Ilamina My Sister

By Fran Ify ANYANSI

Tarri and his friend, Dokugbo, are already dissatisfied with life in their community. It is an endless tale of woe, suffering, poverty, deprivation, degradation, and unfulfilled promises by the federal government and local politicians.

All this strife and frustration experienced by Tarri and Dokugbo eventually result in calamities in their families, starting with Ilamina, Tarri's sister, a young and beautiful teenager, a victim of the deprivation and degradation. This had a rippling effect, which brings about pain and sorrow not just to Tarri and Dokugbo but to the entire community of Tumbila.

This is a story of the Niger Delta struggle where the economy of the country is sustained by the oil obtained from the Niger Delta; and yet the people still suffer degradation, deprivation, and injustice.

So what's the benefit of the oil?

This is a poignant and touching story told from the heart, through the dialogue between the different characters in the play.

Though Fran has been writing over the years, Ilamina, My Sister is her first published work. Fran's love for reading and writing was encouraged by her father who, from a very early age, gave her gifts of books and educational toys. She attended Cornelia Connelly College, Uyo, where her love for reading was further developed. She remembers with nostalgic feelings how she and her cousin, Maureen, would compete every week to see who would read the greatest number of novels in their school library.

Fran lived all her childhood years in her beloved Aba, Abia State, and most of her adult life in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. She remembers playing along the footpaths of her maternal hometown, a Niger Delta community similar to the setting of the play. Six decades after she walks down the same footpaths, still dilapidated, the community still the same--poor and deprived with rain or water from the wells still their source of drinking water and the town covered in darkness with no electric power. Her life reliving the play all over again.

She is blessed with three daughters, Ifeoma Ihenacho, Daniella Adeyinka, Melissa Agwuh, and eight grandchildren; Chinonso, Amarachi, Tobi, Demi, Temi, Tochukwu, Chimno, and Kobi.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781647012311

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Ilamina My Sister

Fran Ify ANYANSI

Copyright © 2021 Fran Ify ANYANSI

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-64701-230-4 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-64701-231-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Prologue

The Scenes of the Play

Epilogue

Dedication

Igwe John Chukwuma ANYANSI

This book is dedicated to my father, Late Igwe John Chukwuma ANYANSI, who nurtured the love for reading and writing in me at a very early age. He guided and encouraged me through all my difficulties and made me what I am today.

Acknowledgement

I wish to acknowledge two of my granddaughters, Tobi Adeyinka and Amarachi Emmanuel-Ajuwa who read and critiqued the manuscript of Ilamina My Sister, long before I even thought of publishing the book. Amarachi also provided the sketch for the cover design.

Prologue

Tarri and his friend, Dokugbo, are already dissatisfied with life in their community. It is an endless tale of woe, suffering, poverty, deprivation, degradation, and unfulfilled promises by the federal government and local politicians.

All this strife and frustration experienced by Tarri and Dokugbo eventually result in calamities in their families, starting with Ilamina, Tarri's sister, a young and beautiful teenager, a victim of deprivation and degradation. This has a rippling effect that brings about pain and sorrow, not just to Tarri and Dokugbo, but to the entire community of Tumbila.

This is a story of the Niger Delta struggle where the economy of the country is sustained by the oil obtained from the Niger Delta; and yet the people still suffer degradation, deprivation, and injustice.

So what's the benefit of the oil?

This is a poignant and touching story told straight from the heart, through the dialogues of the different characters in the play.

Ilamina, My Sister

Tragicomedy!

Characters

Tarri

Dokugbo (Tarri's best friend)

Ibiere (Tarri's mother)

Sekigbo (Tarri's father)

Ilamina (Tarri's sister) (Ila)

Telema (Ibiere's friend and neighbor)

Solo. Dealer on female stuff.

Local Midwife

First Woman

Second Woman

Third Woman

Inewari (Dokugbo's neighbor)

Siene (Tarri's neighbor)

Dateme (Inewari's husband)

Boma (Dokugbo's other neighbor)

First Man

Second Man

Sokari (Inewari's son)

Olamma (Tarri's wife)

Tekena (Tarri's son)

Wari (Tarri's son)

Joy (Tarri's Daughter)

(Mainly rustics who have hardly moved out of their riverine environment.)

The Scenes of the Play

Act 1: Along a Village Pathway

Act 2: Bicycle Repairer's Workshop

Act 3: Market Scene at Ilelema

Act 4: Palmwine Bar

Act 5: Sekigbo's Compound

Act 6: In Front of Sekigbo's House

Act 7: Village Pathway

Act 8: In Front of Sekigbo's House

Act 9:

Scene 1: At Dokugbo's backyard.

Scene 2: A small parcel of land beside

The front of Dokugbo's house

Scene 3: At the local palmwine bar

Scene 4: In front of Dokugbo's house

Act 10: Sekigbo's Living Room

Act 11: At Local Traditional Midwife's House

Act 12: In Front of Dokugbo's House

Act 13: Sekigbo's Living Room

Act 14: Along the Main Village Pathway

Act 15: In Front of Sekigbo's Dilapidated Compound

Act 16:

Scene 1: In Front of Inewari's House

Scene 11: In Front of Siene's House

Place: Tumbila—a quiet, sleepy village in the backwoods of the Niger Delta area

Act 1

Scene 1: The main village pathway leading from Tumbila to Poku, the local government headquarters of Asari local government area

Tarri is walking down the village path toward the center of the village of Tumbila. There are puddles of water everywhere, and he is carefully avoiding the puddles of water as he walks gingerly down the pathway. He is in a contemplative mood and seems to need someone to share his thoughts with. Several people walk past him briskly. Two or three people ride past him on their bicycles. Tarri stops to ponder as he looks at these people all going in the direction of Poku.

Tarri. Could there be something happening in our village that I don't know about?

Tarri raises his eyes and sees his best friend, Dokugbo, in the distance, walking toward him, dragging his bicycle.

Tarri. Ho! at last, there's someone not going in the general direction like all these other people.

Tarri stops and waits for his friend to meet up with him.

Tarri, chuckles. Where are you going dragging your bicycle instead of riding on it? Has it broken down again?

Dokugbo gives the bicycle a disapproving look.

Dokugbo. Yes, it broke down again. So I'm going to fix it.

Tarri. Where? But you have a repairer close to your house!

Dokugbo. The one near your house is cheaper, and I believe he does a better job.

Tarri. Dokugbo, you dragged your bicycle all the way, about one-mile trek, just to save a few nairas. Isn't that foolish?

Dokugbo. Thanks for calling me a fool. I have been saving money to buy new tires,