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RUNNING AWAY FROM CULTURE IN BLOSSOMS OF THE SAVANNAH

 

One cannot run away from their culture; what they can do is work towards changing it. Drawing from the book Blossoms of the Savannah, discuss.

One cannot run away from their culture; what they can do is work towards changing it. This is evident in the novel Blossoms of the Savannah by H.R. Kulet.

According to the novel, Parsimei Ole kaelo brought up his children in the confines of the city of Nakuru away from the culture of Nasila. In Nakuru, Kaelo was comfortable to be a monogamous with two daughters. Even though his brother had advised him to stick to Nasila culture and obey its tenets, Kaelo dismissed them. He was a happy successful man doing well as a career man. In Nakuru he could model his daughters to modern women with careers- probably the reason he moved to the town in the fast place.      

By moving to Nakuru, Kaelo was in a way running away from the cruel Nasila culture. He was a man with an outside view of his culture. He wished that his people could embrace change but was afraid to be the advocate of change. As long as he was in Nakuru, he would live like the town folk and put the negative in his culture far from his mind.

But as fate could have it, Kaelo loses his secure home in Nakuru and has to move back to Nasila. Since Kaelo was not fearless, he moved into Nasila and was forced to ingratiate himself into the Nasilian culture. Kaelo had once described the people of Nasila as megalomaniacs who were stuck in the decadent culture. Yet when he moved back, he embraced the culture in full and was even willing to have his daughters circumcised.

Kaelo was unlike Minik ene Nkoitoi. Raised in Nasila, Minik grew up to detest the negative cultural practices of her people. Instead of running away, Minik created an organization with likeminded individuals in order to promote positive cultural practices and fight early marriage and FGM. Minik’s efforts and show of courage attracts hate from the proponents of negative practices of culture but admiration from other quarters. She even becomes Resian and Taiyo’s role model.  

Joseph Parmuat is also another character who plays a role in changing his culture from within. He was an educated young man who could have eloped with his love- Taiyo to start new life away from Nasila. But he chose to remain. He was loyal to his clan but did not support some of the cruelty of his culture. It is for this reason that he risked being killed to rescue Taiyo from early marriage.

Fighting negative culture demands running away from its cauldron as potrayed by Nabaru the enkabaani. She was there when Resian was kidnapped by Olarinkoi and she work tirelessly to rescue Resian from Olarinkoi. Her efforts bore fruits but made her run away from home to avoid being killed by olarinkoi and his mother. Nabaru like Minik were invaluable resources because they acted as a bridge between the old and the new practices.

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