Defying The Gods

By Morris Mchawia Mwavizo

A story set up in the African continent before colonization. Koko, a young woman, falls in love with Amana, a man raised by a single mother who is not rich. The love they feel for each other is true and might come to fruition if not for Muntu, Koko's father. Muntu wants riches more than anything else. He is ready to sacrifice his daughter's happiness and that of his family to get more riches.

Amana would do anything for his love, even defy the gods of his forefathers and his traditions. The god's have other plans for Koko and Amana.

Will Amana and Koko get married? Will Muntu get his riches or will the gods have their way?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morris Mchawia Mwavizo
• Release date: Sep 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311942531

Morris Mchawia Mwavizo

I love to read and write, love and live, try and experiement. I love life and intend to live it

Book preview

Defying the Gods

By Morris Mchawia Mwavizo

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 Morris Mchawia Mwavizo

I dedicate this book to Kanks, Eezee and Abby. For the sleepless nights,

To Hnekta… you left this world but I hope you read it from the next for your input cannot be quantified and to Diana for giving me a reason to believe again

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chapter One

Breaking a pot was seeking a curse, but fear of a curse was not why Koko was taking her time to balance the water pot on her head. Breaking the pot was the least of her worries. She wanted some time alone. She ensured she was the last one to fill up her pot so that she could walk a few paces behind the group and think. It was late in the afternoon. The sun was slowly setting, hiding itself behind the huge mountains. The river pounded the rocky banks louder than usual; it overflowed from the monsoon rains that had just let up. The earth had become softer, the plants greener and the paths over which Koko walked more overgrown.

Thirty meters from the river, in the direction of the village, rows of young mothers with babies on their back bent over at the Miunya farms, carefully pulling out weeds and supporting the delicate climbing plants with wooden stalks that they pushed deeply into the ground. The plant, a green bitter herb used for prevention of pregnancies by breast feeding mothers, could only be cared for by the women who used it and every evening saw the women in need of it, attending to the small farm together. Koko and other younger girls from the village only saw the herbs from a distance, they were not allowed anywhere near the farm and most of them were not sure exactly why women with babies liked or even needed it.

A trip to the river usually got Koko thinking about the day when she, with her baby firmly strapped on her back, would be pulling out weeds from the farm along with the other mothers, a thought that usually gave her a warm feeling. She would have a family, a baby that looked like its father, her own hut where she made the rules and a loving man waiting for his food every day when the sun set.

This evening though, her thoughts were elsewhere. She set the pot on her head and left the river behind. There were tears in her eyes and a sharp pain seemed to fill her heart. After this night, her dream would be over. The new suitor from Tande village was due the following morning and word in the village was that he was wealthy; wealthier than anyone in her village. Anuka said that the suitor's cattle were so many that it took six men to count them every evening. But then, Anuka was known to exaggerate; after all, wasn't it because of her tall tales that she earned the title of village gossip?

Although Koko's father, Muntu, had turned away many suitors, Koko knew it was not because he wanted the right man for her but because they did not have the number of cattle he desired as dowry. Along with Koko, everyone in the village knew Muntu wanted riches more than anything else.

Muntu had been a lazy young man, working only hard enough to ensure there was food on the table. He was never able to save any maize, cassava or even beans because he never planted enough and every planting