New Direction

By ISAAC ADDAI

 A social novel describing the clash of contemporary issues and traditional values in a particular village on the continent of Africa called Yene, written in a captivating and insightful manner which makes reading the novel very exciting. It thrills the reader into arguments regarding family preferences, and consultations among the village-folks which has brought about a new direction and a collective environmental protection effort against the destruction of their forest resources and have placed their village on the map of sustainable forest management tourism, attracting worldwide tourists all year round.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ISAAC ADDAI
• Release date: Sep 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393522911

Book preview

Chapter One

Water from the River

K waku! Kwaku! Her voice re-echoed in the village of Yene as the old woman roamed about in search of her grandson. She asked anyone she came across whether he or she has seen her grandson. In between the lanes of the thatched houses were goats on a free-range searching for feeds. Some goats were scratching their bodies against the thatched houses. When she saw these goats, Eno Akua murmured: The children of this generation of which Kwaku belongs to are like these goats which are robbing their bodies against these thatched houses. They think they are destroying the abode of their master, but they have rather failed to realize that they are damaging and wounding their own hides. She giggled, lifted her head, and saw Kwame, a playmate of Kwaku. She asked him: Kwame, where on earth can l find Kwaku? Oh Nana, he is just behind this house playing a rubber ball with friends. Like a hare, Eno Akua ran to the playing field. She had wanted to get hold of Kwaku, her grandchild, but Kwaku saw his grandmother, and so he dodged her. He ran away from the playing field to their thatched house. Eno Akua stood there for a while and complained bitterly saying: You Kwaku, you are a troublesome child. Do you mean that if you are a boy, you don’t have to partake in the household chores? In the morning, as a child, you neglect your duty to fetch water for the household. You are aware that your sister is a nursing mother, who uses a lot of water for her baby’s laundry, yet despite your sister’s condition, I have to come and wake you up for you to go and fetch water. You know very well that it is not easy for one to come by water in this village. Even when you do go for water, you take about one-and-half hours to fetch from River Odo. A distance of just two kilometers which an old woman of my caliber, I just take fifty minutes to do the journey. Yet, you want to consume all the food in the house without being considerate of others. Why do you want to kill me? Ooh! It sometimes becomes a disadvantage to give birth to boys. If you were to be a girl, at this age, my goodness, I wouldn’t have been standing here as I am now. It is true of the saying that it is not difficult giving birth to a child as it is in nurturing him or her. 

Eno Akua retraced her steps back home. The playmates of Kwaku all stood by scratching their heads because of lice. After about ten footsteps, on her way home, she heard someone weeping and screaming on the field where the boys were playing. She turned around and saw two of the playmates fighting and the others were looking on as if the fight was a spectator sport. She quickly ran to the place the boys were fighting intending to arbitrate. When the boys who were fighting and the onlookers saw the old woman with a cane in her hand heading towards their direction, they all deserted before she could reach any of them. Eno Akua set off again and after a few footsteps, her left foot kicked an object. She identified the object as being made up of bundled rubbers of different kinds rounded together and well tightened up with ropes making the object looked round like a specially designed football. Eno Akua picked it up and said: I am taking your ball away, you merciless boys. You should all go to your various homes and help your parents to prepare their various meals. Why if you are a boy, does that mean that you can’t help with the household chores? Meanwhile, Kwaku was sweating profusely at a corner in the thatched house. After waiting for a while he felt hungry but was afraid to go near the cooked cassava and plantain intended to be pounded as Fufu. He stood up and knocked at the door where his sister was sleeping. Afriyie was asleep then. But she woke up and responded: Yes, come in. She thought it was one of the well-wishers from the village, who have been trooping into the room now and then to congratulate her and the newly born baby on their nine months old journey which ended about seventy-two hours ago. Afriyie got up from bed, and all of a sudden, she saw someone drinking from her water pot. She grudgingly asked: Who are you? Kwaku then responded: Sister it is me, your junior brother. Kwaku, where have you been all along? It is now the evening period, and we have been searching for you in this village to come and pound the Fufu. But we have not been able to find you in his whole village of Yene. Where have you been just after you closed from school? Oh, sister I didn’t go to any place. I am just around, he said. Afriyie further asked him: When did you come home? Ooh! I have been here for quite a long time now. So where is Eno Akua? I did not come to meet her at home for all the long time I have been waiting in the house to pound the Fufu. 

Kwaku was in the process of speaking when they heard someone knocking at the door once again. Afriyie as usual responded: Yes come in. When the door was opened, it was grandmother, Eno Akua. She asked, Afriyie, how are you and the baby? I am sorry that you have not eaten as at this time. I saw Kwaku, but he ran away before I could get hold of him. But I have asked your uncle Asamoah’s, wife to help me prepare the Fufu. As for Kwaku and boys in general, it does not please anyone at all to live with them, especially in old age as compared to girls in this village. Afriyie looked at Kwaku and said: Kwaku, aren’t you the one who said that you have not seen grandmother for quite a time? Eno Akua asked Afriyie again: Where is he? There is him standing beside you. Why didn’t you see him the first time you entered the room? No, I didn’t see him. Maybe you don’t know. This time due to old age, I can’t see images right away or even human beings in a seemingly-dark-room like ours. 

Eno Akua turned to Kwaku and said: Boy, oh boy, you bring tears to my eyes. Is that how one must live with the family members? Especially with an old woman and a lactating mother? Sooner had she finished with her comments did the baby begin to cry. This prompted Eno Akua to order Kwaku to let them go and prepare the meal for their enjoyment. Meanwhile, Maame Adwoa, uncle Asamoah’s wife had already on her own started driven and pounding the fufu before Eno Akua and her grandson arrived at the pounding spot. Oh, Maame Adwoa why do you have to worry yourself like that? Why do you have to say so Eno Akua? retorted Maame Adwoa. "I must come and served Afriyie and the baby. But as you are aware of, it is harvesting time and if I don’t go to the farm for even a day, these bad