Friday, December 26, 2014 Farewell to a soft-spoken crusader for oral literature, local languages

Writer and publisher Asenath Bole Odaga in her house at Tom Mboya Estate Kisumu during an interview. Before her demise, Asenath was very keen on bringing together East African women writers; she organised numerous workshops towards this effort. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP  

In Summary

• She wrote in Dholuo and her numerous titles cutting across all genres in her ethnic language is an evidence of this.
• Asenath was very ambitious and was a real Kenyan woman; down to earth and passionate about the preservation of African culture.
• Her legacy is about the preservation of the traditional way of life and mobilisation of African women towards that endeavour.
• Asenath was also one of the pioneer women publishers in Kenya — her publishing firm, Lake Publishers, and her bookshop in Kisumu, clearly demonstrates her zeal for literary development.

This is a sad moment for women writers the world over; it is only recently that we lost a woman global literary icon in Maya Angelou and now Asenath Bole Odaga has also joined the land of the departed.

It is with deep sorrow that I write this in honour of my friend and colleague Asenath, whom I have known for many years. What do I know about my sister Asenath?

Asenath was very keen on bringing together East African women writers; she organised numerous workshops towards this effort.

Personally, my memories of her are those of an ever-smiling woman full of jokes. She was very committed to oral literature. She used to encourage people to write in their own native languages and was always emphatic about the vitality of older people writing about their cultural experiences.

AN AMBITIOUS WOMAN

She wrote in Dholuo and her numerous titles cutting across all genres in her ethnic language is an evidence of this.

I remember her noting that some of the expressions in African stories are difficult to translate into any other language; hence foregrounding her commitment to recording our experiences in our own languages.

I vividly remember the meeting we had during a workshop organised by her for East African women writers in Kisumu, held at Sunset Hotel, in 1998.

Asenath was very ambitious and was a real Kenyan woman; down to earth and passionate about the preservation of African culture. She dreamt of how Kenyan women could promote their culture through writing.

What I liked about Asenath was her simplicity; I remember when we once met at the United Kenya Club, where we talked at length concerning the future of East African women writers.

MOBILISING AFRICAN WOMEN

She believed in the older generation leaving a legacy. She noted: “What we know our children do not know and unless we put it in writing, our culture will be lost.” I also had another meeting with Asenath at the Fairview Hotel when we had a guest from overseas and we talked about promoting women writers in Kenya and East Africa.

What we had in common with Asenath, besides being writers, was how to promote elderly women so that they could give more information about their experience on the vanishing culture of the African people by recording what they knew about it.

Her legacy is about the preservation of the traditional way of life and mobilisation of African women towards that endeavour.

Myles Munroe in his book: The Power of Vision, talks about death in a way that emphasises the importance of recording experiences by saying: “If you are buried without recording what you know, you die and get buried with it”.

However, if you put it in print, even when you are dead, somebody will read and benefit from your ideas. This is what I call the power of the pen and Asenath is the best exemplification of that noble truth through her numerous titles.

PIONEER WOMEN PUBLISHER

Asenath was also one of the pioneer women publishers in Kenya — her publishing firm, Lake Publishers, and her bookshop in Kisumu, clearly demonstrates her zeal for literary development.

We met several times to talk about our roles as mothers and grandmothers; what do we tell the next generation and how do we share with them what we know?

Asenath was a soft-spoken person whose word had so much commitment. As long as I am alive, I will keep her ideas burning — to build women writers in Kenya, East Africa and hopefully in the entire Africa.

Asenath also taught at the University of Nairobi in the department of African languages. Her work on the Dholuo-English dictionary has proved to be very useful to linguists who are keen on doing research in African languages.

She also made a strong argument regarding the growth of Kenyan literature and even challenged the notion of literary barrenness in East Africa as espoused by the likes of Prof Taban Lo Liyong.

Asenath was an all round writer with numerous titles across all genres. She was also a dramatist with various productions to her name.

Fare thee well my sister and may the almighty rest your soul in eternal peace.