddling with our peoples
view of reality, obstruction to our enquiries into our pasts, and, more relentlessly, our
natural growth and subsequent change. This obstructionism has been orchestrated and
perfected through the introduction of Western-oriented theories and master-narratives
geared towards the Africans support and acceptance of the hegemonic status quo. These
theories have resulted in the emergence of a thought system that contends that societies of
the world have moved through time in a linear passage heading to a pre-determined
destination. The theories place the West at the front of the linear passage, and as the
leader and referee of the movement, a scheme which is always pegged to the color of the
skin if not geographical location.
Different societies have their own ways of observing, recording and preserving, guarding,
and remembering historical events, such systems being embedded in their culture or way
of life. The subjugated peoples records of their pasts have been met with repudiation by
the West due to the linear theories. The old Gky adage, Ndakagwo ta ya wakin
that you do not build your house like your age-mates, seems irrational to those who
would like to erase difference and argue for uniformity when sameness essentially
means Western. Subsequently, control by outsiders has subjected the African peoples
relationship to their past to various constraints especially during the last five hundred
years since the Wests leap into modernity.

Besides, since ancient times, creativity and the recording of events was not limited to
writing; it was also an oral undertaking as shown by the many cryptic songs and poems
that have lasted to-date.

During the many years of struggles with invasions by Easterners, the African people
devised many effective ways of recording and preserving those records against foreign
incursion. Such records have been inaccessible to the outsiders and even to the unskilled
members of the group due to language barriers. No doubt, in time, such safeguards have
sometimes worked against the offspring of the inventors of those records: with the loss of
language and writing due to intensified foreign activity in the African continent, the
records became more and more undecipherable by the owners. This study attempts to
unravel some of the records of the African peoples pasts, using various traditional
Gky songs.

The fading away of our memories.

The importance of such dynamics as territory, spatial stimuli, education, and traditions in
raising a peoples historical consciousness cannot be underscored. Drastic change in any
of these considerations results in other mental transformations, however minor, and
which, over (a long) time, may render the earlier beliefs and traditions unrecognizable.
Change of habitat involves the forgetting of what we no longer see, and at times, such a
change soon forces an overhaul of practice. An example of this is the Gky peoples
relationship to the Mky (sycamore) tree, a tree of great religious significance to them.
Due to their migration to areas where the Mky was no longer prevalent, they soon
adopted the Mgumo (fig tree) as an alternative. In fact, they recorded this change in a
proverb, Ciatura ngy iraga ngumo (when the birds lack the fruits of the sycamore,
they eat the fruits of the fig tree). I would argue that the Agkys acceptance of the fig
tree as a replacement for the sycamore tree meant recognition of certain necessary
adjustments that followed their change of space.
It is significant to mention here that the sycamore tree was of such paramount importance
to Ancient Egyptians that the Pharaoh of Egypt was referred to as the Great Sycamore
the Gky. Notably, the word Agky for the people means, the fruits or children
of the Great Sycamore. The letter A prefixed to Gky means the people of
Gky, i.e. of the Pharaoh. One needs only analyze the names of the various African
ethnic groups to realize these peoples hidden historical consciousness and genius.

Narratives of a foreign-based education whose object is mind-control, repeatedly

question the validity of African peoples beliefs and practice. Needless to say, negative
interrogation imprints doubts in the students mind, especially at a tender age, especially
when such interrogation is backed by power. In societies like the Agky where the
content and system of formal education was imported and imposed on their culture from
outside, such foreign education has had disastrous effects on the peoples ways of
remembering and recording of their history. These outcomes were refined when the
African world-view was questioned and subtly ridiculed as undesirable, leading the
young African student to steer away from that detrimental world-view.

The interlinking of modernity theories with Western education has been an outstanding
achievement in the battle for mind-control concerning the African peoples past. Due to
its support of modernity theories upholding a linear view of history, the education system
has played a major role in marking and belittling the African students historical
consciousness, both at a personal level and at a community level.

Modernity theories claim that Western European peoples have been the sole innovators
and leaders of knowledge and civilization the world over since their emergence in the
Middle Ages, to the present. This knowledge and civilization is said to have started with
their discoveries of the rest of the world, their falsely touted starting of writing and later,
industrialization, which plunged them into the present phase of modernity. Modernity
claims that the Wests onward march is unstoppable, with the rest of the backward world
following from behind. Whatever else took place elsewhere in the world, technologically
or knowledge-wise, is labeled as primitive and/or ethnic knowledge. Everyone else
(non-Westerner) has to find his place in this linear view of history and development.
Moreover, this linear view of the world is tied to the skin color of world citizens: the
blacker the skin, the more primitive and less knowledgeable and/or desirable. The more
different a particular knowledge or world-view is from the Western understanding of
knowledge, the more primitive and undesirable it is.

If I seem to belabor this belittling of the histories and activities of African societies
through Western education, it is only because I consider the effects of this mindset as
devastating and underwriting massive deaths of many societies and their knowledge.
One need only consider the many world languages, which have been abandoned in favor
of Western languages. Scholars have shown how the extinction of any language leads to
deaths of much scientific and historical knowledge those languages have gathered
throughout their pasts. The effects of the modernity project in its many facets on the
dominated persons mind, coupled with the power of Western education, money and/or
force when necessary, enforces this distorted view of the historical world order in total
disregard of the dominated peoples views of their pasts.

Then What Happened? - White supremacy and the obliteration of African history.

Every time one raises the issue of the fact that ancient African peoples, our ancestors,
created the first great civilization, started writing, farming, and built the great pyramids of
ancient Egypt, present-day African peoples are the first to raise the question, Then what
happened? Some will go even further and pose the question, How could people who
went naked, who lived in mud huts, until the White people came to Africa, have created
such a civilization? This approach to the African past, in effect, an obliteralation of
history so as to implement white supremacy, has been advanced by the pro-West
hegemonic education advanced not just in the West, but also in African schools.

The late Senegalese researcher on Africa as the cradle of civilizations, Cheik Anta Diop
(1983) has shown how foreign domination can plunge people right back into barbarity
and sheer ignorance. Such ignorance and barbarity keeps emerging over and over again in
present-day African societies (if we can go by the many massacres, hunger, and other
atrocities that keep resurfacing every so often on our continent, and if we can briefly
forget their sponsors and executors).

The answer to the above question, Then what happened? regarding the events of the
last five thousand years in Africa is oftentimes related to what the late Haitian-American
anthropologist Michel Rolph Trouillot (1995) has termed, That which is said to have
happened vis--vis What really happened. Trouillot has argued that historical
knowledge, the events which take place (in any given society), is independent of what we
write or narrate about that knowledge. This is because historical events are sometimes
silenced, and/or altered to serve those in power, and are later narrated as very different
from what people saw or experienced. Besides the interference and ensuing What is said
to have happened by those in power, the issue of authenticity also comes into play, that
is, the issue of the writers positioning vis--vis the historical event. This is especially
important given the inequality between the Western historian discussing the true owners
of the ancient Egyptian civilization, and the position the African peoples occupy in world
power-politics today.
The retelling of African history to enhance the Wests position in the world today has
seen to the seizing of our past by the West. This appropriation has relegated the African
people to an illogical specimen of strange beings who neither possesed enough curiosity
to warrant them travel to the lands of their neighbors, nor had the sense to improve on
their habitat, things that animals, and even birds, do everyday.

Trouillot argues of the overlap between historical knowledge and power in dominated
societies: that the historical field is uneven between the West and the colonized peoples
since historical events have to be made to serve those in power. To look upon ancient
Egypt as a no-bodys history (given that everyone knows when the Arabs moved into
Egypt), is not only hypocritical, but it is also to continue to promote the idea of Africans
as the people without history (after succeefully snatching their history from them).

The gap between What happened and What is said to have happened lacks honesty
because the past is about the present: the stories the Western world tells about the African
past facilitates the Wests actions to-day. That is, greed controls the stories the powerful
West tells about the dominated African, as a way of justifying their current actions in
Africa as elsewhere. This lack of honesty on the part of the West, matches an equal greed
on the part of the leaders of the dominated people, who, either out of sheer terror or
through co-optation, join the powerful group in the nullification of his past. In censure of
this diservice by African leaders, this song claims that the ancient Egyptian leaders
(Pharaohs) inter-married with their invaders, and that the mixing caused the final robbing
of their land by the foreigners.

Wer r Njogu Kamande demonstrates that, What really happened, is very different
from What is said to have happened in historical archives. The historical record of the
ancient African past as advanced by a modernist educational system, is advanced by
Western scholars for their own benefit as the race in power. Consequently, the ancient
Egyptian archive is fashioned to have no relationship whatsoever to the people who
created the record. It is as if there was a high solid wall separating the African peoples
from Ancient Egypt, or that Africans as we know them today did not exist two thousand
years ago, when Ancient Egypt was facing invasions by foreigners. Of that difference in
the archive, the Agky people say, Maa ndkuuaga that truth does not die: it rears
its determined head up when it is believed to be long dead, as shown by Wer r njogu
kamande and other songs in African languages.

The song Wer r njogu kamande shows that the Western-oriented historical archive on
Ancient Egypt leaves out many other records. As long as the people who created the
Ancient Egyptian civilization are excluded as the makers of that historical record, and as
long as established historians hold hands with political power to suppress this knowledge,
and promote their skewed accounts, the true history of the peoples and languages of the
African continent will remain suspended. As eloquently argued by Diop, the study of the
African past will make no sense until we connect it to the Ancient Egyptian civilization.

ta n krim kaguo. The one who does not know it is unintelligent about it.

I first heard this song aired by Voice of Kenya radio in 1983, when my husband
brought it to my attention. He later bought me a cassette-tape recording of the song. He
very much wished to know the lyrics of the song, and even though I could understand
most of the words, there were some that, as I told him, were in Kimeru language. I could
not understand many of those words because they were archaic and not in current usage.
The ancient people who created the song used it to divulge information on the enemy, to
advise each other, to give hints to each other about the events taking place, or to warn
each other about coming dangers. They also used the song to encourage each other in the
face of foreign attacks, inspire and motivate themselves, and keep revitalize hope of
imminent survival as well as assurance of success. To achieve these objectives, the song
uses allegories to hide the message from the enemies and facilitate a safe passage to the
new lands.

This song, Wer r Njogu Kamande, discusses five major themes:

Firstly, the Agky peoples record of migration to the north before the founding
of Ancient Egypt: as if to taunt Western-oriented historians of Africas past and
theorists of human origins and migrations, the song asserts categorically, We
know where we came from before Ancient Egypt; the black people sprouted /
evolved from the area around the source of the Nile in East Africa (the land of my
maternal relatives); they later moved downwards along the Nile, and settled in
Ancient Egypt. This song discusses those people, our ancestors, who lived in, and
developed Ancient Egypt, and whom nomadic Easterners invaded from time to
 time, until the invaders eventually seized the land.
Secondly, that the Ancient Egyptians, who taught the world writing, farming, and
built the large pyramids whose construction baffles the world to-date, were our
ancestors. Remarkably, the song alludes to the Ancient Egyptian religion as the
black peoples own specific invention, by dedicating the song to the Ancient
Egyptian genealogical air-God Shu, and by acknowledging the earth-God Geb,
refered to as members of the Psdt by Western scholars (analogous to the 9 + 1
ancestral clans or Kenda Miyru of the Agky.
Thirdly, the song records the activities that took place in ancient Egypt just before
the Agky migration to their present locality: the wars, the ensuing violence and
subsequent sorrow, which forced them to migrate. The song claims that foreigners
invaded and attacked the Ancient Egyptians our ancestors, repeatedly over many
years, until finally the conditions became unbearable so that they were forced to
migrate from their land. The song explains why they decided to move southwards
(rather than to any other direction).
Fourthly, the song claims that the Ancient Egyptian people, led by the Big
House, attracted and engaged in amorous relationships with the foreign men and
women, who the song describes as nomadic people, and this started the
problems in the land of Egypt.
Fifthly, the song describes how the people who robbed the land of Ancient Egypt
from its rightful owners looked like, their race, and their characteristics: that they
were ngaruthi, i.e. of black and white parentage (progeny of the mixed marriages
specified above), as shown by the following languages:
enk-arusi / il-arusi: the-black-and-white-one. [Maasai].
arusi: descriptive name for the vulture (which is black and white in color).
aruus: black with white spots; grey. [Kalenjin].
The invaders are described as, The progeny of raw seed, people who lack the
auditory organ.
According to the song, Ancient Egyptian prophets had foretold these events, and
asserted that foreign invaders would one day seize the land of Egypt from the
owners.

Diop has shown that, as long as a conquered people has not lost its language, it can have
hope (Diop, 1981: 214). Diops statement is rendered imperative when one considers
that without this song (and others), which provide evidence of African peoples historical
migration from Egypt, the narrative about an African peoples past would be deprived of
an important archive since this historical record is retained in an African language.
Inadvertently, Western-oriented historians could not interfere with such an archive as they
lacked linguistic access. At the same time, the linear interpretation of historical
progression pre-determines that such a record does not exist, and so an official historian
scholar cannot research into what does not exist.

Since African peoples have not authoritatively documented their ancient migration
stories, Western historians have come up with their own theories of where Africans
migrated from to their present locations. Similarly, Western scholars theorize on
perceived and/or imagined fundamental differences between African languages in total
denial to their genuine origin, and in disregard to the speakers views. Such theories are
often in conflict with African oral histories, and since the storytellers are not scholars,
so they are not paid heed to. This is despite Louis Leakeys treatise on the origins of
humanity, and the many African anthropolgists studies of African languages-Ancient
Egyptian connection (see Diop, Obenga et al.).

The theories on African peoples origins and migrations resonate with theories about
African peoples clothing: the idea that black people went about naked before the coming
of Europeans to Africa. This narrative ignores the fact that African languages carry the
names of many differen articles of clothing that they wore in pre-colonial era. Not
satisfied with maligning the African past, and in their usual belittling efforts, when the
African clothes were made from leather, the Western scholars labeled them animal-skin
rather than leather.

Mmenyi n arigagwo An expert can lose his/her knowledge.

The question then remains: if the African peoples had reached that level of development,
what impeded their progress when they settled in their new lands in the south, so that
today they no longer make any advancement?
A Gky proverb asserts that, Mmenyi n arigagwo that an expert person can lose
that knowledge. Their belief is that if a person is troubled or beleaguered for a long time,
he or she becomes confused and unable to understand his condition. Similarly, Diop has
argued that, if people are forcefully dominated by foreigners for a long time, they become
stupified and no longer reason or discern what they used to know. In the present era, we
have seen formerly humane and organized societies pick up arms and indiscriminately
attack friend and foe, children and the elderly, with catastrophic consequences. When the
Africans migrated to new unfamiliar landscapes, the disconnect from their past, coupled
with the human neeed to move on and forget a hurtful past, engendered the adaption of
new customs especially when those customs became part of the new power structures.

Thanks to the modernity discourse, there is a skewed belief in the idea that whatever
arises from the powerful societies is better than ours. This belief leads the dominated
person to be always ready to discard what is not approved of by the West, or does not
originate from the powerful society. The worst hit are ideas or beliefs that originate from
the past. This attitude is a by-product of the belief in the linear progression of history,
which disparages an unindustrialized past, and is advanced by the Westernized
educational system that the African schools pursue. The belief also stems from the
association of blackness with negative values (while whiteness is associated with positive
ideals), ideas which encourage self-hate and racial death-wish among the Africans who
experience this Westernized education.
More important, this song discusses Africans as people involved in extremely traumatic
experiences, which points to their amnesia about their past. As Sandra L. Bloom has
argued, traumatic experiences impacts the entire person: the way we think, the way we
learn, the way we remember things, the way we feel about ourselves, the way we feel
about other people, and the way we make sense of the world are all profoundly altered by
traumatic experiences (1999: 2). Bloom argues that once people get accustomed to
trauma, they fail to try and escape from danger, a situation called learned helplessness
(ibd. 3). Do the African peoples traumatic experiences contribute to their present-day
accomondation without critical reasoning of whatever theories arise from the West, and
other peoples views of us?

Njra teeagwo n ng A footpath is lost because a different one used.

When I was growing up, I knew how to make a kondo, but now I do not know; I knew
how to retell Gky stories, riddles and proverbs, and many other things, which I no
longer know today. Why did I unlearn them? The Gky people say, Njra teeagwo n
ng that a footpath becomes derelict when a person begins using another path. This
means that an act or an affair is abandoned when something else comes along. The
customs and beliefs of any race construct the trail that such a race uses as it follows the
trajectory of life, so that such a race is able to advance as it sees fit. The loss of such
customs and beliefs translates into the loss of the path to follow. The joining and even
taking over of other peoples path has led the African people to devalue and squander
their past, which in turn has triggered the disremembering, since, nobody wants to recall
that which is worthless.
When people lose their knowledges, take over other peoples languages and lose their
own, they cannot be able to free themselves from foreign domination whether in their
ideas or deeds, and especially if they do not have their own written language to remind
them. Another Gky proverb states that, Wa kuona teeaga wa mwene that the
necklace one finds makes the person lose her own. The taking over other peoples stories
and knowledge made the Africans abandon their own knowledge and history. This loss
made the Africans become metally weakened, which in turn forced a pause in mental
growth regarding intellectual awakening and unearthing of new ideas or hidden
knowledge.
Many societies advance their ancient knowledge, modifying it to cope with the demands
of new situations. The societies that are truly independent use their own indeginous
languages, including their own scripts. This implies that cultural dependence hinders
political and economic independence, and causes a maiming of ones mental wakefulness
and creativity. And even though a Gky maxim states that, Matuk n ngrr that
time moves on, is not static (so that you have to move along with it), this is understood as
an improvement change, as opposed to a retrogressive movement or mental pause
whether in ideas or activities.

Dominance cannot practice truthfulness, since it would be impractical to empower the

controlled people with information that might ameliorate their condition. Since many of
the Africans fleeing ancient Egypt did not have the art of writing (as writing was a
profession for some of the people), they lost the memories of their past after experiencing
the many challenges outlined above. A few societies did retain the art of writing, and
some did start writing afresh, but colonialism drove the last nail onto that coffin. The
powerful nations, in craving Africas resources would not want to allow Africans to
reclaim their past, let alone empower them with information about that past, since present
day big-powers activities are all about who is entitled to the worlds resources; and
most of those resources are in Africa.
African languages have a similar root.

This song has shown that African people were at one time together in ancient Egypt, and
that while they were there, their languages were closely related. The languages may have
differed over time, and as people increased and moved to new lands, as has been shown
by Diop, (1991 [1981]); Theophille Obenga (1993) and others, but the etymology of
modern-day African languages still remains similar.
In this song, Gky words which indicate the direction the people moved from, describe
the nature of the invaders, or refer to the ancient genealogical Gods, cut across many
African languages all the way from the west (Ga, Kujamaat), east (Kalenjin, Luganda,
Maasai, Kiswahili), and south Africa (Setswana), some of which Western linguistics
theories claim are unconnected.
The Agky people say, Mnd mwe ndeheragrwo njra that people do not give
way to a lone man. It seems that no single person will be given way to in this journey of
re-discovering our past, especially when you consider how much scietifically proven
work the late Diop, and now, Obenga (and a many others) have put in to prove their
thesis on the African origin and ancient Egyptian connection. And much as the West tries,
they have been unable to appropriate that history.

Wa Ngai raaragio n igoto

Gods fire is seen through the night by a strip of dry banana bark.

Some years ago, nobody would have believed that one day, African people will find out
about the history of their ancestors in Ancient Egypt. But, as Agky state, Everything
that is righteous must materialize, no matter who tries to spoil or block it [Mnene, 156].
The ancient Egyptians called their language, Ndeto Theru the holy language. The few
available songs and poems left behind by our ancestors have kept the history alive. Their
creativity continues to enlighten the world on their lives and times, in response to foreign
misinterpretations of their robbed writings and other archives scattered in Western
capitals.

Performing Wer r njogu kamande.

I have divided this song into two parts:

Part one has 20 stanzas. Each stanza starts with two separate lines sung by the
lead singer, which serve as an introduction or pointer to the stanza which is to
follow, so that the group singers are alerted as to which stanza to sing next. Of the
two lines, the lyrics of the first line are the same as those of the first line of the
stanza to be sung, while the second line is a chorus line bearing the title of the
song, Wer r njogu kamande. The two lines are sung at the beginning of each
stanza.
Party two has 10 stanzas. Instead of the stanza being introduced by two opening
lines, the two lines are sung at the end of each stanza. The first line (of the two
lines) usually bears a cryptic message that is a commentary on the events
 described in the last stanza sung. The second line is a chorus title line, Wer r
njogu kamande, as in Part one of the song.
Many stanzas seem to have been forgotten or lost because, the lyrics of some of
the two introductory lines which indicate either the first line of the following
stanza (in Part One), or the theme of the last stanza (in Part Two) show an
inconsistency with the these rules: some of the two introductory lines have no
relationship to the stanza that follows it, or to any of the existing stanzas. This
suggests that this song may have been longer than it is today.
The two parts of this song are sung in two different melodies, but the two
melodies can be used for any of the stanzas from either Part one or Part two. This
use of different tunes for any of the stanzas is consistent with Gky traditional
songs (see Osotsi: 2002). The many stanzas of each of the traditional songs are
sung in a variety of different tunes, amounting to different songs with the same
lyrics.

This song used to be sung to the accompaniment of a gourd called Gcengeca, a music -
gourd which would contain seeds of mwethia shrub (Sesbania punctate), which would
produce distinctive rattling sounds when rhythmically shaken (just like the Gcaand
music gourd). For that reason, the song is called Gcengeca just as the Gcaand is a name
for both the gourd and the song.
In the performace of Gcengeca (as of many traditional Gky songs), the singer
assumes the identity of the actor described in the stanzas of the song, unless stated or
indicated otherwise. Accordingly, the singer sings as though he participated in the
experiences of the characters he is describing, while the participants are aware that the
singer is speaking about other members of the community, who may or may not be
present.

The singers of the stanzas written in this study seem to be traveling (as suggested by their
words), when keep asking themselves, Who will push me upwards? Where are we
now? They may not be having the Gcengeca with them since they claim they are in a
crowded place, and need to keep alert. This may suggest that the song was sung and
performed long before the singers embarked on their journey. Various words confirm this
view, considering that the main theme of the song (repeated at the end of every stanza) is
an appeal to their ancestral God Thongore.

The difficulty of analyzing the Gcengeca

The analysis of this song has been hampered by the lack of deep knowledge of the culture
and religious beliefs supporting the song. Indeed, one needs a good knowledge of the
religious and other cultural practices of the African past, in order to fully comprehend the
themes of the song. Equally, one needs to be well grounded in present-day Gky
language and culture.

Regarding interpretations, my suggestions are:

 Anyone interested in interpreting a song such as Gcengeca must first learn the
writing system of our ancestors. Learning to read that writing is an eye opener to
our ancestors past whose existence is unknown to us.
The songs carry not only the cultural wealth and religion of our ancestors, but a
wide philosophical and scientific body of knowledge regarding the beginning of
the world, the evolution of human beings, among others.
Thirdly, the developments created by those people, such as the construction of
massive buildings pyramids - whch are still survive to this day, knowledge to
preserve dead bodies, and cure numerous diseases, knowledge which African
peoples have now forgotten, are hidden in those writings. Deciphering those
writings for ourselves may empower us to get out of the slavery African peoples
have been condemned to since our ancestors lost that civilization.
 Gcengeca:

Wer r Njogu Kamande

Wer r njogu kamande - Part 1) Haic wahga

Haiyae hae haiya.
1
Na mait oimire kabi 2
Wer r njogu kamande Na tkinra Ikenye

Nguuga mait oimire kabi

Ngr nyarme Gky- Nguuga tkgeithia Ikenye
Baaba Thongore. Wega mno wa mnd cio
Mkiri tanegenaga-
Buka mgithi Baaba Thongore.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga Nguuga cengeca cengeca
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga cengeca cengeca
Cengeca yathirwo n-
3 Baaba Thongore.
na Ikenye r na k?
Wer r njogu kamande. Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Nguuga Ikenye nndakgeithia Haiyae hae haiya.
Baaba tanageithio n ng-
Baaba Thongore. 7
Na ndombanire Caga
Buka mgithi Wer r njogu kamande.
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga ndombanire Caga
mbani n wa kruka
4 Na niing r nymba nene-
n ciugrwo Ikenye Baaba Thongore.
Wer r njogu kamande
Buka mgithi
Nguuga n ciugrwo Ikenye Haic wahga
Nguuga n ciugrwo Ikenye Haiyae hae haiya.
Mwene mci n mkr-
Baaba Thongore.
8
Na ngwambatrio n?
Wer r njogu kamande.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga Nguuga ngwambatrio n?
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga ngwambatrio n?
Ngote mwaki r gthri-
5 Baaba Thongore.
Na ngbiri Kbogo
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.
Ciarraga tkragwo-
Baaba Thongore. 9
Na kairtu gathaka
Buka mgithi Wer r njogu kamande.
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga kairtu gathaka
N keenye mr wa mnd cio
6 N ko ngwrwo n gathoni-
Na Cengeca Cengeca Baaba Thongore.
Buka mgithi Nguuga ndoirirwo n mbura
Haic wahga Krma ka mitrri
Haiyae hae haiya. Ngambata na ngikrka-
Baaba Thongore.
10
Na no ngeymrria Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

14
Mait akiuga njookerwo
Wer r njogu kamande.

Buka mgithi Nguuga mait oiga njookerwo

Haic wahga Nguuga mait oiga njookerwo
Haiyae hae haiya. Baaba akrega njookerwo-
Baaba Thongore.
11
Buka mgithi
Wer r njogu kamande. Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.
Nguuga ndainire Krwara
Ndaina rng ndikahona-
Baaba Thongore.
15
Baaba oiga ndicookerwo
Buka mgithi Wer r njogu kamande
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya. Baaba oiga ndicookerwo
Wanjookeria hiti mci
12 Yarire mbri kniina-
Hrirwo Gaicanjir Baaba Thongore.
Wer r njogu kamande.
Buka mgithi
Ndahrirwo Gaicanjir Haic wahga
Tawa khorio njragwo Haiyae hae haiya.
Ndoimire magenda mba-
Baaba Thongore. 16
Na mait ar ihu rakwa
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga mait ar ihu rakwa
Maamwtaga Nyakagara-
13 Baaba Thongore.
Na ndoirirwo n mbura
Wer r njogu kamande.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga Nguuga n ngthgrria
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga n ngthgrria
Thgrrie kana ndige-
17 Baaba Thongore.
Eeragwo arogwa na ro
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Nguuga mait ar ihu rakwa Haiyae hae haiya.
Nguuga mait ar ihu rakwa
Maamwraga aroogwa na ro- 21
Baaba Thongore. Na n ngthgrria
Wer r njogu kamande.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga Nguuga n ngthgrria
Haiyae hae haiya. Nguuga n ngthgrria
Ithgrria rate ndg-
18 Baaba Thongore
Na gk n k tr?
Wer r njogu kamande. Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Nguuga gk n k tr? Haiyae hae haiya.
Knd mait areganire
Na ni ngthuguma rr-
Baaba Thongore.
22
Buka mgithi Na toond twainithania
Haic wahga Wer r njogu kamande.
Haiyae hae haiya.
Nguuga toond twainithania
19 W kanyoni mthemba ?
na twar a kragwo Na kr itainaga natuo-
Wer r njogu kamande. Baaba Thongore

Nguuga na twar akragwo Buka mgithi

Nguuga na twar agthira Haic wahga
Tiga Thi wa Mthamo- Haiyae hae haiya.
Baaba Thongore
23
Buka mgithi tmunyku njoya
Haic wahga Wer r njogu kamande.
Haiyae hae haiya.
Nguuga tmunyku njoya
20 Ttiinithanagia na tuo
Na n ngthgrria N ko ndigithie ither-
Wer r njogu kamande. Baaba Thongore.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

24 Buka mgithi
nd kanyoni-ka-nja Haic wahga
Wer r njogu kamande. Haiyae hae haiya.

Nguuga nd kanyoni-ka-nja
Nguuga nd kanyoni-ka-nja Part 2
Kaninire nykwa mbe-
Baaba Thongore. 28
N ni ngrra na ngoro
Buka mgithi Muumo ranagie, n k?
Haic wahga No mkr n ekmenya-
Haiyae hae haiya. Baaba Thongore.

25 Buka mgithi
Na no ndkria kria Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

Nguuga no ndkria kria Na ngrra na ngoro.

Uge tiguo akorwo n guo-
Baaba Thongore.
29
Buka mgithi ngrra ngirio n?
Haic wahga Mnd akiragio n nyina
Haiyae hae haiya. No ra ng mwar wa nyina
Na rng mr wa nyina-
26 Baaba Thongore.
Na n ngwtia mara
Wer r njogu kamande. Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Nguuga n ngwtia mara Haiyae hae haiya.
Nguuga no ngwtia mara
Uge tiguo akorwo n guo- Acio mandigire o tene
Baaba Thongore. Wer r njogu kamande.

Buka mgithi 30
Haic wahga Gthera arooririo n ithe
Haiyae hae haiya. Mri ka r na mbogoro
Njgma ya hacwo n k
27 Baaba Thongore.
Na reke tthoomage
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga Buruga aroririo n nyina
Haiyae hae haiya. N ngoma ikwenjaga tuk?
Tond tar njur igoti-?
mikrie nyuguto Baaba Thongore.
Wer r njogu kamande.
Buka mgithi
31 Haic wahga
Gthera aramcookeirie Haiyae hae haiya.
Ndakinyirwo n gaca
mkre na ngri

Buka mgithi Buka mgithi

Haic wahga Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya. Haiyae hae haiya.

35
Wer r njogu kamande. Buruga aroririo n nyina
N ngoma ikwenjaga tuk?
32 Tond tar njur igoti-?
Buruga aroririo n nyina Baaba Thongore.
Ngria, gk n krua?
Kana n njra ya bara- Buka mgithi
Baaba Thongore. Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.
Buka mgithi ona mwenji n enjagwo
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.
36
gk n krua? Buruga aramcokeirie
Wer r njogu kamande. Rr ti rra ra tene
Mwacnithagio njnithio-
33 Baaba Thongore.
Buruga aramcokeirie
Ndekrirwo ithaang iceke Buka mgithi
N ko itaiguaga thiithi- Haic wahga
Baaba Thongore. Haiyae hae haiya.

Buka mgithi n mri wa itim

Haic wahga Wer r njogu kamande.
Haiyae hae haiya.
37
ndaigua keke keke Rr n rra rwerirwo
Wer r njogu kamande. Rciaro rwa mbe njth
And matar mbuguro-
34 Baaba Thongore.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

twoimra no Ngai
 1

Na mait oimire kabi

Wer r njogu kamande

______________

Mini ambririe rwmbo rr na gtwra kra nyina oimte, n geetha ttakwo wega n ndeto
iria ehaaririe gthe. Wa mbere n at nyina oimte brri areeta kabi.
Brri wa aa nyina wa mnd waar bata mno har Mgky, toond mnd o woothe
angonire thna, mwangra wake, kana kra angathiire gcaria teithio, no kwa mbar ya aa
maamawe. Na o and a mbar yo ya aa maamawe no nginya mangheire mihwa waao ikaro, na
mamteithrrie thna-in ra angakorirwo na guo.

tare-in wa kiugo kabi, tkhthra thiomi cia Kalenjin, Maasai, na Gthweri, na iroiga :

1. nkat: kunka; biich: and [Kalenjin] = hara and maambririe, Ngabi.

Knd kana haand hara and maakunkire kana maambririe (ona Diop, 1991: 11).
2. ka: knd; bis: kmiinjka [Kalenjin] = knd, gkunkro-in ka r, kabi.
kaa: tra, ikara; makao: knd kwa ikaro. [Kiswahili].
kabi = brri ra r na gkunkro ka r rwa Ngabi (r rwa Nile).
(in-)kuapi (en-kop): th, brri, tri [Maasai] = brri ra umte Ngabi.

Wer n knd kwari na kwaraganu, knd baraganya, kaing rithio-in wa hi.

Njogu n nyam mat manene. Kaing kiugo njogu n kahthagrwo nymbo-in na

marebeeta-in gkiuga mnd kte gtega mat na gthikrria ra and maroiga, kana
kte khnga horo wene, n geetha atware na mbere, na mno kaing n guo akinyie
thirikaari-in.

Kiugo kamande kiumante na kiugo kmanda. Kmanda n kuuga: 1. gtuunya na njra ya

raambu na waara; 2. kwaragania kana kharagania na hinya.
Kamande niing n kanyam ka mhrga wa ndingoingo ke mwr mwaraganu, karaga na
gthkangia mathaang ma ngwac, na mno gakoonha ciothe na kwoguo gagatma brri
ge na thna.

Rwmbo-in rr, treerwo at brri n tharkirwo n and mareetwo njogu kamaande a

kuuma brri ng, na th icio ikoonha and na indo ciothe. Mico-in th icio n ituunyante
brri cio, na igatma mini oore kuuma brri wake na erekere kra nyina oimte tene.
Th icio ireetwo njogu kamande toond n iraathikrria ra and ene brri maroiga na
maraatanya gwka geetha megitre. N ta kuuga at th icio n irkte gtuunyana wathani wa
brri. Na n ko icer icio ireetwo njogu kamande cittwo ku Misri kwa ing, n atoongoria
aao acio matharkire brri cio. Icer icio ti njogu kamande, wra wacio n wa gthikrria
ra ene brri maroiga, na knha mand na indo cia thii wa na mbere wa ene brri cio
(amu brri cio waar mthiu na mbere mno; na hatir ngaanja waar krorerwa).

34
 1

And my mother came from kabi1

Wide plains infested with njogu kamande2.

Nguuga mait oimire kabi

1

The singer starts by asserting his special relationship to the land of his maternal relatives, which
he calls kabi. In Gky tradition, a child who gets into trouble takes refuge at his maternal
uncles home. The maternal relatives are obliged to protect the nephew or niece for as long as
she/he needs protection. As the songs informs later, the singer is fleeing to the south to esacpe
from the on-going problems in his homeland, to the safety of his maternal relatives homeland.

Kalenjin, Maasai and Kiswahili languages provide the meanings of Ngabi and kabi as, the
origin of humanity, and, the source of the Nile:

1. nkat: sprout; biich: people [Kalenjin] (Ngabi = the origin of human beings).
2. ka: place; bis: sprinkle [Kalenjin] (kabi = the source of the river Nile).
(in-)kuapi (en-kop): land, country, earth, soil [Maasai].
kaa: live, stay; makao: place of residence. [Kiswahili].

Ngabi - the river Nile Hcpy (in ancient Egyptian language).

Significantly, the East African Great lakes region is the both the source of the river Nile, and the
cradle of humanity (see Diop, 1991: 11).
2

Wer denotes an expansive territory, or wide plains country. The singers homeland is the
wer an expansive plains / territory.

Njogu is the elephant, an animal with big ears.

The singer states that the wer - his homeland, is full of numerous elephant-like small flat
beetles, the njogu kamande. The description of the small flat beetles as elephants suggests
that the said creatures have big ears or are all ears, which means that they are spies who have
come to listen to what the citizens are saying and planning. (Cf. Pick, Merlo: 227 and Kabet,
1991 [1961]: 87, on njogu as spies).

Kamande is from the verb manda, which means, 1. to deprive by trickery; 2. to forcefully
flatten.
Kamande is also a small flat beetle, which attacks sweet potato leaves causing devastation.
In this song, invasion by numerous flat beetles, which are all ears, has caused devastation to
both the country and its people, and deprived the singer of his homeland through trickery.

The flat beetles are all ears, spying on ancient Egyptians all the time. This suggests that the
invaders now have the power and control over the citizens, so that the njogu kamande spies -
are reporting on the citizens to the authorities who have taken over the country.

35
Ngr nyarme Gky-
Baaba Thongore.
_______________

Kiugo nguuga n kahthagrwo kaing rthiomi-in rwa Gky kuuma tene mnd
akambrria kwaria, na n ta kuuga, ndreenda kwaria horo kana kuuga kana nd mna.
Mini ambririe na kuuga kra nyina oimte, kabi. Na ta guo njugte haaha igr, mwana
angonire thna ona rk, ooragra kwa mbar ya aa maamawe. Na o aa maamawe no nginya
mangateithririe mwangri mihwa wa o, na mamhe ikaro kinya rra akeenda. Mini n
nyarme Gky-in kana ku kabi aroreete. Nyarme n aa maamawe wa mnd hamwe na
njihwa ciake.
mihwa / aihwa / njihwa: ciana cia mwar wa nyina na mnd.
iwc: gaya mnd; wgarwo n mnd; cooka haand ithenya ra. [Faulkner, 1981: 12].

Kbuungo gk kraariindria mand meer ma bata ma tene moorire Agky:

Wa mbere, at tene mno ona mbere ya Misri ya tene gtrwo na gwakwo, and n
matrte brri wa Africa mwena wa na igr wa Misri (kra ru and ait mar) na
magakria brri cio, ta ra Diop (1980: 133) oigte. Na n ko mini areeta mwena wa
na gk tr kwa mbar ya aa maamawe, kra nyina oimte.
Wa keer, at tene mno Agky n maarmagrra mwena wa mtumia mgare-in wa
indo (makgara ciana ciao), ta ra mthuuri ti Diop (1979) oigte. Mini agakiuga at
ku kabi (gkunkro- in ka r rwa Ngabi / Nile) kw na igai rake toond n kuo
nyina oimte, na n kuo aa maamawe mar.

Kiugo Gky kiugte mt wa Mky mnene. Mt wa Mky n mtheru har Mgky

toond n kuute rtwa ra aathani a Misri (Pharoah), ackr a and air, ara maakumagio na
gwtwo Gky. Na n ko and ait metaga Agky, n ta kuuga, and-a-Gky. Mini
areeta ara maraina na o Gky toond n and a rrr rwake. Mini areenda kuuga at we n
mwene brri wa kabi, amu n brri wa nduka ciake kuuma ndire. N ko Agky moigaga
at, Ci Gky itir kabi, na n ta kuuga at, ackr ait me Misri meeraga and ao at
maiguithanie na ara marigainie, amu ndra ciao ci kabi itiingmaguna n kraihrria.
Kriingana na krra ka Misri ya tene (giit ga tene), Ngai mwene wa rera (ra wtagwo
Thongore (kana Shu n athng), irigithaathi ra Ngai Ria, mena mwar wa nyina ra
watukire mtumia waake (wtagwo n athng Tefnut), maciarirwo n Ngai Ria na njra ya
gwkina kana gwthongora. Acio eer n o matukire aciari a rruka rwa and air oothe, ta ra
thiomi nyiing cia and air cionantie haaha mhuro. (ona ibuku ra Allen, 1988: 28-29).

Rtwa Thongore randkagwo kana rgacorwo ar ruoya ra nyaga. Rtwa ru na krra

ku n itragio na ikaririkanwo thiomi-in cia and air ta :

thongore: irigithaathi ra Ngai Ria, ra waciarirwo n Ngai cio gwkina. [Gky].

a-sokor: gwkina. [Maasai].
songolewa / songoa: mimira, kamra, miria, hihinyania. [Kiswahili.].
sokoran: waaganu, maramari, nd mru, mhtanu, tar mwtkrie. [Kalenjin].
sogolera: hihinyra; miirra. [Luganda].
asangoor:mwendwa,mnyaanya.[Kujamaat].
chokamo:mtugo mhootomu;waaganu.[Setswana].
soongool / soongoolyet: njambya, mbiga, ruoya ra nyaga. [Kalenjin].
chok:caayan knyiria.soko:gthimaka maa.[Luo].

36
I say3, my mother came from kabi4
So I am a Nyarme in Gky5
My father Thongore6.
Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.
________________________
buka: n khonoka gku, kwaga gkua, gtigwo muoyo.

nguuga: I say, is a word frequently used in starting a sentence. The word signifies the
speakers seriousness in what he/she is about to say. This way of speaking was also common in
Ancient Egyptian written language.
4

The singer repeats his earlier claim (above) and postulates: My mother came from kabi, so I
am a Nyarme in Gky(land).
The term Nyarme refers to maternal uncles and their nephews - the sons of their sisters, who
were deemed the rightful owners of the land and property. They were also known as aihwa;
iwc, inherit from someone; act as heir; succeed someone. [Faulkner, 1981: 12].

The stanza points to two important claims:

Firstly, a civilization existed in the lake region of East Africa pre-dating Ancient Egypt,
and black peoples northward migration (cf. Cheik Anta Diop, 1980: 133).
Secondly, that in that civilization, there existed a matrilineal system, which pre-dated the
present-day patrilineal system in Africa (see Diop, 1979). Due to the matrilineal system
of the time, the singer stakes a relationship and claim to the lands in the south - kabi,
his mothers origins, which makes him a Nyarme / inheritor of the land).
5
The word Gky (from Mky - the sycamore tree), refers to the African land, to which the
singer claims entitlement. Mkuyu has religious connotation in African languages.
TheSycamore treewasofspecialsignificanceinEgyptianreligion.The creator God Ra was
associated with the Sycamore tree: theBookoftheDeaddescribestwo"sycamoresofturquoise"
growingatthepointontheeasternhorizonwheretheSunGodriseseachmorning.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/treegoddess.htm#ixzz3AwWXSdcU

6
The sound s usually turns to
th / z in Gky . God is also
referred to as Baaba, father.
Baaba Thongore was an ancestral founder-God. According to the Ancient Egyptians myth of
origin, the air God named Shu, and his sister-wife named Tefnut, were born of masturbation
by the creator God Ra (see Allen, 1988: 28-29, 43-44).
Thongore / Shu therefore means, one who was born through masturbation, as well as the
ostrich feather, both fond ways of referencing the God in the distant past.

This myth is replicated in other African languages as:

thongori: the kudu horn that gives birth to a new generation during the Ituka ceremony.
a-sokor: masturbate. [Maasai].

37
Kbuungo gk n ko ga kamkria rwmbo. Gcookereetwo o kbuungo o kbuungo gathira, n
kuonania ra thaama ya aini acio yaatari, na mhatkano ra wakoragwo mgithi-in kana
ttar-in, and makrra ru ra wekkaga brri-in cio. Gcookera kbuungo ga
kamkria niing n kroonania ra ara maroora brri mareeymrria, hamwe na gwkrana
ko na njra ya kwranaga kaing at makirrrie mathna mara mena mo, amu mico-in n
makaahonoka gku, na makinye kra meerekeire.
Kbuungo gk niing n kraaririkania aini maikare mehgte hnd ciothe, amu brri iyire
and acio mareetwo njogu kamande, ara maathrirwo khnga na gtwara horo kr anene a
thirikaari yaao. Niing n kroonania at and acio maraina me thaama-in, na me gwati-in,
toond n armrre n acio mareetwo njogu kamande, and ara matmtwo n anene a
thirikaari ya and acio matharkire brri wa Misri.

mgithi: kiugo gk kheanaga ra and maar haand haagte caangro, itheri ona rnyiinyi,
kana haand kiyra mngaanga, na gkibiibana bi. Niing n konanagia waagi wa
kamgaambo ona kamwe, haand kwaga ciri kana cere.
Kbuungo gk krooroota ra aini me haand mahatkante kana hakibiibanu, haand
matangnyura, hiihi matikoonwo kana maiguuo n th. Na n ko mareeymrria makoiga at me
na wtkio at mico-in n makaahonoka mhihinyano cio.
Haaha n tbati kririkana at, ngaari-ya-mwaki yareehwo n athng ya gkuuaga and brri-
in wit, Agky n moonire kiugo mgithi kagrire gtuuwo ngaari yo. Na guo kiugo gk
n kroonania ra thin wa ngaari-in icio, and air magaikaraga maahatkante (haand haao
mwanya), n nd wa ngaari khrrrwo and aing knd gtaar na gwa kwgarrra kana
ona khiihria. And makuagwo margamte na mahatkante mno kuma Kisumu kinya
Nairobi; ona aici matingahotire kruta mbia mhuko ya and (Osotsi, Ramenga, Oct. 29 th 2014).
Kriingana na mtarre wa kiugo mgithi na rthiomi rwa Misri ya tene, n kroonania at
and maikaraga mgithi-in meyunte n kwaga caangro kana ithenya ra mikarre mwega:
kzi, whace, wyuune; inamrra, cnga mhera; hrithania th [Faulkner, 1981: 287].
kis: caaya, n kigua ruwo rwa mwr (ta rwa khihinywo). [Kalenjin].
moyiing / moinget / moigkoon / moiinkaan: boat, canoe; wooden trough. [Kalenjin].

haic: kiugo gk n kgwetagwo ga kuonania mwko mtibru wa nd muone kana migue,

mwaria akenda gtaara ara mena o, na gkunyanra gwati ngoneka taanamakinyra. N ta
kuuga at mini areera ara mena o, Gitigiti! Akameera at maikare mehgte, na
meemenyerere toond hiihi n areekwa mnd oona (kana hiihi kanegene aigua).

wahga: n kuuga, Hgiai mat! Rgamai! Mwbaacrrei! Mwbaarrrei! Kw na gwati!

Mini areera ara ang mena o at maikare mehgte hnd ciothe, n kuonania at and ene
Misri kna maar agirie (n th icio ciatharkire brri waao) krra haaro na gthaama kuuma
brri cio waar wa o.

songolewa / songoa: squeeze out, wring, press together. [Kiswahili.].

sokoran: weird, unacceptable, bad, behavior. [Kalenjin].
soongool / soongoolyet: ostrich feather. [Kalenjin]. (Shu is always represented as a feather).
sogolera: press for / at; crush for, at. [Luganda].
asangoor:lover.[Kujamaat].
chokamo:moralcrookedness,perversity.[Setswana].
chok:gruntindisgust.[Luo].
soko:spring,well.[Luo].

38
Niing no gkorwo at mini araaheana rgano rr thuutha-in mnene, akaheana ra and
moorire kuuma brri wa o wa Misri, na ra and makra kuuma kuo maathiaga hnd ciothe
mehgte n geetha matikoonwo n aramati a thirikaari ra yatuunyanire brri cio.

haiyae hae haiya: n ciugo cia kuonania gkeno, kana gwkra rwmbo ngumi, gcac na ngotoko
(Well) survive7 this over-crowding8
Be alert9, Be on your guard! 10 Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.
2
Na tkinra Ikenye
Wer r njogu kamande
7
buka: is to survive, survive a crisis, pull through, remain alive.
a-pok: to live, to survive. [Maasai].

This is the chorus stanza. Its repetition after every stanza emphasizes the over-crowding in the
canoes and boats used (mgithi / moyiing), the groans (kis) due to lack of space, or the physical
pains they were going through in the crowded space. The repetition also highlights the need for
those fleeing to look out for each other and encourage themselves, that ultimately, they will
survive the crisis and get to wherever they are heading.
The stanza keeps reminding them to be alert, watchful and on their guard regarding their every
move, since the territory is full of njogu kamande.
Repetition of this stanza emphasises the danger the singers faced: that those fleeing the land (such
as the singers of this song) were pursued and stopped by the agents of the new authorities.
8
mgithi: is a lack of space or sound; a description of lack of space; full to capacity.
The word suggests that singers are in an uncomfortably small space, where they are clamped and
over-crowded, because the area they are occupying is too small, or the people are too many for
the space. They cannot afford to make the slightest sound, so as not to be heard and seen.

The singers encourage themselves: that eventually, they will survive the ordeal, and that if they
do not flee, they will be in more grave danger; hence their determination to survive the over-
crowding and deplorable conditions they are exposed to.
It seems that when passager-trains were introduced in Kenya during British colonialism, the
people named the train mgithi, suggesting the conditions were equally deplorable, and that
there was too much over-crowding in those trains. People were carried in the third-class space
reserved for Africans, where they were packed to capacity, and they had to stand all the way from
Kisumu to Nairobi. They would be so over-crowded that even pick-pockets were unable to steal
from passangers due to the lack of space (Ramenga Osotsi, October 29, 2014).
Significantly, Kalenjin language suggests that transportation was by boats/canoes. The equivalent
word in the Ancient Egyptian language below suggests the same meaning as in the song:

kzi: bend down, bow down; be prostrate (of foe) [Faulkner, 1981: 287].
githi: description of lack of space or sound; be packed to capacity (in a house, vehicle, etc.).
kis: groan, due to physical pain. [Kalenjin].
moyiing / moinget / moigkoon / moiinkaan: boat, canoe; wooden trough. [Kalenjin].
9
haic: The word refers to a strong suspicion of something seen or observed. The singer tells
others with him/her to be cautious and alert, as he/she probably suspects someone seen.

39
Nguuga tkgeithia Ikenye
Wega mno wa mnd cio
Mkiri tanegenaga-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_______________

Kbuungo gk kragaathrria na gtgria Ngai Ikenye, mckrk kana mciari wa kruka

tene-in, n nd wa kruka gake kega, na mhaanre wake mwega ma.

Araakumio na ciugo ta: raametameta, rakeenga, mkiri na tanegenaga.

Rwmbo rr n rroonania ta kambrria-in rwar rwa kinra Ngai Ikenye (ra niing
wetagwo Thongore) aknaanio. Ibuungo ciothe irktie na kmwta Baaba Thongore.
Arainrwo hiihi no gkorwo n nd and n meetkantie na krra kao bi, kra koigte at
Ngai Thongore n we waar Ngai ya kmerera ya mbere (kana mnd wa mbere gciarwo n
Ngai Ria), thin wa Ngai iria Kenda Miyru cia kmerera (iria citagwo Psdt n athng).
Kwoguo kriingana na krra ku, Thongore n we waar mckr mciari wa mbere wa kruka
giit tene-in. Na n ko aini maraamkara makmnaanagia Baaba Thongore.

Ngai icio Kenda Miyru cia kmerera, n cio ikuute krra ka Mhrga Kenda Miyru ya
Gky, kana niing ka Nymba kenda cia and a Miji Kenda. Na n ko nyambar Kenda-
Miyru koragwo r theru Ggky-in.

Kbuungo gk kroonania at rwmbo rr n rkr ona gkra thaama yo ya ackr ait

kuuma Misri, na at hiihi rwar rwa kinra Ngai Ikenye/Thongore kambrria-in ka ruo. Niing
hiihi no gkorwo rwainagwo ihiinda-in rra rothe and mangakorirwo mena thna,
makmkara. Ibuungo nyiing hiihi n ciariganire, ta ra tkuona twathianga na mbere na ruo.

Rtwa Ikenye rroonekana ta rar ra gtgria Baaba Thongore (agtwo ithaga ra nyaga),
tngturia kana tngcrania tari wa kiugo Ikenye na thiomi cia Gky na Kalenjin ta :

Ikenye: ithaga ra ngiingo rthoondekeetwo na makorogoca ma matuumb ma nyaga.

kenya: kmetameta, gkeenga ta kwa igera cia goro ta thahabu, gcaango, kana ngocorai.
keeny: tcuunj twa makorogoca ma matuumb ma nyaga [Kalenjin].
keny: tene wa tene; tene tene mno [Kalenjin].

10
wahga: a warning statement: be alert, erect; be busy / active on your guard; be watchful, so
as not to be noticed by the authorities and their agents.
As in the last footnote, this is a suggestion to the other travellers with the singer to be alert and
cautious. This suggests that, either they were forbidden to flee the land by the new authorities, or
for other reasons, they would be attacked by the Njogu kamande while on their way to the lands
in the south as suggested above (see Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage).
haiyae hae haiya: are words that put swank or embellish the song or story. They add humor and
make it more dramatic.

40
kibkeny: mckr; mciari wa tene wa rruka [Kalenjin].
soongool / soongoolyet: ruoya rwa nyaga na rthiomi rwa Kalenjin.
Maandko-in ma Misri ya tene rtwa ra Shu / Thongore randkagwo na gcorwo ruoya rwa
nyaga.

And we will sing for Ikenye11

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, we will greet Ikenye12

The much goodness of that person13

11

This stanza emphasizes the exalting of the ancestral God Ikenye for his goodness to his people.
Significantly, every stanza ends with an appeal to the God Baaba Thongore, an indication that
the song may have been an address to, or in dedication to the God Ikenye, also referred to as my
father Thongore.
This praise was possibly because the ancient African people strongly believed in their religious
genealogical myth that Thongore was their first ancestor because he was the first man/God to be
created or born by the Sun God (among the ancestral founding Gods called the Psdt by Western
scholars). This song considers him the one who took over power and worldly authority from the
Sun God (Ria / Ra, called Re by Western scholars), because his off-spring Geb and Nut
bore the subsequent 4+1 ancestral Gods, completing the 9+1 members of the ancestral Gods.
Following this belief, Thongore was the first father of the black race. It is therefore, to him, that
this song is addressed.
This suggests that the song may have been older than the migration from Misri, as recounted in
the song. Some of its stanzas were possibly initially sung for the God Ikenye/ Thongore prior to
migration to the south.
It could also be that the song was used as an address to Thongore/Ikenye whenever the people
had problems. A number of stanzas may therefore have been forgotten as we will see further on.
12
Ikenye seems to have been a
praise name for Baaba
Thongore (Shu), because of
the use of
words, precious, glittering, ancient one, of long time ago, as can be seen from the meanings
of the word Ikenye in Gky and Kalenjin languages:

Ikenye: a circular ornament made of ostrich egg-shell hanged around the neck. [Gky].
kenya: (of precious metals) to glitter. [Gky].
keeny: shell grains. [Kalenjin].
keny: long time ago. [Kalenjin].
kibkeny, ancient one. [Kalenjin].

soongool / soongoolyet is the ostrich feather in Kalenjin language.

The ancient Egyptian God Shu / Thongore is represented as a feather in the ancient writing.
13
The ancestral God Ikenye (the glittering ancient one, the quiet one who is not noisy) is greeted
and praised for his much goodness.
The singer extols the ancestor-God, in every stanza in particular in the repetition of his title,
Baaba Thongore at the end of every stanza, besides the two other stanzas devoted to him.

41
The quiet one who makes no noise
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, Be on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

na Ikenye r na k?
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga Ikenye nndakgeithia

Baaba taanageithio n ng-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

______________________

Mini araathi na mbere kinra Ngai Ikenye na njra ya kmtgria na kmkumia, akamria,
r na k ru Ngai Baaba Ikenye, n geetha ni ngorwo nd wa mbere gkgeithia? N ta kuuga
at mini ndangenda mnd ng akinye he Ngai na kana amgeithie mbere yaake.

Ciugo icio n iroonania ra mini ena wendo mnene wa Ngai waake, ona gtuka ena thna
mnene maa n knyariirwo n th icio cikte brri-in waake, na mbaara na ithaama.

Niing no gkorwo hiihi mini aramthaathayia Ngai Ikenye n guo ateithrrio na kwehererio
thna ra ena guo kahiinda-in gaka ga gtharkrwo n th cia kuuma na nja, kra gtmte
ethagathage nguo oore oime brri-in waake.

Kbuungo gk n kroonania ra kna and air a tene meetktie krra ka o matar na ngaanja,
na makeenda Ngai wao bi bi. Na ngturia wega, no woone at kinyagia ona mth y,
and air n manyiitaga ndini cia o na kyo maa.

42
Rwmbo rr rroonekana rtari ta rwainagwo o na mbere ya ackr ait gthaama kuuma
brri-in wa Misri na ta rtaatuungirwo rgeendo-in, toond rwna ibuungo nyiing (ta
kbuungo gk tr), na ciugo nyiing cia gkumia Ngai Ikenye/Thongore itakuruhante na
mbaara kana thaama.

Ciugo ta icio (cia gkumia Ngai Ikenye/Thongore) n ikuute krra ka o ga tene (ta martwa
macio na Ngai tuona haaha igr kbuungo-in ga keer), na mahooya matari ta makoragwo kuo
ona mbere ya ggaatharkrwo n th na ggaathaama.

And Ikenye, where are you? 14

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, Ikenye, I salute you

Father, before anyone else greets you15
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

14

This stanza continues the worshiping of the ancestral God Ikenye/Thongore.

The singer fondly calls upon the ancestral God, And where are you, Ikenye? I say, Ikenye, I
greet you, my father, before anyone one else greets you, my father Thongore!

The stanza indicates that this song was possibly one of those songs which may have pre-dated our
ancestors migration to the south. This seems the case because the stanza is simply an exaltation
of the ancestral God, unlike some of the other stanzas which explain the migration history, the
reasons for the migration, and the resultant problems encountered.

At the same time, the stanza may also be an appeal for help to the God Ikenye from the on-going
distressful conditions the singer finds himself in.
15
Either out of great love for the ancestral God Ikenye, or simply in the hope for assistance from
the God, the singer eulogizes the God, humbles himself as a supplicant, invokes the ancestral
Gods many virtues, and entreats the Gods attention.

Whether appealing for assistance or worshipping the ancestral God, this stanza is clearly an
indication of the ancient African peoples total belief in their religion, the sheer love those people
had for their Gods, and their relationship to their genealogical myths.

It is also interesting to note that those ancient people spoke directly to their ancestral Gods (as
one would to an ordinary mortal), and expected resposes from them, suggesting that: firstly, death
was not seen as an end to a life, and secondly, Gods were ancestors and therefore not removed
from human actions as is the case in some religious beliefs.

43
 4

n ciugrwo Ikenye
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga n ciugrwo Ikenye

Nguuga n ciugrwo Ikenye
Mwene mci n mkr-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haaiyae hae haaiya.

_______________________

N ngemi ireerwo ciugrwo Ikenye.

Ngemi Gky-in ciugagwo cia gkngra kana gkenerera ra rainrwo. Mini

areera ara maraina nao at makemke na ngemi cia gkumia Ngai Ikenye.

Mini ageeta Ngai ya kmerera Ikenye mwene mci toond n we mciari wa mbere
na wa tene ma, na kwoguo mickr har Agky oothe.

44
Na toond Ikenye n we mwene mci cio aini maraatiga, n wega athaathaywo toond
hiihi ahota kmateithrria thna-in ra mena guo wgi thna w mci-in, na mbaara
na th brri-in cio.

Niing ta ra aini magwetire hau kabere, Ngai Ikenye/Thongore no akumio toond wa

wega wake ming ma (ra amoneetie tro-in waa o).

Let ululations be said for Ikenye16

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, let ululations be said for Ikenye

I say, let ululations be said for Ikenye
The owner of the home is the ancestor
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

16

The lead singer refers to the need to utter Ngemi or ululations for the genealogical God Ikenye.

Ngemi are joy-trills or ululations, uttered in applause and/or celebration of a person (five for a
boy and three for a girl), especially during the birth of a baby, to greet honoured guests upon their
arrival (such as a bride or bride-groom), and other festive occasions.

Despite the issues at hand, the singers still feel a need to recognize and celebrate their honoured
ancestral God Ikenye, both for being their ancestor, and for his goodness, even as they pray to
him regarding their present circumstances.

The singers take the opportunity to recognize or remind themselves that, being their ancestor (and
therefore an elder), the ancient God Ikenye is still the owner of the homes they are abandoning to
the foreigners.
The lead singer therefore tells them to behave themselves humbly towards the ancestral God
Ikenye (as supplicants), so that He may possibly decide to do something about their present
predicaments.

45
 5
Na ngbiri Kbogo
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga ngbiri kbogo

Ciarraga tkragwo-
Baaba Thongore.
_______________________

ngbiri: njoya cia ngg (nyoni i mathagu me mhko mtuune); ngeithi cia athuuri ara
maheante iheeo cia njoya icio (mran).
il- ooipiri: ackr [Maasai].
biir: njaamba njgite; thoorio; toorio [Kalenjin].

kbogo: - kandkagwo na rthiomi rwa Misri ya tene :

kbhw: nyoni cia gthaka (ciar gtaka-in ga kra r rwa Ngabi ritrire iria-in);
phww: gtaka-in Misri mwena wa mhuro, kra r rwa Ngabi ritrire iria-in.

[rathi wa Nefer-rohu: Nyoni ya kuuma na nja n gaaciarrwo Misri mwena wa mhuro,

kra gtaka-in ... Brri n gaatoorio n nd cio. Th ciumte mwena wa Irathro, n
ciingrte Misri. Gtir mgirrria, .. nyam icio n ikaanyua nj-in cia Misri].
Mtharkro cio n nyoni cia gthaka n ririkanagwo n thiomi cia and air ta :

mbogo-kanyarare: gki knene ka mtit ga gtri k mathagu maraaya mena maara; kr irma
rr rr mru mno. [Gky].
bokoa: onekana, ingra. [Kiswahili].
kiboko: mcaarica, (rcami rwa) ikayo ra rwa rwa mbogo. [Kiswahili].
book: mngk / krnd; tharkra, umrrkra. [Kalenjin].
booka: korwo thna-in, nyamaarka. [Olunyore].
vooga: nyariirka, taangka; thnka, nyamaara. [Lulogooli].
buko: thooria, gita, unjuga, igrra kgeenyo. [Dholuo].
boko: tharia, cariinga, maheeni. [Hausa].
ol-buket: kngki, mtino, ngero / mbkrra, ithh. [Maasai].
bokgopo: cariinga / woogomu, ra-mat, geny / waaganu. [Setswana].
bokanela: iyrrra / mbrra; hithkra. [Setswana].
book / bokagba: irathro, irathro-in; rhuuho rwa kuuma mwena wa irathro. [Ga].
e-booka-ba-lay: nyoni ci njoya nduune na gtri, i ngiingo njogomu. [Kujamaat].
bo-oku: kwenja mbrra (kbrra-in). [Guan-Anum-Bosso].
bokono: mrim, rwaru. [Lingala].
bokoda: muunda, theecatheeca na hinya (ta nyam na itim). [Zulu].
bokotshiki: mtheemba wa ndingoingo ymbkaga mokia. [Zulu].
buko: krara. [Somali].

46
mbuga: wer knd rriiy-in, kwna nyeki, kwa rithio; mbaara. [Ksw].

Ciugo ici cia thiomi cia and air n iroonania at, ageni n maatharkire brri wa Misri mwena
wa irathro, na magtooria ene brri; na at. Mini niing aroiga at, me ku gtaka-in, and ara
akr n maarraga moona ra brri waao reekwo.

Maandko-in ma Misri ya tene meetagwo Admonitions of Ipwer, twrtwo at, Mnd ra

mthiingu araarra n nd wa ra brri wkantio.
And the brave elders17 in the Delta marshes18.
Plains full of njogu kamande.

17
ngbiri: 1. long red-black wing feathers of the turaco bird (worn by warriors); 2. mutual
greeting between men who have exchanged gifts of such feathers (fellow-fighters).
il- ooipiri: the elders, ancestors [Maasai]. biir: braves; provoke; defeat, trounce [Kalenjin].
18
kbogo: (marshes, bog), written in the
Ancient Egyptian language as:
kbhw: wild-fowl (in the marshes);
phww: the far north; the delta marshes.
[Nefer-rohus prophecy: A foreign bird will be born in the northern marshes . Fish-ponds
will be damaged, and the land will be prostrate because of that. ... the Asiatic enemies, who arose
in the east, have come down into Egypt. No protector will listen while the wild beasts drink at
the rivers of Egypt].
The wild-fowls invasion has been recorded in other African languages as:

mbogo-kanyarare (the despised mbogo): large brownish forest fly with long spotted wings; its
bite is particularly unpleasant. [Gky].
boka: take away without the owners consent; plunder, despoil. [Gky].
bokoa: appear, enter. [Kiswahili].
kiboko: whip, strip of hippo hide. [Kiswahili].
book: to storm at, throng, swarm out. [Kalenjin].
booka: to be in trouble, distress. [Olunyore].
vooga: to be in distress, to be in trouble; to lack many things, to be in need. [Lulogooli].
buko: to provoke, assault, begin a quarrel, accuse wrongly. [Dholuo].
boko: adulteration, fraud, trick. [Hausa].
ol-buket: catastrophe, bad luck, accident, misfortune. [Maasai].
bokgopo: crookedness, lawlessness, perversity. [[Setswana].
bokanela: crowd upon; assail in crowds. [Setswana].
book / bokagba: east, eastward; east wind. [Ga].
e-booka-ba-lay: red-breasted wryneck bird. [Kujamaat].
bo-oku: digging of a grave (as at the grave-site or cemetery). [Guan-Anum-Bosso].
bokono: disease, illness. [Lingala].
bokoda: thrust into or stab vigorously, as a beast with a spear. [Zulu].
bokotshiki: kind of a stripped flying beetle. [Zulu].
buko: to be sick. [Somali].
mbuga: grassland, savannah, campaign, lea. [Ksw].

The linguistic records of the African languages cited above support the main theme advanced by
this song: that, foreign invaders swarmed and invaded the Delta marshes, and assaulted the
inhabitants. The stanza makes another claim: somewhere in the delta marshes, was the singers

47
I say, the brave ancestors in the delta marshes
They were crying as we were killed19
My father, Thongore.
6

Na Cengeca Cengeca
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga cengeca cengeca

Cengeca yathirwo n-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

______________________

cegecege: n kiugo ga kuonania gcingiira kana mgaambre ta wa mbeg ci mbth-in ya

rwmbo ikinainio.

Cengeca:
1. (Rwmbo-in) whirie bi, cga gcga, na gwkra rwmbo ngotoko.
2. gkeno ka rwmbo rkinwo na gcac na ngotoko; mgaambo ya and aing makina mena
cigaamba kana ona matar.

Gcengeca:
Kgaamba ga kgera kna njingiri (igaambaga ta cia gcaand), gkrantio n mcuuma tat kana
na mraaya; nayo mcuuma yaatrktie tcuuma twa gthirr twagaambaga.

Gcengeca gaturagwo (kuuma kgera gceke kmandtwo), ggaknjwo gkahaana kana

ggaikara ta mwr wa mtumia hara ndr ya mnd yaambagrria, n ta kuuga kr ta rri
rwa nyng ya mwana. Na kwoguo krra-in ka Misri ya tene, Gcengeca n kargamagrra
muoyo na tro wa mnd.

Kuuma o tene wa tene, rra ackrk ait maatraga brri-in wa Misri, kiugo
gcengeca getagwo kgaamba gatmagrwo ga kinithia rwmbo ta :

Gcengeca ga kgera (ru gtagwo sesheshet n athng), kra kainagio gkgoocwo Ngai
(ra wtagwo Hathor n athng) kar na mnyiitro waar mhianano wa Hathor wna mat
ma ngoombe cmb-in; mat macio manyiitrirwo na kana ka rrigi, na ko gkrantio n
mcuuma tat kana na mraaya; nayo mcuuma yaatrktie tcuuma twa gthirr

homeland from which he is now fleeing.

19

The singer contends that while they were still in the Delta marshes (Kbogo), the brave elders
cried on seeing the land destroyed by the invaders. In Admonitions of Ipwer, we are told, The
virtuous man goes in mourning because of what has happened in the land.

48
twagaambaga. Niing n kwar na gcengeca kng ka hnd ya maambura kar na iciicio ga
gtmrwo gkrutrwo Ngai cio ti Hathor igoongoona [ona ibuku ra Hart: 63].

Kbuungoo gk kroonania mto ya mahiinda mahtku, rra gwakoragwo na maambura na

mago ming brri-in waao. Mini areerirria gkorwo kuo, na akeyria, N ngthra
gikara thaay-in, knd kwna rwmbo na mwago na gkeno ta ku twakoragwo nako?
Areiigura tha, na ena ihooru n nd wa thna ra ena guo, na niing n krigwo n ra egkora
ku erekeire.

And, Cengeca, Cengeca

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, Cengeca, Cengeca 20

Who hates Gcengeca? / Who would hate life? 21
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

20

cegecege: description of rattling sounds (as of the metals in the Gcengeca music instrument),
or of seeds in a music gourd when shaken.

Cengeca: 1. rattle, jingle. 2. (of dance) go with swing or din.

Gcengeca: 1. the music rattle; 2. the merry sound of a dance enthusiastically sung and danced;
sound of the combination of many singing voices (with or without the accompaniment of the
Gcengeca).
(The above words are the survivals of the ancient musical instrument).

The bronze sacred rattle (called sesheshet), which was shaken in honor of Hathor - consisted
of a column-handle with cow-eared Hathor at the top surmounted by a loop, across the width of
which stretched three or four horizontal bars piercing small disks that would jangle. There was
also the ceremonial sistrum made of glazed composition terminating in a naos or shrine, which
was meant to be a votive offering to the goddess [Hart: 63].
(see sm and st), i. e. Gcengeca.
21
Significantly, the Ancient Egyptian Gcengeca music rattle was shaped like the Ancient
Egyptian ankh sign of life, which resembles a womans womb/uterus, to signify the beginning
of human life, and the joys of life in general (represented by the Gcengeca instrument seen as
song and dance), in opposition to war, death and sorrow.

In a soliloquy, the singer longs for joy, music and dance (Gcengeca). Faced by conditions of war
which are forcing him out of his country, the singer ponders, even as he runs away from his
motherland: Who would hate to live, or being in merriment and dance?

This could also be a lament by the singer, to the listener who is in the know as to what Gcengeca
stands for (the fact that life, song, and dance, only occur in peace times), and a protest to the fact
that some of the consequences of war include death and lack of joy and merriment, and the fact
that war and displacement result in chaos, sorrow and death.

49
Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

Na ndombanire caga
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga ndombanire Caga

mbani n wa kruka
Na niing r nymba nene-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

__________________________

mbani: mndrme kguucrria airtu kana atumia; mndrme kwendwo n airtu na kana
atumia.

Mini aroiga mand matat meegi kmbana:

Wa mbere, aketa kmbani: at hake we mwene, n aguucririe kana n endeetwo n airtu a

rrr rwa and matraga thaama-in (mataikaraga haand hamwe).

Wa keer, akoiga at mbani y wake n wa kruka; n ta kuuga at arme othe a brri wake
kana rrr rwake n cimbani. Kwoguo we mwene haaha argamrire arme othe a rrr
rwake.

Wa gatat, akoiga at ona brri waake noguo mbaga and a mbar-ya-gthaama-hnd-ciothe:

and acio a gthaamathaamaga matar gikaro kmwe o na o n mombtwo n brri waake.
Haaha mini araaria horo wa gthmbya ka mit ya kuuma na nja wa brri wa Misri, ara
twrtwo at moimte mwena wa cr, na magtharkra Misri kwa ing kinya magtuunyana
brri cio. Mbere ya matuunyane Misri matraga mar and matar mci yaao, no akrraga
hnd ciothe.

Mtoongoria wa Misri, ra wetagwo Pharaoh na Kngeretha, twrtwo at n etagwo Nymba

nene (ona ibuku ra Allen: 68).
Mini aroiga at, mbani cio wa and a kuuma na nja, ona n kinyte Nymba nene. N ta
kuuga at, and acio mataakiindagria haand hamwe, ona n maarktie kingra, makeendwo,
na makahikio n nymba nene kana mbar ya mtoongoria wa brri cio wa Misri (ra
wetagwo n athng Pharaoh).

50
Kara ga kwririkania:
Pharaoh ara maarigririe (ta Ramses III eer, na Akhenaten), othe maahikirie atumia a kuuma th
cia na nja, na magtma aathani na atharkri brri manyiitane, na kwoguo and aya ang raiya
ona o magkonereirio mtugo cio.
Mini akoiga at, gtmi ka atharkri brri magaatooria ene brri, n toond wa mbani cio
wa brri waao, na wa and aao, ra watmire th ige na mbo raiya-in, na ona nymba-in
nene.

51
I attracted a shifty / nomadic girl
Plains with njogu kamande.

I say, I attracted a nomadic girl22

Charm is in my genes / race
And it is also in the big house23
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

8
22

mbani means (of men to women) to attract, court a woman; have a woman fall in love with
you.

This stanza refers to the invading swarms of foreigners, who Ancient Egyptians often described
as Easteners who were shifty, roaming, nomads.

The singer makes three main claims:

Firstly, that (at a personal level) the singer attracted a nomadic, shifty girl. Here he is also
representative of his fellow male citizens.

Secondly, he contends that this attractiveness and charm is genetic to his race, a factor which
seems uncontrollable.

Thirdly, at a higher level, the singer is talking about his homeland: that his country has attracted
people who roam about, nomads, who go from place to place, and of whom restlessness is in
their genes. He claims that this attractiveness to shifty, roaming, nomadic people is also in the
genes of his homeland.
23
Nymba nene (the big house), was a term used for the Pharaoh (Allen: 68). The singer
claims that the restless, roaming people described in the last line have also entered or moved
into the big house, suggesting that those foreigners have now penetrated and married into the top
family (the Pharaohs house).
Cf. The later Pharaohs (both Ramses III and Akhenaten) were married to foreign women. This led
to inter-marriages between the invaders and the rulers, as well as between the ordinary people and
the invaders.

The singer attributes the success of the invaders in getting a foothold in his homeland (and
causing him misery and finally, his migration to the south) to this attractiveness (or mbani) of
both his people, their leaders, and of his homeland.

52
Na ngwambatrio n?
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga ngwambatrio n?
Ngote mwaki r gthri-
Baaba Thongore.

________________________

R rwa Ngabi n ruo rwaheeaga and a Misri ya tene gtria. Kgu kra kareehagwo n
miyro wa Ngabi o mwaka o mwaka, n ko gakragia irio ciothe. Na n nd cio, mawooni
ma and a brri cio, wtkio na krra ka o gothe, na mand ma o moothe, maakoragwo
matabaarirwo kriingana na rra miyro wa r gooka.

Ackr acio ait meetktie at brri wa na igr, gk ru tr, n kuo ackr aa o

moimte. Kwoguo, brri ra r rwa Ngabi rkunkire waar mte mno, na to nd wa
kmahe Ngabi tu, ta mno n nd wa gkorwo r brri mtheru wa ndra ciao ta ra ciugo ici
ciandktwo mabuku-in maao iraatuonia haaha:

hnty: knd kra kw mbere yaaku; knd na igr waku; (mnd kana gt-in) ra
toongoreetie kana mnene wa nd; mbere makria, kambrria.
m hntyt: kwambata na r na igr (roreete gthima-in ka ruo); na igr bi; mckr wa
mnd.

(m)geendi, - 1. mnd haana, mnd ndktie, wa kruka gakwa; ndra.

mgeendani, ihatha, kruru kana gatko ka mnd.
mgeendi wa ithe na wa nyina: mwanake mihwa wa awa kana wa mait; mirtu mihwa wa
awa kana wa mait.

hnt.kw: gthi na igr (na meeri kana na gatar).

mhndko / hndka: gcooka na thuutha na kra mnd oimte.

Wa keer n at, gthi thin brri-in wa Africa werekeire na kra Ngabi yumte, gweetagwo
gthi na igr, amu mnd akoragwo akambata na r. Mena ya th yoothe yamenyekaga na
geetanio na rori wa mwena cio (n rk) mnd arngi na erekeire na kra r rwa Ngabi
ruumte.
Gthi (na meeri kana gthaambra) na igr waar nd mrit, amu n maa n kwambata. N ko
mini arooria, Ngwambatrio n rwmbo-in rr. Brri-in wa mbar yaa nyina n egkora
aa maama-we, na kwoguo n ekheeo ga kra.

Kwoguo and ait a tene moonaga brri wa Africa haana ta mwr wa mnd ta : gatagat
ka brri (kabi, kra Ngabi yuumte) kwar gthri, na igr bi kra South Africa r
mtwe, naguo mwena wa Misri kra iria-in ra Mediterranean ar itina-in (na n guo and acio
a tene maagwtaga: idhw: the Delta marshes; itako / matako: itina-in na thiomi nyiing cia and
air.
Kbuungo gk kreeta gatagat-in ka Africa knd kr na mwaki, (toond wa and kuonania
ngoro njega - ina rugar, hamwe na rugar wa ria), ra ataanyte guota.

And who will move me upwards?

53
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, who will help me climb upwards? 24

To warm myself in the fire at the chest
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive the crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

24

The stanza emphasizes the feelings of longing and impatience to get to safety, up-stream in the
land of his mothers ancestors.
The river Nile was the source of sustenance for Ancient Egyptians. Its annual flood dominated all
aspects of life and controlled their world-view and religious orientation. For one, Ancient
Egyptians saw the south as the land of their ancestors and blood relatives, hence the south was
revered not just for providing the beneficial Nile, but also as the holly land of their ancestry as
shown by these words:

hnty: (of place) which is in front of; Southern, place; south of; (of rank or position) who
is at the head of, foremost.
m hntyt: going up-stream, southwards; out-south; ones predecessors.

(m)geendi, - 1. one resembling, approximating to or of the same genus, class, etc.

mgeendani, twin, spit image of.
mgeendi wa ithe na wa nyina: cross cousin, child of mothers or fathers brother or
fathers sister.

hnt.kw: sailing upstream.

mhndko / hndka: a return; going backwards.

Going southwards into the hinterland of Africa from Ancient Egypt was described as going
upwards, since it was sailing upstream of the Nile. Geographical directions depended on where
one was standing vis--vis the origin of the Nile (the south).
Sailing up-stream may literally have been an up-hill task, hence the question, Who will help me
climb upwards? (cf. the Gcaand song states that if you move upwards, you will be able to
suckle, that is, get sustenance from the mothers breasts that is, the mothers relatives in the
south will feed you, and/or the mother-land will feed you).

This stanza indicates that the ancient Egyptians looked upon the African continent as a human
body: the heart of the continent (kabi the land at the source of the Nile) is the breast or
chest, a place with mwaki = fire (possibly due to the human warmth as well as the heat from the
sun), warmth he longs to enjoy. The extreme south is seen as the head, while the Mediterranean
side was seen as the bottom and in fact, named so in African languages ( idhw: the Delta
marshes; itako / matako: bottom, in various African languages).

54
Na kairtu gathaka
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga kairtu gathaka

N keenye mr wa mnd cio
N ko ngwrwo n gathoni-
Baaba Thongore.

___________________

Mini aragaathrria brri ra erekeire akawta kairtu gathaka. Agacooka niing akawta
keenye, mr wa Thongore. Kiugo keenyek rthiomi-in rwa Kalenjin kiugte, rciaro
kana mwana, (kandkagwo hnw, na rthiomi rwa Misri ya tene, na kiugte, mwana).

Kriingana na krra ka and air acio a tene, Ngai waao ra waciarirwo n Thongore na n we
wtagwo n athng Geb, n we reetwo kbuungo-in gk keenye (kana mwana wa
Thongore) - mr wa mnd cio, ti Thongore (toond Thongore n we raario horo wake
rwmbo-in rr).

Krra-in ku, Geb n we gerekanagio na indo ciothe iria ikraga thin wa th: mt, mahuti na
irio cia kra, maa mega ma knyua, na indo ciothe ikraga th. Gwetktio at Geb no agirie
mbura yuure, na kwoguo atme th ngaate, kge m, kinyagia th tuke rngr. Na Gky
kenyakenya n kuuga, maa gkunka, kana riya kmera na gtma th yaambrrie konekana
r na ruru na thaka.

Kwoguo kriingana na wtkio wa ackr ait, krra-in ka ra Ngai Kenda-Miyru cia

kmerera (Psdt) ciakunkire th, Geb aciarirwo n Thongore, magtuka aciari a and a kmerera.
Brri wa Africa ya na igr wagerekanagio na ggeetkio at n guo Geb, toond n kuo r rwa
Ngabi rumte na n ruo rtmaga mt na irio cia Misri ikre, na brri ge na ruru.
N ko kbuungo-in gk mini areeta brri y wiit kairtu gathaka na no ko Geb, rciaro
kana mri wa Ngai ya kmerera Thongore. Kwoguo brri raagoocwo toond wa gkorwo
r keenye / hnw - mwana wa Ngai Thongore.
Na ta ra njugte haaha igr, mini aroiga at brri cio kana kairtu kau gathaka guo, n
igai rake toond n brri wa mbar ya aa maama-we.

Mini areeta brri cio wa aa maama-we ithoni, na riugte, gthima, irima rtherkaga maa.
Rtwa Gathoni, n ra knyiihio na kuonania kweendwo kwa ra reetwo. thoni n kra aciari
a mtumia wa mnd maikaraga, na Gathoni n rtwa ra mirtu, kaing wa mbar ya mtumia
wa mnd. Na toond mini oigire at nyina oimte kabi gkunkro ka Ngabi, n ko areeta
brri cio Gathoni, toond niing angkorwo mini atuutwo mwena wa ithe, and acio a kra
nyina oimte no ameete athoni ake.

Kbuungo-in gk, ithoni ra Ngabi, hara r ru rkunkire, n ho hareetwo Gathoni n

kuonanio ra haand hau heendeetwo n and a Misri. Niing toond brri cio w ithoni-in n
guo erekeire, na n guo kmruta koombo-in wa ageni ara maiyte brri waake, no nginya
agakkumia.

55
And a beautiful girl25
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

Yes, a beautiful girl26

Is off-spring / child of that person
Is the one I am told is the spring27
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful!
Haiyae hae haiya.
10
25
This stanza refers to a beautiful girl, to whom the singer pays homage. The land or country is
also referred to as a girl in Gky language.
26

The singer extols the land where he is headed as both as a beautiful girl, and also as keenye
(child of) Thongore.
keenyek in Kalenjin language means, progeny or off-spring.
hnw, child, in the Ancient Egyptian language (pronounced as keenye in this song, and is not in
current usage).

According to the Ancient Egyptian world-view, the God named Geb in Western scholarship
(referred to in this stanza as keenye / keenyek or the child of Shu / Thongore), personifies the
earth, vegetation, fresh water and all earthly products. He could withhold rain and cause dryness
and barrenness.
Significantly, kenyakenya (in Gky) means: (of water in dump spot, etc.), begin to well up;
(of weeds) begin to appear and give the ground a green tinge.
The land in the south (as Geb) is therefore seen as offspring or child of the ancestral God
Shu / Thongore in the Ancient Egyptian myth of origin. This is because the God Geb was the son
of the God Shu / Songol / Thongore, according to the ancient Egyptian geneaology or Psdt.

In this stanza, Geb the beautiful girl / the land in the south, is extolled as the (male / female)
off-spring (keenye / hnw) of Thongore. Of Geb as a girl, It may seem strange to have a male
earth god (most cultures associating the earth with female power) but Geb was sometimes
considered to be bisexual. http://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/geb.html
As discussed earlier, the singer claims that this land / beautiful girl in the south is his inheritance
through his maternal uncles.
27

The singer refers to the land of his maternal uncles the south, as the ithoni, which means,
spring, hole, from which a stream / spring bubbles up. The diminutive gathoni is an
endearment term, a loving reference to the spring from which bubbles up the Ngabi (Nile).

thoni is the place of residence of parents and relatives-in-law, while Gathoni (diminutive) is a
often a female-in-laws name. Since the singer earlier on stated that his mother was from kabi
(the source of the Nile), he refers to the land of his maternal uncles as the beautiful Gathoni,
i.e. the source of Ngabi and the land of my in-laws.
At the same time, the name Gathoni (for the hinterland of Africa) would be especially
appropriate if the singer is named after a relative on his paternal side (so that his mothers people
in the south are also his in-laws.

56
Na no ngeymrria
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga no ngeymrria
Nguuga no ngeymrria
N guo ngakona mndigi-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_________________________

Kbuungo gk n ga kwigura tha na kwymrria: areerrra no akoiga at n ekwniina guoya

(wa th iria i brri-in wake, na wa kra erekeire), kana ekre caamba nd-in ra woothe
angtngana na guo.

Mini hiihi n araigua guoya wa kra erekeire, no akekra rme. Ona gtuka araathi knd
atoo, na hiihi kw na nyam cia gthaka njra-in, na and hiihi matendeete ageendi,
areeymrria toond n oo at ndar na njra ng ya gkoona brri ra erekeire, tiga no
engaangaarkirie na eriganrie gwati ra angtngana na guo njra-in.

Kwoguo mini ena mwngaangio, amu ru ahaana ta mnd tar kwao, no aaga kwymia,
no agikarire brri-in cio waake atuunytwo n th, na guo n ta kuuga, atuuwo ngoombo
aaga kragwo.

Mini n araathi na mbere na rgano rwa kra erekeire: anggaakinya brri cio eetire kairtu
gathaka, n akoona mndigi. Kiugo mndigi haaha kroiga mirtu kana and aaria na
oima and. Kairtu / mirtu n tuonire haaha igr n kuuga brri.

Kwoguo kuona mndigi n kuonania mwhoko wa mini wa ggaakinya brri angtra na

thaay, na n mwhoko cio raatma ahote kwngaratia.

57
And I must be brave and persevere28
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say I will be brave29

I say I will persevere
So that I will find the girl30
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

11
28

Though in grief, the singer asserts that he must persevere; he must be brave and take courage (no
matter what he encounters as he flees to the new land).

There is a sense of self-pity and fear of the unknown, but there is also a resolve to proceed and
get to the desired destination.
29

The singers determination: he will persevere, be brave, bold, presumptuous and forward-
looking, despite his awareness of the dangers facing him.
30
A continuation of the thought in the last stanza: he will continue despite all odds, and will
hopefully, find a mndigi when he gets to his destination.

Mndigi here refers to the girl and / or warm and talkative people. Finding the girl signifies
his hope for finding the hospitable land of his ancestors, with joyful or warm people.

58
Na ndainire Krwara
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga ndainire Krwara

Nguuga ndainire Krwara
Ndaina rng ndikahona-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_______________________________

Krwara: 1. rtwa ra knd (Mranga); 2. mrim, kroonda; knd kru.

Mini aroiga at n ainire rwmbo knd gwetagwo Krwara. Agacooka akoiga at angkaina
rng knd-in ku ainire, ndakaahona.

No gkorwo hiihi mini n areeigura tha toond hiihi n aroona at ndagaacooka ku areeta
Krwara, knd hiihi endeete.

Ning no gkorwo aar mini njorua mno tene, mbaara taanaingha. No ru ndangara rwmbo
brri-in waake n toond wa mbaara yo kuo, n toond and acio matharkire brri waake -
njogu kamande - hiihi n makinyte ku areeta Krwara, na mangkmnyiita no makmrage.
Niing no gkorwo mini aroiga angina rng no akue toond hiihi mwr waake n raigua ru
ru (hiihi n mraru mno) n nd wa khrwo kra ahrtwo mbaara-in.

I say I sang/danced at Krwara

59
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say I sang/danced at Krwara31

If I sing again I will not survive32
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

12

31

Krwara: 1. name of a place in present-day Gkyland. 2. illness, lesion; bad place.

The singer claims that he once performed or sang at a place called K rwara. He then contends
that if he were to sing again at that same place, he would not survive. This is possibly either
because the invading enemies would kill him, or perhaps because he is now in poor health due to
the war.
32

Possibly the singer was an excellent musician in the past, or in the days prior to the war. He
laments that now, he cannot afford to perform in the named town of his homeland, because the
njogu kamande, who are everywhere, would most likely kill him.

60
Hrirwo Gaicanjir
Wer r njogu kamande.

Ndahrirwo Gaicanjir
Tawa khorio njragwo
Ndoimire magenda mba-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haaiya.

_____________________________

Gaicanjir n ta kuuga, (knd, karma ka Aanjir), kwa and a mbar ya Aanjir, kana niing
knd gkuh na kwa mbar ya Aanjir.

Kiugo drw (njir) na rthiomi rwa Misri ya tene koigte, mhaka, mthia-in, gturi, kgirrria,
kana thiingo (tond mhaka-in n gwaktwo rthiingo). Aanjir kwoguo maar and ara
maikaragia mhaka, makgitra and na brri, n geetha and a kuuma mwena wa na irathro
(and a kuuma cr) makarirwo n guo matikaingre brri-in wa Misri.

N ko Gky-in kinyanagia mth y kwragwo at mhrga wa Aanjir n guo

gitagra mhaka kana kahaanda maheta, toond wa kgitra gwati wa mrim kana
haaro itikaingre brri-in kuuma na nja.
No mahaandaga maheta tond wa kgitra gwati wa mrim kana mbaara
itigatonye brri [ona Gakaara: 1980: 35].

Kwoguo mini aroiga at ahrirwo knd gkuh na mhaka ra yaikaragio n Aanjir, na ta

ra tuonete haaha igr, ku n kuo kwar kra Misri mwena wana mhuro, na gwetagwo
Kbogo.

Kgerera mageenda-mba n krra mratho-in ya nymba, na guo n ta kuuga, khonoka

ciarera, gkorwo gwati-in mnene mno, kinya gatigaria haniini gkua.

I was beaten at Gaicanjir

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

61
I was beaten at Gaicanjir33
The light was put off so that I get killed
I went through the rafters34
Baaba Thongore.

13

33

Gaicanjir refers to the place of the Aanjir clansmen and women, or to a place close to the
place of the Aanjir people. (The prefix Ga- translates as, the little place of, or the little-hill-
place of the Aanjir clan).

The word Drw (pronounced as Njir), in the Ancient Egyptian language means, boundary,
end, limit; walls [Faulkner: 323].

According to present-day Gky beliefs, the Anjir are, the ones who plant boundary bushes
so
as to stop danger of disease or war from entering the land (Gakaara, 1980: 35).
In concurrence with this belief are ancient Gky songs, the Aanjir clansmen and women were
the gate and boundary keepers, who would guard the land and food stores against the invading
enemies. In one of these ancient Gky songs, it is stated categorically that the Aanjir were
often attacked by the marauding attackers, who would break in and rob the countrys grain stores.

?? quote
Similarly, according to Ancient Egyptian writings, the Drw were the peole who guarded the
boundaries and countries grain stores.

The singer asserts that he was beaten at a place near the Aanjir clans place, or near the
boundaries, which were looked after by the Aanjir clansmen and women. This would be at the
north-eastern boundary of Ancient Egypt, where the land of Egypt bordered the Arab world. And,
as said earlier, this was the Delta marshes area of northern Misri known as Kbogo.
34
Going through the rafters of the house, means, that the singer had a narrow escape, and
almost died. Going by the above stanza, the singer refers to the Anjir place (Misris eastern
boundary) in which he was almost killed in an attack by the maraunding invaders.

62
Na ndoirirwo n mbura
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga ndoirirwo n mbura

Krma ka mitrri
Ngambata na ngikrka-
Baaba Thongore

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haaiya.

___________________

Mini araaheana rgano rwa gthaama gwake, mathna mara onire, na kra agereire
ataanakinya kra ar ru.

Krma ka mitrri hiihi no gkorwo n krma ka Ngai, kana gkorwo ar nymba iria
ciakagrwo athamaki cia o ggaathikwo kuo maakua, iria citagwo n athng pyramids.
Na toond mitrri n ta kuuga, mnd ra itagrra kwa ing (ateegthuna kana athime),
hiihi no gkorwo mini araaria horo wgi krma ka Ngai wa Misri ya tene ra woiragia
mbura, na n we wetagwo Nut (Nyt / Nyota).

Krra ku ga krma ka mitrri n gtrire ru toond wa gkorwo gtar kandke n and

ait na rthiomi rwit rwa kru na njra ngtma tkririkane.

And I was rained on

63
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, it rained on me
At the mountain of the One who spouts35
I climbed up and I descended downwards
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, Be on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

14
35

The singer recounts his memory of the heavy rain he endured as he escaped, and the difficult
terrain which he traversed before he reached where he is now.

The mountain of the One who spouts abundantly is possibly one of the holy mountains or
pyramids, which the singer passed by along his route. (The word for pyramid - mr, in Ancient
Egyptian language, corresponds to mlima mountain or hill, in modern African languages). The
mountain or pyramid in reference may be one related to the ancestral God who controls the rain
Nut.

The meaning (or reason) of the traversing of that mountain / pyramid is lost to us, due to our
present-day amnesia, or due to the changed names or historical renaming of the terrain.

64
Mait akiuga njookerwo
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga mait oiga njookerwo

Nguuga mait oiga njookerwo
Baaba akrega njookerwo-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

______________________

N nd wa tha cia nyina wa mwana, nyina aroiga mri acookerwo kra atigirwo na thuutha,
no ithe akarega toond n oo ra mwana cio ekreehe thna na hiihi gwati ming mci-in
wona agrwo.

Mini haaha to mhaka akorwo ar mini we mwene reerwo at watigtwo knd na thuutha:
no akorwo ar we, kana niing no gkorwo n mnd ng oo.

Minre wa Gceengeca n wa gtema mnd kmcuuka na rwmbo, haand ha kmgweta

rtwa.
Rng niing mini aaragia ta ar we wonire nd, akenda kuonania at nd cio raarrrio n
wonekanire kaing brri-in.

cio rainrwo aar knd atigtwo n and aao na thuutha, makrra mbaara, kana rra
maatuire itua ra gthaama. Nyina n endaga acookerwo, no ithe akrega, toond hiihi n
eetigagra kmcookera.

My mother said they should come back for me

65
My mother said they should come back for me
My father said they would not come back for me36
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis / crowding.

Be alert, Be on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

15

36

The singers father refused the family from going back for their son. In the format of both
Gcengeca and Gcaand, the character/subject in question need not be the singer himself/herself,
but someone else known by the listeners.

The father choses to abandon the son, possibly due to the dangers to the whole family associated
with the son or his associates, so that going back for him would endanger veryone else.

The mothers feelings for her son overwhelms her, and blinds her to the said dangers, so that she
wishes not to leave him behind.

66
Baaba oiga ndicookerwo
Wer r njogu kamande.

Baaba oiga ndicookerwo

Wanjookeria hiti mci
Yarire mbri kniina-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_________________________________

horo wa ithe wa mtigwo haaha ndroumbka wega, toond krra ka ra and matranagia
na th icio cia matuunyire brri ti mtaarrie n rwmbo rr. Na ona gtuka mand maing
no twciiririe kuuma ibuungo icio ing ir rwmbo-in rr, rwmbo rwa Gcaand n
rgteithrria toond rwaragia horo mwe na Gcengeca.

Kwoguo, kriingana na ibuungo cia nymbo icio cier, gtmi ka ithe gwta mwana waake hiti
no gkorirwo mwana cio hiihi n anyiitante na th, akamaingria mci na makooraga ciana cia
ithe. Kwoguo aar na mtugo ta ya th iria mooragra. Na kriingana na ra twrtwo haaha igr
(ona Ndombanire Caga), no gkorwo hiihi cio reerwo ndeecokerwo ahikantie na th, na
kwoguo akaingra thiriit-in yaao na agatuka mwe waao. Gcaand-in har na kbuungo kreeta
mirtu mhikie hiti reheete mbu na krro mci, niinte ngombe, na gacina mci (ona
ibuku ra Merlo Pick: 237).
Th iria maarwaga nacio ciar o kuo mci-in kana matra-in mamwe na o, na kwoguo
mangacookire mci n mangatnganire na cio; na n cio icio areeta hiti.

Mbri icio ireerwo hiihi n ciana, iria cioragirwo n hiti kana th yo tareendwo cooke mci
rng. Niing ona mbri (na ngombe) ciao no ireerwo n ciarirwo ciothe n th icio ciatharkire
na igtuunyana brri wa Misri.

My father said they would not go back for me

67
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, my father said they would not go back for me

You want to return a hyena home? 37
It finished all the goats in the home.38
My father Thongore.

16

37

In the performace of the Gcengeca, the singer assumes the identity of the actors unless stated or
indicated otherwise. In this stanza, the singer sings as though he was the character described as
having been left behind as the others escaped from the enemy. The singer (or character described)
was in the war zone along with his family, or they were attacked in his home, and he was either
captured, or left behind as the other members of his family ran away.

Though the stanza is not clear because we do not have the details of how the people co-existed
with the invaders, so as to fully comprehend the father-and-son relationship described here, we
can deduce from the information provided by the other stanzas, as well as from similar stanzas of
Gcaand.

It seems like the said son had an undesirable relationship with the enemy (which the father
disapproves of), because the father claims that going back for him would bring the hyena back
home. The hyena is either the son or his unwanted connections.

That the hyena finished the goats possibly means that the said enemy either killed all the
children in the home (or ate all the goats), or caused some serious devastation. The father prefers
to abandon the son rather than go back for him and bring back more calamity.

Given that this song claims that the people intermarried with the enemy (see the stanza
Ndombanire Caga), causing a new breed of mixed race, who later attacked and claimed the
land of ancient Misri, the said hyena is possibly one of those foreign consorts or wives
described in this song as the attackers. A similar stanza exists in Gcaand (see Merlo Pick: 237),
in which the sons wive has cause similar havoc. This would mean that parents were at times
forced to choose between loyalty to their children who chose to allay with the enemy, and their
own lives.
38

68
Na mait ar ihu rakwa
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga mait ar ihu rakwa

Maamwtaga Nyakagara
Maamwraga aroogwa na ro-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

________________________

Mini aracookera ra hiihi aigute gkiugwo wgi ra and acio matuunyanire brri
waao matari, na ra mekaga ene brri naa.

Kgara / kagara n kondo kana gkab knene gtmagrwo na gkuua nyng na ndua
na inya iria nene bi.

Th icio ciatharkire brri wa Misri (na magtuka ene brri cio), no maarumaga
nyina wa mini makamwta Nyakagara n nd wa gkorwo ar mrit na nda ya
mwana hiihi igakneneha bi, rtwa ra kuonania ra and acio maar na knyararo ka
ene brri.

When my mother was pregnant with me

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

69
I say, when my mother was pregnant with me
They would call her Nyakagara39
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

39

Kgara (diminutive kagara) is a large crate or open wicker basket used for carrying large pots
and calabashes.

The invaders referred to the singers pregnant mother as Kagara due to the large size of her
pregnant womb. They cursed the singers pregnant mother, and hoped she would collapse or die
with the pregnancy.

The singer is repeating what he/she may have heard from the survivers regarding the invaders
treatment of his/her mother when she was pregnant, expecting him/her. The subject of the
statement need not be the singer but could be anyone else in the community, who is known to the
participants.

70
 17

Eragwo aroogwa na ro
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga mait ar ihu rakwa

Nguuga mait ar ihu rakwa
Maamwraga aroogwa na ro-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

____________________________

Kwra mnd age na ihu (akue agciara), n kuonania rogi.

Kbuungo gk n kroonania at n kwar na rmena rnene mno har Agky na th icio
ciatharkire brri wa Misri, ona mbere ya mathaame moime kuo.

71
They would say to her, may you collapse with it.
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, when my mother was pregnant with me

They would say to her, may you collapse with it40
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

40

This stanza indicates the entrenched enmity between the invaders and the ancient
Egyptians.

The stanza could also be a commentary on the treatment the women specicifically may
have experienced during the days of hostilities between them and the invaders prior to the
exodus.

Such treatment could also have taken place along the way, during the exodus. While
escaping from ancient Misri, the women who were not accompanied by male partners
may have experienced hostile treatment in places they visited along their migration
journey.

72
 18

Na gk n k tr?
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga gk n k tr?
Knd mait areganire
Na ni ngthuguma rr-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

________________________

Mini ndaraamenya kra makinyte toond hiihi ndar oka rng knd ku mar ru,
na kwoguo matigk. guo n kuonania magerio na mathna mara and acio air a
Misri moonire meerekeire na maggaakinya na gk ru tr.

Ta ra twrtwo (na hau igr Gardner, Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage), and acio
air a Misri ya tene, makoragwo makrithio ta mbri hnd ciothe, na at na mo
mabarabara na ingaratua ciothe ciakoragwo ikrorwo n njogu kamande hnd ciothe, na
toond wa guo and mathiiaga mehithte, na kwoguo makooraga maita maing.

Niing kbuungo gk n kroonania ra and moonaga thna, na mno atumia ara eeth mataar
na athuuri, rng magcaria gwa kraarrra gwatuka me rgeendo-in.
Mini n aroonania guoya wa ene ku maar, toond nyina aregana, naake n acookire
agthuguma rr; kwoguo n areetigra ra mekuonio.

73
And what is this place we are at?41
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, where are we now?

The place my mother rejected her suitors42
And I urinated in bed
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, Be on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

19
41

Significantly, the singer does not recognize his surroundings, and wonders where he and those
fleeing with him are: the territory is unfamiliar.

The stanza is an insight into what our fleeing ancestors faced as they moved southwards to where
we are today. In ancient Misri, both the people and the roads, were under constant watch by the
Njogu Kamande all the time, so that they possibly had to move in hiding and in darkeness, and
often got lost in unfamiliar territories.
42
This is possibly an insight into the predicaments encountered by the travellers as they migrated
southwards. The travellers seem to have stopped over unknown villages for night accomondation
along the way.

The young people accompanying their mothers may have noted or encountered hostililty, and
especially against young women who were not accompanied by their male partners.
The singer seems apprehensive about this particular place, and has expectations of unfriendliness
if not aggressiveness. Not only did his mother reject the male suitors in this particular place, but
he also passed urine in bed, possibly due to fear of the strangers.

74
 na twar akragwo
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga na twar akragwo

Nguuga na twar agthira
Tiga Th i wa Mthamo-
Baaba Thongore

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_________________________________

Mini araaria horo wa mbaara marte matanoima brri wa Misri. Thi (Gthi)
wa Mthaamo n mnd ra wa mahonokirie mbaara-in yo.
Rtwa ra Gthi
Mthaamo nay o n rtwa ra

75
We were to be killed
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say were to be killed

I say, we were to be killed
If it was not for Gthi son of Mthamo43
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, Be on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

43

The names Gthi and Mthaamo may

The history is lost to us due to passage of time and possibly due to loss of written records.

76
 20

Na n ngthgrria
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga n ngthgrria
Nguuga n ngthgrria
Thgrrie kana ndige-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_______________________________

Mini ena keha, no n areeymrria: n eharirie kgerereria (hiihi gthaama kuuma brri-in
cio waake), ona gtuka and ara maageragia kra, maakoragwo moheetio njra-in n geetha
makagirio kra. Ena mwhoko at n egkinya kra erekeire.

Mini ena guoya wa gthgrria kana kwambrria rgeendo rwa gthaama, toond ndoo ra
egthi gkora kra aroreete.
Kaing y koragwo ar wtkio wa mnd akgeria kwymrria e haand hooru, kana e
thna-in mnene.

77
And I will make an attempt
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, I will make an attempt44

I say, I will make an attempt
Attempting is the same as success45
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

21
44

Self-encouragement, and a determination by the singers to continue in their attempt to either

flee, or fight it out with the invaders, and a positive expectation to succeed.
45
A communication or assertion of fear, fuelled by the uncertainty of moving into the unknown,
usually said when a person is in a seemingly hopeless situation, is in great danger, and when self-
encouragement is required.

78
Na n ngthgrria
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga n ngthgrria
Nguuga n ngthgrria
Ithgrria rate ndg-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

__________________________

Mini n egthgrria gwka ra kwagrire n geetha oirre mbaara brriin cio

waake.
No niing ar na guoya, toond n oo at ar rrra-in ra mbaara yo, aahota gkooranwo
na and ara ang aao, hamwe na araata aake, ara hiihi atagaacooka gkoonana na o
rng.
Kwoguo itua ru ra kra na gtigana (kinya tene ne tene) na and ara oo wega na
endeete, n rraamtaanga meeciria-in.

And I will make an attempt

79
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, I will make an attempt46

I say, I will make an attempt
Attempting leads to loss of family and friends47
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

22
46

Weary repeatition of the self-encouragement (and encouragement to fellow singers) in his/her

determination to flee as described the last stanza.
47
Assertion of fear of confronting the unkown, and uncertainty fuelled by expectations of parting
ways with both family members and friends by those who flee.

Those fleeing would at times meet hostile situations which made them get scattered in different
directions, never to see each other again (see Merlo Pick).

80
Na toond twainithania
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga toond twainithania

W kanyoni mthemba ?
Na kr itainaga natuo-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

__________________________________

Mini araacoga mcogo na ra maraina naake akamria: toond trainithania na we

r, w mnd wa mthemba rk?

N ta kuuga at aini magkya rwmbo n maacoganagra n geetha maheane krra (ta

hnd ya gthigaanwo n th n nd wa mbaara), kana niing ona hnd ya thaay n
geetha mekre rwmbo ngumi.

N geetha athikrria mamenye krra kra maraaheeo, mcogi araameera horo wgi
ara maraatemwo: n kr tnyoni kana and matareendekana mathaako-in mau kana
knd ku, toond mokte gthigaana ene brri.

81
And when we lead the singing together
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say since we lead the singing together,

Which bird do you affect to be?48
Because there are some (birds) I do not sing with49
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

23
48

In traditional Gky music/dance, lead singers would make fun of something serious by
appearing to tease the fellow lead singer through witty riddles, allegories, and jests. These riddles
and allegories would convey the message to the initiated, while shielding the information against
the spying enemies.

Bearing in mind that in every stanza, the singers (of this song) keep reminding each other that the
place is infested with njogu kamande, the allegories and riddles are meant to hide the messages
conveyed in the song against those spies and eavesdroppers who are obviously there for ulterior
motives.
49
The declaration that there are sone birds I do not dance with is meant to inform and alert the
participants who understand the riddles and allegories, and who anxiously wait to hear those birds
named (as in the next stanza).

82
 tmunyku njoya
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga tmunyku njoya

Ttiinithanagia na tuo
N ko ndigithie ither-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

___________________________

Acogi haaha mareenda kgweta and ara matareendekana, ara mokte khnga horo
n guo matware na mbere, na n o rwmbo-in mareetwo njogu kamande.

Nymbo cia Gky cia hnd ya Misri ciothe n ciartie horo wa maraangi ma mr ya
and mno, na ikoonania krani wao ene brri, na and acio a maraangi maang a
kuuma na mabrri ma na nja. No toond wa gkorwo na guoya wa ara maamatunyte
brri, horo cio n wakoragwo w mhithanie nda-in na thimo-in, n geetha and acio
matikaamenye ra kreerwo.

And acio maraahithwo horo, no niing mareetwo nyoni iria munyku njoya. Nyoni
yamunyka njoya, tigagwo na mwr mtuune, mtheeku, kana mwer. Kwoguo no
tuuge at rwmbo rraaria horo wa and matar air mwr, na kwoguo mena mr mer
kana mtuune gkoonde ka mwr.

Na toond n twrirwo kuuma o kambrria ka rwmbo rr at brri wa Misri waar

mtharkre n and a kuuma na nja, kwoguo acio n o mareerwo n amunyku njoya, na
at matireendwo rwmbo-in rr.

Whose feathers have come off / been plucked

83
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say whose feathers have come off / been plucked50

Those are the ones I do not sing with51
So stop joking with me52
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

50

The singer alludes to the coming off of hair from hide of an emaciated animal. The stanza makes
two importants points:
Firstly, that the bird (or people) in question have had their hairs come off due to the hunger and
consequent poverty they have endured.
Secondly, as a result of loosing their hair, those birds exposed body skin is now of a certain
colour - red / pinkish, or very light brown (which is unlike the skin-colour of the singers).
This theme of people of light skin-clour or mixed white-and-black is explored in many
stanzas of this song (as well as in other traditional Gky songs).

The singer denounces the people described as birds-whose-feathers-have come-off:

51

he/she does not want to associate with them.

52

The singer warns those suggesting his interaction or friendship with the birds-without-feathers
to stop their jokes because he is determined not to collaborate with them (as stated in the last
stanza).

84
 24

nd kanyoni-ka-nja
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga nd kanyoni-ka-nja
Nguuga nd kanyoni-ka-nja
Kaninire nykwa mbe-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_____________________________

Mkithia arooria ra marainithia naake, mwr waaku n wa raangi rk?

Kanyoni-ka-nja ke mwr mir mwena wa igr na mtuune na th. Rwmbo-in rr,

kaing na kaing aini n magweteete maraangi mara makoni mr ya and acio
mamatharkire.

ra maraakya nake areta kanyoni-ka-nja o akenda kwra aini acio ang at kwna
and a mtheemba cio tareendekana, na kwoguo maikare mehgte.

Ta ra aini moigte kaing rwmbo-in rr, and acio mokte khnga horo,
kwoguo akithia matireenda kina nao.

85
I am a ruddy wax-bill / village sparrow53
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say I am a ruddy wax-bill / village sparrow

I say I am a ruddy wax-bill / village sparrow
Which finished your mothers off-springs / seeds54
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

53

In response to the last stanza, the co-singer identifies himself along colour lines: he/she is a
ruddy wax-bill or village sparrow, a bird which has a blue/black top, with a red chest. Here again,
we see the red/black mixed race colour identifying the unwanted bird.

A continuation of the last line: the co-singer assumes the identity of the village-sparrow / ruddy
54

wax-bill bird, stating that it finished the off-spring of lead-singers mother.

Here, as in many other stanzas of this song, the idea of eating/killing of children by the light-
skinned/foreigner is alluded to. The lead singer does not want them to participate in this
performance.

86
 25

Na no ndkria kria
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga no ndkria kria

Nguuga no ndkria kria
Uge tiguo akorwo n guo-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

____________________

Mini areera Ngai Ikenye at n ekmria kria. Hiihi no gkorwo areeyria kra gtmte
and aao makorwo na thna ming guo na kinya magatuunywo brri. Krra ga Gky n
gtkrtie mnd kria Ngai kria kana ona gteta har Ngai mnd angciiria at Ngai
ndonantie maa itua-in rake.

Mini n areenda acookerio kria gake n Ngai Thongore / Ikenye, no areenda Ngai oige tiguo
kr, ra mini we mwene angenda kigua. Areenda Ngai aregane na meecranio maing
mara ena mo kongo-in gake. Rng hiihi n areeyria mathma mara mangkorwo
mamwetereire thuutha-in, kana ra ggaikara brri-in wake, thuutha-in mnene.

No gkorwo mini hiihi ena meeciiria maing ma hingo ng gooka, ta meeciiria makoni
moorathi mara moigte ra brri cio gaikara matuk-in ma thuutha mnene, ta rathi-in
y:

Ndru kana maahi ma brri wa na nja n makaanyua r-in rwa Misri, (ciugo cia [Neferti
3536]; Allen: 180).

Kana ona rng hiihi mini n areecranria mand makoni mbaara ra aatiga na thuutha,
thaama no ena yo, kana ona mathna mara mangkorwo mamwetereire brri-in ra erekeire,
na maing ta macio (ta guo oigte haaha igr).

87
And I will ask you a question55
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, I will ask you a question

I say, I will ask you a question
You say it is not so, if it is so56
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

55

The singer interrogates the ancestral God, Ikenye, most probably as to why he, the singer, and
his people, should face their current predicaments. Gky traditional religion allows one to
question the Gods, especially in the event a person senses a lack of Maa justice, as pertains a
certain Godly punitive action.
56
He wishes for an answer from the God Ikenye, but one that does not confirm his thoughts.
He may possibly be referring to his migration to the south, and what he is likely to meet there, as
shown by his comments in the earlier stanza regarding his meeting warm positive people.
He could most probably also be pondering about the war he has left behind, his family (from
whch he may have parted forever), the future of his homeland, and the finality of what is likely to
take place there. This is especially so, given the prophecies regarding the future of his country,
some of which foretold the on-going events such as the following:
A foreign lands flocks are to drink at the river of Egypt, [Neferti 3536] (Allen: 180).

88
 26

Na n ngwtia mara
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga no ngwtia mara

Nguuga no ngwtia mara
Uge tiguo akorwo n guo-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

_____________________

Kuuga at, n ngwtia mara, n ta kuuga at mini hiihi ndoo kwandka, na kwoguo n ekwra
mnd ng a mwandkre mara ma gtmra Ngai Ikenye.

N ta kuuga at kuma o hnd ya tene (hiihi ra and ait maar Misri), toond ti and oothe moo
kwandka, ara matoo kwandka meeraga ara moo kwandka ra mareenda kuuga, n geetha
naake cio kwandka agateithrria cio too, akamwandkra, na akoiga o ra eerwo
ateekuongerera ciugo ciake.
Mtugo y wa kwandkra ara matoo kwandka n traga thiiaga na mbere icagi-in
kinyagia mth y.

Mara ma mini megkorwo na kria kra areenda kria Ngai Ikenye, ta guo oigte
kbuungo-in ku ku k hau igr.

Naguo mtugo wa and a th kwandkra Ngai cia rruka rwit mara makmwra ra kraathi
na mbere gk th, na mathna mara mena mo, roonekana n ta waar wa ndire, toond ona
hena mara o maang matmirwo Ngai rwmbo-in o rng ibuku-in rr.

89
And I will ask for a letter57
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

And I will ask for a letter

And I will ask for a letter
You say it is not so, if it is so58
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

27
57

The statement, I will ask for a letter means that the singer most probably would dictate to
someone else the letter to the God Ikenye, and that other person would write on the singers
behalf. This habit was necessary either because the singer did not know how to write, or he did
not have the tools because writing was a specialized profession, so that letters would be written
on behalf of those who could not read and write. This custom still continues in present-day rural
Gkyland.

The practice of writing letters to the ancestral Gods by human beings discussing on-going
problems seems to have been common. It is repeated in yet another song discussed elsewhere in
this study.

The singers letter to the ancestral God Ikenye will be about the question he intends to ask the
God (in the stanza prior to this).
The continuation of this stanza is missing, so I have combined it with a stanza that is not similar.

58
It seems like some of the words for this stanza are missing, so that there is a repeatition of some
of the words that were sung in the preceeding stanza. At the dsame time, it may have been a
repeation for the purpose of emphasis.

90
Na reke tthoomage
Wer r njogu kamande.

Nguuga reke tthoomage

Amu njigua n r mat
Na ndindko r magr-
Baaba Thongore.

______________________

Gthooma n: 1. kmenya gtara maandko ma ibuku. 2. kwruta na gwkaania ggeeka nd

mna, toond wa nd cio gkorwo kuoneetie ru, gaknyamaaria, kana gatma igue ruo
mno.

Mini areera athikrria : n twkaanagie na mand maya tuoneete, n twrutage ra

twagrirwo n ggeeka hnd ng gooka.
Akagweta thimo cia Gky igr:
Wa mbere, mnd nghota kigua no ra wna mat. Nake mnd woothe wna mat n
agrirwo n kigua eerwo nd riita rmwe, kana akamenya nd, kana ra angka rci rng
angkoona nd ta cio hnd ng.

Wa keer akoiga: nako knd kana mnd ra ngtiindkwo (n geetha eherio haand hooru na
ateithio atwarwo haand hatar na gwati), no ra wna magr (toond angaga magr, rit
wake no girie ateithio na agtwarwo haand heega). Kwoguo hatir bata kgeria gteithia
mnd teharirie gteithio, (kana ona gwthnia gtiindka knd krit gtar na magr
toond gtingenyeenyeka n geetha krutwo hara kr).

N ta kuuga at wooni wake mini n at, mnd tekwruta na ra and moneetio ihiinda rr,
ndar hnd ng agathooma, toond:
1. n mriit mno (n mkgu) na kwoguo ndangrutka / ndangthoomithka;
2. n mriit mno (na ndar na magr maake we mwene kana wendo wa kweherio ho), na
kwoguo ndangtiindkka kana ateithke.
Na kwoguo mnd taangthooma, egtra onaga mathna amu ndangigura kana emenyere
(ra kraathi na mbere), kana ateithio eerute thna-in.

91
And let us be learning (a lesson) 59
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

I say, let us be learning a lesson

Since the one who hears has ears
And that which is pushed has legs
My father Thongore.

Part 2.
59

Thooma means both to learn a lesson (from experiencing a harsh activity), and, knowing how
to read a book.

Using two Gky proverbs, the singer asserts his peoples need to learn from their experiences
or history, which would possibly help them avoid making the same mistakes (over and over
again) like those that have led to the conditions the country is in (as outlined in the song).

The first proverb states that, only the people with ears are capable of hearing. This would mean
that even if you tell those not able or ready to listen, they cannot learn from the mistakes of
history.
The second proverb states that, only a thing or person with legs/wheels is cable of being
pushed. This would mean that if you try to push someone to learn or do what he is not capable
of, or willing to do, you will not be able to get him to learn (or get him out of his usual behavior).
This would mean that you can only teach those who are capable and ready for the lesson. Neither
can you push something that is very heavy and has no wheels, and expect it to move. Heaviness
here stands for stupidity.

The singer may be referring to those fellow citizens who refused to migrate and were left behind,
or were too stupid to understand how things were going, and who possibly contributed to the
finality of the situation in his motherland.

92
 28

N ni ngrra na ngoro
Muumo ranagie, n k?
No mkr n ekmenya-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

Na ngrra na ngoro.
Wer r njogu kamande.

_____________________

Gcuunj gk ga keer kintwo kr ta rwmbo rng mwanya o rwa Gcengeca. Na

ona gtuka mgaambo wa ruo n r gotiganu kaniini na wa ibuungo ico 15 cia gcuunj
ku k mbere, mgaambo n krkanaga at no mwe na wa rwmbo ru rw mbere.

Mini wa gcuunj gk ena keha. No gkorwo hiihi aroiga ra oneete we mwene, kana
akorwo ona n ciana ciake cioneetio ru cio. Areyaarria akoiga ra ena keha, na ra
ciana na and eth mataraamenya gtmi ga akorwo na keha.
Twathikangrria ibuungo icio ing, no tkaigua ra airtu na aanake a brri cio
moonetio manag n th icio itharkire brri cio waake.

Kbuungo gk kroonania ra and anyiinyi matraga magkaagimara, na ra

makoragwo na rigwa na rim wa mand mara maraathi na mbere brri-in waao.
Na ona gtuka brri woothe iyire haaro na mathaangania, hiihi and agima n o tu
maroonio ru wa gwathwo n th. Nao and n ta mataraahota kwra kana gtaara ciana
iria nyiinyi, hiihi n gwtigra ciana itikaumbrre th ra and agima maraataanya na
kbaanga gwka. N ko mini aroiga at mkr no we tu raamenya kra keha
kroima.
Ona gtuka mini e rgeendo-in agthaama, ena keha toond n oneetio mathaangania
maing ma, na ndangendire kuuma brri-in waake tiga n mathna mau moonekanire.

93
I am crying in the heart60
The youth ask each other, What is the matter?
But the elder knows.
My father, Thongore.

Well survive this crisis

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

I am crying in the heart

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

60

This second part of Wer r Njogu Kamande, is sung to a slightly different tune (though of the
same genre), Gcengeca. Even though its tune is a little different, it is nevertheless recognizable
as, either, part of the same song which has differed over the years, or, as as a second way of
singing the same song as happens with practically all ancient Gky (traditional) songs: words of
the same song are usually sung using many different tunes, turning one song into many different
songs.
It is, however, notable that while all the stanzas of this econd part can be sung as part of the first
song, the two parts of the song have one major difference: the two introductory lines in the first
part of Wer r Njogu Kamande (which introduce the words of the next stanza in Part One of
this song), are always placed at the end of the stanza in Part 2 of the song. In this second part of
the song, the two lines serve a different purpose, of not only completing the main idea or theme
discussed in the stanza that follows, but also in emphasizing the message of that particular stanza.

This stanza is a soliloquy: the singer claims that his heart is downcast, yet (it appears to him/her
that) the young people do not seem to understand the reasons for his sorrow.
The stanza is a commentary on:
First, the sorrow felt by the acncient Egyptians as they were edged out of their land.
Secondly, the stanza comments on the ignorance of the human youth, who, ideally, should be the
hope for tomorrow. The not-too-young youth should understand what is going on, so that they are
able to know what they should do in the face of the calamity at hand, and so as to be able re-claim
their country in the future. Yet, the young people take a long time to mature or understand events
around them (occurrences that will affect their future drastically), even when those events are
taking place right under their noses.
Naturally, the elders understand the predicaments since they are aware of the happenings in the
land. But, on the other hand, possibly the elders could not share all the information at hand with
the youth for fear that, due to their ignorance, the youth might betray the intentions and plans of
their communities to the foreign invaders.
This stanza indicates that even as he migrated, the singer would much rather not have been forced
to migrate, but would have preferred to live in his homeland, all things being equal.

94
 29

Ngrra ngkirio n?
Mnd akiragio n nyina
No ra ng mwar wa nyina
Na rng mr wa nyina-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

Acio maandigire o tene

Wer r njogu kamande.

_________________________

Mini arathi na mbere na rciiria rra oima na ro kbuungo-in ku k haaha igr: ena keha n
nd wa mand mara maraathi na mbere brri-in waao. No ndar na mnd ngmmrria,
amu ona and aao othe gtir traga. Hiihi araarrra kranwo gwake na nyina hamwe na aar
na aari a nyina, hiihi n nd wa mhuruunjko wa and makrra mbaara. Niing hiihi araarra
n gku kao, toond hiihi gtir ona mwe waao tigarte kana who muoyo n nd wa mbaara.
horo wgi kranwo kwa and a nymba mwe, kana a rrra rmwe (and makrra mbaara
kana magthaama kuuma Misri ya tene), n cokereetwo nymbo-in nyiing cia Gky cia tene.
And ta acio matiacookaga gkaanoonana rng, na n ko mini araaria ena keha.

Kana niing hiihi hatir mnd waao r ku mini arainra ru, na ndangmoona ona angenda,
n toond hiihi makrra mbaara, gtiingmenyekana na kra maathiire.

Mini aroonania ra and a mci mwe maiguithantie, na at kaing mrranro wa maa bi

koragwo r o na and a rrra rmwe tu.

95
If I cry who will comfort / console me?61
A person is consoled by his mother
Another by the sister
Other times, by the brother
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis and crowding.

Be alert, Be on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

Those ones left me a long time ago

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

30

61

The singer mourns because, firstly, of the sorrows of war, and the unbearable conditions going on
in his country. Secondly, he mourns the separation from his immediate family members his
mother, sisters, and brothers who, according to him, are the people who could comfort him during
the stressful times he is undergoing. The family was possibly separated as they escaped the
fighting and ran in different directions, and they will possibly never reconnect again.
Separation of fleeing immediate family members (during the migration from Ancient Misri) has
been recorded in various Gky traditional songs. Such songs record how immediate family
members would be scattered in different directions, and would more often than not, never met
again; hence the singers laments. The singers mother and siblings may also have died in the war.
At the same time, migration and settlement may have taken many years, before the fleeing
Egyptians decided on where to settle, leading the singer to lament that they left him long time
ago.
The stanza emphasizes the empathy between close family members, who one usually turns to
especially in times of sorrow, when the singer faces an uncertain future.

96
Gthera arooririo n ithe
Mri ka r na mbogoro
Njgma ya hacwo n k
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

mikrie nyuguto
Wer r njogu kamande.

____________________________

Gthera n rtwa ra mndrme, kriingana na kria ga ithe.

Kiugo Thera na ko kiugte, 1. tuka mnd wa ngai, wa maa. 2. keenga (ngoro), ara,
kenyka, rirka, caka; hga, tuka mmenyi (mand-in ma th); hoorera, ga ngoro njacku,
caanjamka ngoro, tuka mkeni; aga mathir kana mangr.

Theru / Ntheru kriingana na mwaandko wa Misri ya tene n kiugo kahthagrwo kuuga

rthiomi ru rwa tene, athnjri Ngai, na ra woothe and acio makumtie wa brri cio waa
o na and a guo.
Martwa Buruga na Gthera rwmbo-in rr maroonania iheeana kana tari wa ra mini
aroiga and acio eer matari, hamwe na wra ra maraaruta mbaara-in no, ona makguraragio
makgeria khonokia brri waa o.

mbogoro n magr magonyoku, mahoceku. Magr ma Gthera n moinku, ta ra tkuona

mhari ra rmrire. Mini aroonania ra kra moimvte gwatari: mirtu na mwanake, hiihi
a nyina mwe, mahrtwo mbaara ya kmoonjia na kmaniina, na mr yaao kanaangwo kna.

njgma n mt mhth (mkuh) mwachie wna gkonyo ra krwo na ro.

Magr ma Gthera na njgma yaake n ngonyoku. Njgma n rtwa rng rhthagrwo (ra
hitho) ra mwr wa ruu wa mndrme.

Mini araaria horo wgi njgma yo gonyortwo n th. Akoiga at njgma yo nyugutrwo
th icio, haand ha kmahra na yo makuhririe.

Gthera was asked by his father62

62

97
My son, why do you have curved legs?63
What has made the club curved? 64
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful!
Haiyae hae haiya.

Whirl it to him65
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

Gthera is a mans name as indicated by the fathers question (why is your club curved?).
Thera means, 1. be holy. 2. be bright, shine, sparkle; be wise (in world affairs, etc.); be good
humored, cheerful, unresentful.
Theru / Ntheru in the Ancient Egyptian language was used to refer to their language, their
priests, and practically everything they respected about their land and people.
The names of both the wounded young man and woman in this song inform on the singers
description of their characters, as well as their roles in the on-going war.
63
mbogoro are curved / bow-legs. The young mans legs are broken as indicated in the next
line. The singer paints a situation in which a young woman and a young man (possibly brother
and sister) have just come from a violent situation, in which they were both attacked and maimed.
64

njgma is a light throwing club or knobkerrie. Gtheras legs and club are both broken. The
club could also be a euphemism for the penis.
65

The singer (the father or a co-fighter) refers to the club (njgma) that was possibly broken by
the enemy. He suggests that the club should be hurled at the enemies rather than hitting them
from close.

98
 31

Gthera aramcookeirie
Ndakinyirwo n gaca
Ngongithia ngaruthi wer-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

njoe na mwena
Wer r njogu kamande.

___________________________

Gthera acookeirie ithe at aroinirwo kgr n gaca weer-in.

Ngaruthi n ngoombe na mat mena iceengo kana imeni njer na njir (cia raangi mwer na
mir).
Kiugo ngaruthi haaha kraaria horo wgi raangi wa ngoombe yo kuongithagio, (kana th
mri wa mbaara).
Kuongithia na Gky n ta kuuga, 1. Khe mwana iria ra nyoondo; 2. kruta, kana
gthoomithia, gtua mnd mwana wa nyoondo-in, ra woonagio mand toond ndak.
Na nko mbth ya Gcaand koragwo ta nyoondo, na yorotithagio mthoomithio oonge ta
nyoondo, tond akoragwo akrutwo krra.
N ta kuuga at n hnd ya mbaara, na kwoguo kruta ngaruthi yo, n kra na th yo kinya
monie ra too. Nja yayo n mwana wa yo, kana mri wa mbaara ng mwanake mnyiinyi,
na cio n we woinire Gthera kgr.

Mini areenda kuonania at and acio maatharkire brri waa o kra mwena wa na mhuro
(iria-in ra Mediterranean), na magtma and air mathaame moime brri waa o, maar and
atukanu thakame (mena mciari mwe mir na cio ng mwer).
Kbuungo gk knyiittwo mbaru n kra kng k haaha igr kiugte at, Nguuga ndombanire
Caga.
Gtmi ka mini gtmra kiugo ngaruthi rwmbo-in rr, n kwenda kuonania rrr rwa
and acio maaraga nao.

Ciugo cia thiomi cia Maasai na Kalenjin (ona haaha mhuro) n iroonania at kiugo ku
ngaruthi n ga kuonania raangi kana rrr rwa nyam kana and.

enk-arusi / il-arusi: the-black-and-white-one. [Maasai].

arusi: descriptive name for the vulture (which is black and white in color). [Maasai].
aruus: black with white spots; grey. [Kalenjin].

Mhari yo r mthia-in wa kbuungo gk, n iroonania at Gthera n muune magr,

toond ona ndaraahota kwrgamia, na aroiga at oywo na rwere.

99
Gthera responded to him
A calf stepped on me66
When helping suckle the cow with speckled ears, in the plains.
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful!
Haiyae hae haiya.

Hold me side-ways67
Plains infested with njogu kamande.

66

Gtheras response to the father: a calf stepped on his leg, breaking it, while he helped the
ngaruthi suckle (its mother) while in the plains.

ngaruthi is a cow with speckled ears. Ngaruthi references the color of both the cow and its
calf with whom Gthera was fighting, and the color or race of the enemy the singer and his
fleeing colleagues faced.
The stanza informs that the foreign invaders who swarmed the Delta marshes, and who forced the
local population to flee, were of mixed-blood (of white and black parentage). This claim is
corroborated by the Maasai and Kalenjin languages as follows:

enk-arusi / il-arusi: the-black-and-white-one. [Maasai].

arusi: descriptive name for the vulture (which is black and white in color). [Maasai].
aruus: black with white spots; grey. [Kalenjin].
67

Kuongithia is to suckle or breast-feed. Gthera claims that he was suckling the cow when the calf
attacked and broke his leg. Suckling or breast-feeding in music refers to educating or
teaching a lesson, to someone who is, either ignorant, or not in the know. Presumably, the war
is about ownership of the land of Misri. The attacker is being taught about his place in the land
under contest. This is comparable to the Gcaand song, whose gourd is similarly used for
suckling or educating the participant and/or listener.

The singer asserts that he needs to be held and lifted sideways, because he cannot stand up on his
own, an indication that his legs are broken.

100
 32

Buruga aroririo n nyina

Ngria, gk n krua?
Kana n njra ya bara-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

n ngthgrria
Wer r njogu kamande.

_____________________

Kburuga n kuuga, kingata nd (ta kuuma nymba, etc.); kraakaria and n kmaatha
kmeeraga ra megka; thnia, uruga and meeciiria-in.
Ona gtuka rtwa Buruga rtihthagrwo Gky-in ru, rrooneka ta ar ra gtuuo n nd wa
ciko ciake cigi mbaara ra r brri-in waao.

Rthiomi rwa Gky rtithuutkanagia arme na atumia, mthoomi, kana mthikrria wa

rwmbo, n ekhota gkrana at Buruga n mirtu, n nd wa kria kra nyina amrtie
gkoni ciga cia mwr wa mtumia.

Kbuungo gk kraatwra at atumia kana airtu a Gky matiagirtio kingra mbaara-in, na

at, maar ari njoorua a mbaara.
Nyina wa Buruga arora mwr wa mwar, eyrtie kria anrire: Ru gk n krua-, kana n
njra ya bara? n kuonereria mthikrria wa rwmbo at Buruga n oirte thakame nyiing mno
(na n roonekana mwr-in na nguo-in), na at n mwanaange mwr waake wa mtumia kinya
kaiyrwo n thakame, na kahaanana na barabara (hiihi nhi-in na mthkangrie).
No gkorwo hiihi mirtu y n agwattwo na hinya, kana hiihi akoonhwo ciga icio cia mwr
wake wa tumia na njra ya toi wa mtheemba ng, na kwoguo agatigwo athkaangtio na
akiura mno.
Mini oneete ngero no ataanaambrria rgeendo rwake, na hiihi n ko aroiga ena keha
gtaangmenyeka n and eth. No gkorwo hiihi mini areenda kuonania haaha gtmi gake ga
gthaama na kwerekera knd atoo, haand ha gweterera thna ta cio woneetwo n Buruga.
Kana hiihi no gkorwo ar Buruga we mwene raina, akonania mathna mara matmte akorwo
rgeendo-in rr.

Gthgrria n kgeria gwka nd. Hiihi no gkorwo n nyina wa Buruga roiga at n ekgeria
kmthoondeka ku oonhtwo, kana niing nonga Buruga we mwene roiga at n ekgeria
gwka ra areeka mbaara-in yo.

101
Buruga68 was asked by her mother
I ask, is this circumcision? 69
Or is it a road?
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

And I will try70

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

33
68

Buruga means, to turn people out (of a room, etc.); upset people by ordering them about; stir,
disturb (people, etc.) mentally. Though Buruga is not a name in current usage, the name seems
to relate to her actions pertaining to the on-going strife in the land.
Though Gky language is not gender-specific, we are able to tell it is a womans name from the
question posed by the mother regarding Burugas genital parts of the body in the next line. This
stanza tells us that women were not excluded from participating in a war, and that, on the
contrary, they were determined fighters.
69
The mother asks a rhetorical question upon looking at the daughters body: Is this
circumcision? suggesting there is a lot of bleeding and, further, Or is this a road?, suggesting
the destruction and physical disfiguring of the womans genital parts of the body. Could this
possibly be because the girls privates were involved in rape, and/or other violence relating to
those body-parts, which left them bleeding and disfigured? Going by the singers words, this
happened before the start of the singers journey.
70

This is possibly the singers comment: that he will proceed with his journey to the unknown
rather than confront what Buruga has gone through. It could also be said by Buruga herself: that
she is determined to continue with the journey due to the pain, maiming and disfigurement she
has sufferred.

102
Buruga aramcokeirie
Ndekrirwo ithaang iceke
N ko itaiguaga thiithi-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

ndaigua keke keke

Wer r njogu kamande.

____________________

Mhari y roonania at Buruga n mirtu, toond airtu n o mekragwo ithaang maarua ra

kgiria kroonda knyiitane, kana n geetha mwr wa mirtu ndkaanyitane na tumane.
Buruga aroiga at ithaang rra ekrirwo aarua, rar iceke, na at n ko ataiguuaga thithi
angigua ke ke gthaka-in. Thithi n kigua guoya, kana rr n nd wa nd mna.
Buruga aroiga at we n mgereru irua-in ra Gky kna, na kwoguo ithaang rroonania ra
nyama cia mwr waake wa mtumia ci nyiitanu wega. Agakonania at irua ru n ramwkrire
caamba na ngr cia gtma aage gwtigagra ruuo kana thna ona rk (na hiihi ona rgk
akringithania na ara matar aruu), na n ko ahoteete kingra mbaara-in no (ta ra kbuungo
ku gcookereire kroonania).

keke keke n: 1. inegene ra mt gkeka n nd wa gkorwo w mtinie no tatinkante bi

(no w hakuh kga). 2. inegene ra tbc kana ngacak gthaka-in, tkraangrrio na magr
n mnd akhtka, na tkoinkaanga.
Hiihi Buruga araaria horo koni th cihithte gthaka-in, cierekeire kmhithkra, na
ikaraangrria ngacak igakgaamba ikiunkaanga. Buruga agakiuga at, ta hnd yo, haand ha
kigua guoya wa gwati ra angonio n th icio, athiiaga o na mbere gwka ra agrirwo n
gwka.

kekeng: mwaki, toochi. [Kalenjin].

keketa: genya, rma; tinia na knd gtuuhu kana kraaceera ta thoo [Kiswahili].

Buruga responded to her

103
The dressing was a thin leaf71
That is why I feel no fear
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

When I hear the noise of breaking twigs72

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

34

71

This line indicates that Buruga is a womans name, because it is only in girls circumcision that
the ithaang a leaf, is used to dress the circumcision wound.
Buruga claims that the leaf used as dressing for her circumcision wound was thin, and that,
consequently, she does not feel thithi. Thithi is a sensation of pleasure or fear; ticklishness,
feelings of titillation or unpleasantness.
Buruga affirms her having undergone a proper traditional Gky circumcision rite (as indicated
by the thin leaf, alluding to her tightened muscles of her private parts). Until very recently in
Gky culture, once a person had undergone the circumcision rite, he or she was henceforth
instilled with courage, nationalism and conviction in doing the right thing, Maa, no matter what
type of calamity one may face. A certain level of arrogance and over-bearingness was also
inculcated, especially towards the uncircumcised. This may have led to Burugas consequent lack
of fear and spite for the enmys approach, and as indicated by the next footnote.
72

keke keke refers to the warning creaking of a tree partially cut through or getting near to
breaking-point. The singer may be talking about what would happen during a scuffle in the
bushes, or in the war: she would hear the enemy stepping on and breaking dry twigs, while
hiding in the bush, and about to pounce on her.
This kind of attack by the invading foreigners could also have happened while Buruga and other
citizens engaged in daily farm work (as suggested above in Gardners, Admonitions of an
Egyptian Sage ). She claims that in such instances, instead of having feelings of fear, she
proceeds with what she needs to do.
Notably, both the Kalenjin and Kiswahili meanings of the word kekeng / keketa seem to add to
the ideas conveyed in Burugas words.

kekeng: fire, torch. [Kalenjin].

keketa: gnaw, bite; cut with something blunt or a saw-like motion. [Kiswahili.].

104
Buruga aroririo n nyina
N ngoma ikwenjaga tuk?
Tond tar njur igoti-?

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

mkre na ngri
Wer r njogu kamande.

__________________________

Enja n kburura njur; kwemeema mnd; kiya kana gtuunya mnd knd gake na
g.
Buruga n mwenje njur yaake igoti na guo n ta kuuga at, n mtuunye indo ciake cia irtu,
kana n mgwate na hinya.

Nyina araagerekania ra Buruga oneetio ruo na gthkangio mwr n th icio, na wra wa

ngoma tuk. Mini aroiga at Buruga akemeemwo n aaguraririo ru kinya njur yake
kenjwo.

Kbuungo gk hiihi kraaria horo wa ra th icio cia kuuma na nja ciatharkire Buruga
na Gthera, na wooni wa mini wa ra kwagrirwo n gwkwo brri-in cio.

Toond ciugo n igarrkaga o ra kahiinda karaahtka, kana niing mtakre-in wa and

makina mateekmenya ra rwmbo rroiga (n nd wa maka ming khtka), ciugo cia
kbuungo gk no ikorwo ina mootari maing.

No gkorwo hiihi Buruga araaria ra and acio mekwenda gkrwo kuuma brri cio,
toond hiihi n meyenjeire brri-in cio mno.

Kuuga, khuuha ngri n kuuga khuuha thongori. Thongori kana coro wa inamru /
inamaar, wahuuhagwo o hnd ya maambura ma ituka tu, rra aathani ara akr maneanaga
waathani kr riika ra ciana ciao (rra rth). Coro cio wtagwo thongori toond n guo
ciaraga aathani eer a brri hnd ya ituka, o ta ra Baaba Thongore (irigithaathi ra Ngai
Ria), aciarirwo n geetha akre brri na gciara aathani eer a rrr rwa and a th.
Maambura ma ituka maarutagwo n brri woothe. N ta gkiuga at Buruga aroiga ra brri
bati gkrwo na hinya n rrr ruothe kuuma kr and acio a na nja mamatharkire, kinya
maingatwo moime brri cio.

Niing no gkorwo Buruga aroiga ngre na ngri, at akrwo knd hiihi kmingrte
mwr-in waake wa mtumia, hiihi ekrirwo n and acio mamgwatire na hinya.
Kana niing hiihi Buruga akorwo aroiga at, no akrirwo kana arutwo brri cio waao na
ngri, toond ndaraigua ta angenda kuuma kuo.
Buruga was asked by her mother

105
Do evil spirits shave you in the night? ?73
For you have no hair at nape of neck? 74

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

Remove him with pliers75.

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

35

73

Enja: shave, or to fleece, trick. Burugas hair has been plucked at the nape of the neck, a
euphamism for illicit sex, suggesting violent rape. The mother relates the level of violence and
pain that the young woman has gone through to the work of evil spirits during the night.
74

A claim that whatever hurt Burugas nape of neck wounded her deeply, violently shaving off
some of her hair.
75
Buruga is talking about the foreigners who have attacked her and her brother, and how they can
be uprooted from her motherland. She states that the attackers need to be removed or uprooted
with pliers (gkrwo na ngri), possibly because they are already very entrenched and so need
an organized known way of doing it.
The phrase, khuuha ngri means khuuha thongori, blowing the oryx horn, or redeeming
the country with the thoongori horn. The thongori or ngri is the oryx horn that gives birth to
new rulers in the country during the Ituka ceremony, (as happened of Baaba Thongore, the first
son of the Sun God Ra / Ria - to whom this song is addressed). According to the ancient
Egyptian myth of our origins, the Sun God Ra gave birth to Thongore (through masturbation),
who started a new generation of ruling Gods, who in turn, sired the human race.
In Gky society, the thongori horn was only blown during the Ituka ceremony, the siring of
new rulers, or the handing over of power by the elders of the ruling generation to the younger
generation - their progeny. The Ituka was referred to as gkra brri, (redeem the country
from the out-going ruling generation set), and its ceremony involved the whole community.
Buruga is most probably asking for the whole communitys involvement in the complete
redemption of the country from the foreign invaders.

With the lack of memory supports for the songs meaning, these two lines may have changed
words due to singers not pronouncing them right, so that they may have been, ngre na
ngri, - remove it from me with pliers.
Buruga may be talking about the removal of a foreign object in her private body parts, which may
have been put there by her attackers.
On the other hand, the same words could also mean that Buruga is asking the parents to remove
her from her motherland forcefully (with pliers), because she is not willing to migrate to foreign
lands.

106
Buruga aroririo n nyina
N ngoma ikwenjaga tuk?
Tond tar njur igoti-?
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

ona mwenji n enjagwo

Wer r njogu kamande.

_______________________

Ta ra kbuungo ku k haaha igr kiugire, kwenjwo n kbururwo njur; mnd kiywo na

g, kana mnd kwemeemwo.
Buruga n mwenje njur yaake igoti na guo n ta kuuga at, n mtuunye irtu waake, kana
n mgwate na hinya.

Kbuungo gk kroonania rr ra Buruga na nyina mena guo. mwe wao aroiga at, Ona we
mweemani, menyage at no weenjwo n mnd ng haana ta we.

Mthia-in wa horo, mnd mru ra wenjanaga amenyage at ona ke no agaacemania na

mwki naa ng ta ke, ra na ke hiihi kaamwka o guo eka Buruga.

Niing no gkorwo ici n ciugo cia mini, akgeria kwonania kana gtara rgano rwake rwa ra
brri waa o watari, na kra gatmire atue itua ra gthaama.

Mhari yo r ya mthia-in no korwo yaar ya krkrria kbuungo korire, toond ndroonwo

kuruhante na ciugo cia kbuungo ku raarkrria.

Buruga was asked by her mother

Do evil spirits shave you in the night?

107
For you have no hair at nape of neck?
My father, Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! Be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

Even the barber is shaved76

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

36

76

As said above,enja, is to shave; to deceive, or to fleece someone.

enjwo is, to have ones hair shaved, to be deceived, or be fleeced by someone.

The last two lines of the stanza show the bitterness and anger that Buruga and her mother feel
regarding the foreign invaders who attacked both Buruga and Gthera.
Either of the parties mentioned in the last few stanzas (Gthera, Buruga, the mother or the father)
may have made the rhetorical statement that:
Even as an attacker shaves or fleeces others, he should know that he, too, could also be tricked
by others. Ultimately, the good fighter who shaved / fleeced Buruga should also expect to
meet someone like himself, who will, similarly, do him equal or more harm.

These lines could also be either of the parents rhetorical comment: that whoever wounded their
children will sooner or later, meet his own match.

Alternatively, these words could also be the singers own commentary on the story he is telling,
his own judgement of the events he saw before he decided to flee the country.

108
Buruga aramcokeirie
Rr ti rra ra tene
Mwacnithagio njnithio-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

n mri wa itim
Wer r njogu kamande.

_____________________________

Kiugo rr kraaria horo wgi ihiinda rr, riita kana hnd / hiingo no mand ma mbaara
maraathi na mbere.
Buruga areera nyina at ihiinda rr ti ta rra (mbere-in) aa nyina matharkagrwo; ihiinda rr
kwna tiganu, amu th n ta itute itua (ra gtuunyana na gtra brri-in y), na kwoguo n
ciharirie mbaara bi, na n iraara ta itute itua ru itar na ngaanja ona nyiinyi.

Buruga aroiga at ihiinda ra aa nyina (wa Buruga), and matiahragwo kana makanyariiragwo
mno, kana kuonio thna ming n th icio cia kuuma brri wa na nja.

Buruga akarkrria rciiria ru r haaha igr na kgerekania mbaara no raaro na mri wa

itim wa mt. Mri wa itim n guo rmagrria mt th, gatma mt waage gkaanaregera,
gkaaneenyeenya kana ggaakrka hth.
guo n ta kuuga wooni wa Buruga n at, ra th icio imatharkire iraara, n iroonekana at n
ciharirie kwgara na gtra brri-in cio wa Misri. Na kwoguo n ggaakorwo na hinya
gkaamakra thuutha-in, amu megwatririe brri-in cio o ta ra mri wa itim
nyiitagrria mt tri-in.

Buruga responded to her (mother).

109
This is not that time of long ago77
When you were made to lick smatterings78
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this over-crowding.

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

It is the central root79

Plains infested with njogu kamande.

77

Rr (this one here) refers to the word riita which means time, turn, doing.
Buruga tells the mother: this is not that other time you went through violence; it is different.
Yours was just a mere taste (of things to come)! This is a summary of what Buruga has
experienced and a warning of expectations about the future.
78
Buruga continues her thought in the last stanza: The attacks (by foreigners) in your time were
much smaller and scattered. This is a comparison of the invasions of Ancient Egypt by
foreigners referred to as Eastners or Asiatics - during different eras. Burugas view is that earlier
invasions (during her mothers youth) were nothing, compared to what her generation was
experiencing. This line of thinking is continued in the next stanza.
79

Buruga continues with her commentary on the on-going war, stating, this is the central root. In
her view, the invading enemies (who we were told are all over the plains) are determined to
entrench themselves firmly (as does a central root of a tree), so that they will be difficult, if not
impossible, to be up-rooted.
This could also be the singers own commentary on the situation, possibly explaining the reason
why he opted to flee his homeland.

110
 37

Rr n rra rwerirwo
Rciaro rwa mbe njth
And matar mbuguro-
Baaba Thongore.

Buka mgithi
Haic wahga
Haiyae hae haiya.

twoimra no Ngai
Wer r njogu kamande.

__________________________

Wa mbere, tkeerwo at n kwar na mgaambo kana rathi woigte at and ta acio n

magooka brri-in wa Misri.

Kbuungo gk n ga kuonania thuurania, rorania na coomboria wa hara hahtanu

mthuguundre-in na mnd-in wa th icio ciatharkire and a Misri ya tene.
Mini araagerekania and aao air, na th icio maraara nacio, na akamakrana mnd-in
waao, n nd wa ciko cia o na mrre wao wa mbaara.

N ta kuuga at, toond and acio matiraarmrra tabaarro kana tabania wa mbaara
har and a Misri (kriingana na ra mekte Buruga na Gthera), th icio n and a
kwgigimwo.
Mini arecrania, akahthra ciugo ici ci haaha mhuro akonania gtheemba ka rruka rwa th
icio, kana ra and acio matari:

rciaro: ciana ta cia ngk.

mbe: mbeg; and matendeete and, and matar oima-and, mendeete kwikaria.
njth: mnd tar mgima, mwana mnyiinyi; knd gtar kruge, knd gtar kgima.

Mini akhthra ciugo icio, areenda kuuga ahiinyririe gtheemba ka and acio moimrrkte
brri-in waake: ra maar and matar gima, na waagi wao wa mnd. Akoiga ra ar and
matar mat, matar takwo kana iguuano.

Umra n kuuga, kuumbkana kuuma maa-in, gcomoka kuuma gthaka-in, gkunka,

kuonekana, khonoka gku na gkinya knd kra raathi.

Kbuungo gk kroimkania wega itebeebio ra ra aini maraigua meciiria-in maao, ra

mangonio mangnyiitkio n and acio matar mnd.
Mena wtigri wa knyiitwo me rgeendo-in, na guoya at toond mahota gkura njra-in, na
kwoguo maage ggaakinya kra merekeire, at tiga Ngai aingrire gatagat-in kao na th icio.
Aini magererera ra and acio mahaana (magerekantio na ara maraga na aciari aa o tene),
makoona at matinghoota th icio (ona kbuungo ku kr mbere); na at ona khonoka gku riita
rr, n hinya bi, na kana hiihi ona gtinghoteka.

111
This is the one that was spoken about
The progeny of a raw immature breed80
People with no understanding81
My father Thongore.

(Well) survive this crisis

Be alert, on your guard! be watchful.
Haiyae hae haiya.

Only God can help us emerge82

A territory full of njogu kamande.

80

The singers critical evaluation of their enemy, regarding the enemys humanness. The singers
words suggest that the enemies are not ordinary human beings as understood by the singer.
Firstly, they do not seem to follow the rules of war as known to the local people, as indicated by
the language used to describe them:

rciaro: off-spring, progeny, descendants; a generation.

mbe: off-spring, descendants; breed.
njth: raw, immature, not well-cooked; youngish.

Going by the above use of language, the singer emphasizes the sense of immaturity, rawness and
total lack of human feelings of the breed of people who have swarmed his homeland, and who
are now fighting for control of the land.
81
The singer views those fighting them as people who lack the auditory organ; who lack
understanding, sense, biddableness.
82

Umra means, come out of water or bush, emerge, protrude, show; survive.
The stanza articulates the apprehensions of the fleeing citizens: they are fearful that they may not
survive or even make it to their anticipated destination in the south, unless through divine
intervention.
This could also be a commentary by either Buruga or Gthera (both of whom have been wounded
by the invaders) stating that: judging by the kind of enemies they are facing (as opposed to the
enemies Burugas parents faced in their time), overcoming the enemies they are facing (cf. stanza
21), or even surviving this time round, will be a difficult, if not an impossible task.

112
 Glossary.

anaana: kaya, cakaya, rra; (moan, yell, cry out - as in despair, pain, fear).
andatka: (be developed, broadened, improved).
aramati: aathani, atongoria, ariri; (controllers, trustees, caretakers).

buka: honoka, ikara muoyo, aga gkua; (to survive; survive a crisis, pull through, remain
alive).
buruga: nyamaaria, taanga, thnia, nyariira; (disturb people mentally).

cengeca: knd ta mbg kana mbeg ci mbth-in (kana ci kgaamba-in)

gcingiira ciakorogocanio kana mbth yainainio; and kina hamwe
maiguithantie mgaambo; mgaambo ya kina kriingana.
(of counters in a gourd) rattle, jingle; (of dance) go with the swing in unison.
gcengeca: the gourd with the counters; the merry sound of a dance
enthusiastically sung and danced; sound of the combination of many singing
voices with or without the accompaniment of the rattle.

gaci / tci: kar, njorooro / gacorooro; (brook, stream).

gcac: onania mwto na ngotoko n geetha nd ta rwmbo mate, gwkra nd
ngumi;
(sing/dance or speak with enthusiasm, cheerfulness, liveliness, exaggeration).
gcengeca: kgaamba ga kgera kna njingiri; (music rattle made from metal).
gkr: gko gikaru na kgwatrru; (accumulated dirt).
gthmbya / khmbya: krnd king, gkuundi knene, kboci; rit;
(mass, crowd, swarm, conglomeration).
gmba: nha, anaanga, harra, tharra, haragania; nyariira, tagunya, reehere
gcaanjama, kngki.
(bring catastrophe upon, devastate, spoil; be spoiled, ravaged, devastated,
desolate; come to grief, end in calamity).
guundria: hithria, riindria, umbria, guria nd;
(unearth, expose, get something out of a place where it is hidden).

haic: konania ka mwko wa gwati muone kana migue, taarani na kunyanri wa

tiya ngoneka taanakinyra ara mareerwo;
(said as a hint to colleagues informing them to be on the look out, on suspicion of
someone seen; an alert signal indicating suspicion of something seen or
observed).

(kw)hocia na: wyoohanie na, wgiritie na; (tie oneself onto, or together with).

ica-ikuh: kahiinda kahtku gatar karaaya; ( a short time ago, recently).

ikenye: (a circular ornament made of ostrich egg-shell hanged around the neck).
ithria: rkrria wega, hiingia, thungria;
(complete (something) satisfactorily; leave in good order).

113
kaimana: kna, bi, buru, cono; (completely, entirely, truly).
kara: cakara, caara mnd kana Ngai; (beseech somebody for help).
kinyithia nginyi: turia riki ra nd, rmrra makinya kana mgirito ra nd mna
rmrire ggaakinya hara r ru;
(trace steps by which something has happened).
kbogo: knd rriiy-in kwna ig na ndooro, na moorr maing ma mbaara;
kandkagwo na rthiomi rwa Misri ya tene :
kbhw: nyoni cia gthaka (ciar gtaka-in ga kra r rwa Nile ritrire iria-
in);
phww: Misri gtaka-in mwena wa mhuro, kra khuttie iria ra
Mediterranean.
(a place with bog; the far north, the Ancient Egyptian Delta marshes).
kmerera: khumo, gatr, kambrria; (origin, beginning).
kruka / nduka: and a rrra rmwe, a mbar mwe; (family tree / rruka).
kna: certainly, absolutely, really, true.
kunka: mera, ratha, thngra; (germinate, sprout).
kunyanra: garka, umbra, cuukrra; (betray somebody).
kuruhana: konania, tanwo, tuka athiriit, kuhanrria; (be near to one another, be boon
companions, be related to).
kuruhana na: haanana na. (resemble, be akin to).
kuuka: guuka, igua, hubka; (comprehend; recollect after some difficulty).
kuuku: uumkanu, g, guuku, menyi;
(intelligence, enlightenment, mental awakening; civilization).

mataanya (itaanya): itua, rthuguunda, mwhoko; (expectations, anticipations).

mathara-ita: indo cia mbaara; (weapons and equipment of war).
meemeerekia: taambra, theeremia, huunjia nd; (spread, broadcast information, etc).
mckr / ackr: mciari wa kruka tene-in, maguuka, wagui; (remote ancestor;
great-great-grand parent or grandchild).
mgithi: waagi wa caangro kana itheri, haand kiyra mngaanga, gkibiibana bi;
haand kwaga kamgaambo ona kamwe, ciri kana cere; ngaari-ya-mwaki;
(a description of lack of space or sound; full to capacity hence, also, the train).
kzi: whace, inamrra, goerera, hacka, hocerera, hotoma;
(bend down, bow down; be prostrate, of foe) [Faulkner, 1981: 287].
mhngca: mhnga, kgirrria; (impedements, stumbling block).
mihwa / aihwa / njihwa: mwana wa mwar wa nyina na mnd;
(ones nephew or niece).
mimwo-n-ir: mwagi wa indo na niarwa; (one denied fortune/possessions by the
Gods).
mkingiitaru: mriitu, mkgu, teeciiragia; (a stupid, foolish, senseless person).

ndra / rrra: mbar mwe, and ara mataraine na mnd, and metainwo;
(relationship, kinship; family group, blood-related people).
ndire: nt, ikro, mtugo ya tene, mtrre ya and, mkre ya mand kuma tene;
(traditions, things of long standing, things that are customary; the established
order of things).

114
ngaangaarka: wymrrie, thi r o wiki; (go it alone, go alone on a hot day, brave it
alone).
ngacak: ngacagaca, njib, mbc, thari nym; (1. heap of dry brush wood; dry sticks as
from a clearing; 2. annoyances, causes of trouble, provocation).
ngaratia: thi knene, thi teegtithia; (travel far, go steadily on, continue right
through).
ngotoko: ina, aria na gca n geetha nd ta rwmbo mate;
(speak/dance with enthusiasm so as to embellishment the dance/matter).
ngumo: iciaro / ituunda ra mgumo;
(fruit of mgumo - the wild fig tree).
ngumi: kra gcac n geetha nd ge mwago;
(enthusiasm, passion, exitement. kra nd ngumi, make something enjoyable,
make people zealous (about something).
ngbiri: 1. njoya cia ngg (nyoni i mathagu me mhko mtuune); 2. ngeithi cia athuuri
ara maheante iheeo cia njoya cia icio (mran).
(1. long red-black wing feathers of the turaco bird (worn by warriors); 2. mutual
greeting between men who have exchanged gifts of such feathers (fellow-
fighters).
il- ooipiri: ackr [Maasai].
biir: ita, caambaha (incite, make fierce; defeat, trounce, win over) [Kalenjin].
(the provoked, defeated elders).
pr r: advance against a position in war [Faulkner 91].
pry: hero, champion [Faulkner 91].
pry: ferocious bull [Faulkner 91].
pri: be renowed, of person or name; [Faulkner 90].
ngnng: cima cia raangi wa thegeme, mrutuutu.
(dark blue bead of the mknng tree).
ngg: nyoni ya mtit ryaga marig ma mnj, mathagu maraihu ma raangi
mir na mtuune, mehuumbagwo n mran gthi ita.
(red-winged forest plantain-eater; turaco bird, lourie).
ngrrr: kahiinda kana matuk khtka na mand kgarrka;
(a moving on; time moves on - and brings changes).
ngy: iciaro / ituunda ra mky; (fruit of the mky / sycamore tree).
nyaagia: uruga, agaagia, gagaiya; thnia; (make restless, agitate, irritate).
nyambar: ndari, namba; (number, figure).
nyarara: nyika, thra, mena; (dislike intensely, hate, look down upon, disdain).
nyariira: nyamaaria, thnia, uruga, taanga, giya; htria;
(cause trouble to, disturb (others), cause to suffer, wrong unduly).
nyarme / manyarme: maamawe wa mnd na ih cia mwar wa nyina;
(maternal uncle and their nephews).

ohania: thayania, kundkania, knania; (tie things / people together).

oerera: wthge nd, wigrre, wgerekanie, wtoonyererie nd-in tagkoni;
(take as ones own an aspect, assume, imitate; take from somebody else
something handed on; join in in the middle of something - such as a song).

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rarrria: caambia, (speak lightly of, disparage, run down, pour cold water on).
rira: rigrria, girrria, hta;
(keep off from, prevent from getting into a specific area, oversee, head off, keep
together).
rugra: tara, tabuta, iguithia; (make comprehensible; solve, interpret).
rurka: nyarara, thra, (disdain, despise, disregard).
rruka: and a khumo kmwe, rrra rmwe, mbar mwe; (ona kruka / nduka).
(family ancestry, line of descent; race, breed, type).
rmbyania: egemania na, konania na;
(be concerned about someone, something; give attention to someone / something).

tarania: wcranie, wciirie, wturie;

(weigh up in the mind, consider what is wrong, ponder what to do, think about).
thagathaga: haarria, hgra; (prepare, get something ready for).
gwthagathaga: kwhaarria, kwhgra;
(make oneself ready for, prepare oneself for something).
tharkra: hithkra, hingrria, rigiicria, guamba kguthkra;
(besiege, raid, attack, rush out upon).
thathara: rigiicrania ndeto; ohoohora, knd, nd; regeria;
(unravel, extricate, disentangle, loosen).
thera: aga thaahu, thaahka; amro (n Ngai); aga cuuke; umkana; kemba, aga gko,
(be clean, pure, innocent, holy; be wise in world affairs).
therera: ikrka ta maa, nyrrka (go down-country, flow down-hill, of river).
Thongore: Ngai ra waar irigithaathi ra Ngai Ria; n we wakrire th kuma kr
Ngai Ria (khumo ka Ituka?). Aciarire Ngai Geb na Nut, ara macokire
magciara Ngai 4+1, na kwoguo Ngai ciothe cia kmerera igkinya Kenda
Miyru; icio n cio ciatukire mckr ma mbere ma and air.
(The first created ancestral God who originated from the Creator Gods
masturbation (gwthongora); the one who redeemed the earth / country (from the
Creator God Ria = first Ituka), the one to whom power was transferred from the
Creator, the first of the ten generations of divine rulers of Misri / humankind).
thongori: coro / coroa wa inamur / inamaar, rri rwa thamaki rwa ara maraathana,
rnengeragwo ara megcooka gwathana hnd ya maambura ma Ituka (r
kmenyithia ka garrri wa toongoria, gwthiga nene na kwhokwo mand-
in makoni and othe na brri woothe.
(oryx / greater kudu horn trumpet; the emblem of authority of the ruling
generation handed on to the next ruling age-set at the Ituka ceremony (as the
symbol of the transfer of public power and responsibility).
thuutkania: krana, thurana; (discriminate, favor, differentiate).
tiya: gwati, kaar, nd mru; (danger, trouble, evil).
tindrra: ka nd maita maing gcookagra; (keep at, take long over).
tmria: tithia, tindima, hiinda; (come to a stop, halt, hesitate)
turia: thuuthuuria, enjerera, thuutkania, baarania, cuungururia;
(investigate; search diligently for; inquire fully; examine carefully).
tura: aga; runda; aga uumithio; thaata; njra khiingana kana gthirrkra;

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 (lack; of a matter, become impossible, fruitless, without result; of a path, come to
a dead end).
tgria: ambararia mnd na igr, oerera itari ra mnd;
(raise up, up-lift in stature or status, speak well of somebody, give somebody
higher status, put somebody into leadership).

cr: mwena wa irathro, th cia mwena wa kwa Arabu na and a mena yo.
(the East; the countries of Arabs and other races from that direction.
mcr: kma k mokia / mkaara mir na mer, kana mir na mtuune,
ikahakwo mgath keyoohwo ngiingo;
(large striped bead, white and black or white and red, worn in a string
round the neck), hence the derogatory reference Tmcr for Arabs during
the period they co-existed before migration to the south.
kabi: knd, gkunkro-in ka r (rwa Ngabi/Nile).
kuuku: uumkanu, g, guuku, menyi, taku (ona kuuka).
(intelligence, enlightenment, mental awakening; civilization).
ngr: tuunyani, thiinyrria, tia na hinya; mhikro wa indo ciene na waara,
cariinga, raambu na nguungu.
(extortion, rapacity; acquisition by guile, deceit, deception).
nha: anaanga, thkaangia, heheenja, haragania na rtrko; hia tar na tha, tiihia na
thiinye;
(act spitefully, cruelly, towards somebody; spoil, destroy wantonly; injure, deface,
damage).
rra: buria, irra, micra, riganra, thirra, rundra;
(disappear, escape for; be lost for; fade away for).
rngrru: maa; uumkanu; thiingu;werekereru; (uprightness, honesty, candidness).
taku: menyi, guuku, g; (understanding, thoughtfulness, intelligence).
tari / tara: rugri, tabuti; kmenyithia, uumkania, guria wa nd;
(interpretation, explication, explanation, exposition).
theeku: weer, weregethku, ragathku;
(whiteness, lightness, paleness of skin).

wahga: kiugo ga gkunyra and horo, kana ka taarani wa kwra and kwna
gwati,
na kwoguo maikare mategeete mat, na mebaacrire;
(a warning advice on sensing danger saying: be alert, erect; be on your guard; be
watchful, so as not to be seen or noticed).

117
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