The Bride Price: An African Romance (Chitundu Chronicles) (34 page)

BOOK: The Bride Price: An African Romance (Chitundu Chronicles)

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Myrna stood to acknowledge she was the woman, then the English woman continued. “My name is Sarah Taylor. My father Wellington Taylor left an endowment for a school for girls in the care and name of his prize student, Myrna Chitundu. I am here to present this to you. I am his daughter. We have permission from the Ministry of Education to commence the building of that school, which is why this team is here in Copperfine.”

The audience broke into applause and unexpected tears ran down Myrna Chitundu Phiri’s face. Her daughter, Rose, who was seated beside her, handed her a tissue. Cameras flashed and the pictures were on the news by evening. Myrna took the hand of her friend Priscilla and was so glad her sister Violet and Lily Wonder had been there to share the joy. Gift loved the ceremony and the pomp. For now, Myrna’s heart was full and she turned to the village chief. He nodded his head and rose to announce that the land would be donated for the project, and the team would begin the foundations the following morning, once the engineers laid out the corners. Then he signaled the children from the middle school and they began their dance of the impala.

A dozen small boys and more mature girls jumped and gyrated to the music of the drums and the rattles the dancers wore around their ankles. Each dancer wore a neat costume of antelope skin whose sepia and white patterns highlighted the golden brown bodies of the young dancers. They were rhythmic and aware of the impact they were having on their audience as they leapt into the air, or hunted the elusive antelope. The girls were modest and alluring in their trained choreography. The music, the people singing, and the overflowing happiness of the international team, was contagious. Myrna could smell perfume of the plumeria wafting over the celebration. She did not dare to look at the diary that had held so many conflicting thoughts about herself, her Uncle Dodge, and the marriage suitor. Over time, everything had worked out. She had been able to use her education to love her husband, and produce children who cared about others and themselves. She had stopped worrying what her family thought of her marriage, and realized each of them had hurdles to overcome in their own lives.

Other girls would benefit from her attendance at the all boys’ school. Even her pain at the death of her Lily was gone.” All is Well’ was the good word that floated into her mind as she swayed to the music that glorious December day, just fifty years after she had arrived in Copperfine, a new bride of 14, with her husband Festal, and they started their life together.

Rose excused herself to leave while the dancing was still in progress. She knew little of her mother’s time in the secondary school. But she knew if a tutor from England was impressed enough by a student to create an endowment—that was something. It made Rose want to know more about her mother’s history. She was intrigued by the writings Beautiful had done. This endowment would bring students and funding to their area. She would report all of what she had learned to her husband Henley, who took such an interest in this small community. There would be photos to share with her work mates at the ministry, many of whom would have seen the pictures in the news.

Another celebration would follow when her mother returned to visit Grandmother Beatrice and the remaining family in Blancville. Violet gathered her purse and her grandchild and followed Myrna towards the waiting car. They were going to have dinner together then head back to the house. Festal would be driven back to the house and dropped off by Royal, after insisting that he wanted to have some time alone and that they should and enjoy their dinner without him. Festal kissed Myrna and told her not to hurry. She had a lot of catching up to do.

Violet wanted to get Myrna’s opinions on what to do with the extensive art collection of Bwalya’s. His widow Karin had expected to be able to advise her, but she was now in serious condition and unable to travel or be of much use in business matters. So Violet had turned to Myrna and Festal. They had spent some time thinking about the paintings and how they might best be marketed. The decision was to open a gallery, a gift shop, and a coffee place in Blancville, and have the girls run it, with the help of Royal. Violet was also concerned about the business that Joseph had left her. The women and Festal advised her to get Rose’s husband who was an attorney to review the situation. At dinner, they chatted about the trip to Holland and the changes that were taking place in their family.

After the ceremony was over, Rose went back to her husband to report on the event, while Royal drove his father back to the rondavel. Festal changed his clothes, then went down to feed the calves while Royal drove back to town to pick up the family.

CHAPTER 46
INDEPENDENCE

Festal looked down the long drive leading to his calving pens. Each year, as his family grew and the number of cattle increased, he had extended the distance from his house to the corrals where the youngest of his calves were kept. Each of his children had taken turns naming the animals. From the first time he had led his new bride to the small brush corral where orphaned calves bedded down, Festal had been touched by the tenderness of young girls towards the small animals.

He first felt affection for Myrna when he saw how she stroked the sides of the calves’ faces and wanted to brush them free of the mud that stuck to their sides. He felt like he was being stroked. When Myrna had been gentle with the bar girl he brought home to help with the household chores, he had seen a new possibility in the girl. His bitterness at being outmaneuvered by Dodge had subsided. Festal had never talked to Myrna about what her dreams or expectations had been. Today, he saw some of them coming true. Respect.

His women had come up with the idea of the women’s co-op, which had transformed the climate of the village. Neighbors began to treat each other with kindness. He had grown old here in comfort. His daughters brought him joy. His sons became pastors and formed a community church that reached out to the orphans and the widows. He saw the village chief praise his family and a school founded in Copperfine because his wife had been a scholar and earned the respect of her tutor. His name, Phiri, was part of the title for the academy. Festal had won over his sister–in-law and her husband by his faithful care of his family, and the values he passed on to them. He was humbled by the survival of his children when so many had been taken. His daughter Rose was a college graduate and all of his girls had developed into fine women who were skilled in different ways.

Whenny was a blessing to her grandchildren. The fact that he was the one who could help her, was a miracle of God’s grace. He could not think of anything he would change or want as he watched the calves line up for their milk in the tidy calf pen. In the heat of the late afternoon sun, he felt his life was sweet. He lay down to rest a bit before going up the hill to the house he had built. The grass was fragrant in his face as his calves nuzzled him, and he saw the slow cloud of darkness open and light appear. His body felt nothing but peacefulness and release. He had been a man.

The sons, along with their mothers, continued to minister to the women in the community until the academy for girls was built. Myrna and Gift then moved to Blancville to join Violet in caring for her grandchild and opening the Impala Gallery and Gift House. A coffee shop run by Royal was built adjacent to it, with fresh Danish daily. A new chapter had opened in their lives with expected visitors from Holland, new clients, and a closer family bond, even as Festal’s life closed with a sigh of contentment—that he been loved, and was no longer afraid.

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The Bride Price

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suzanne Popp was born into a large military family that traveled across the United States in her early childhood. She was raised in the country and has a love of rural life. When her brothers went to Vietnam, she and her husband Ken went to the Peace Corps following graduation from college. In West Africa, she taught English and African literature at a Post Secondary Teachers Training College in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana which borders the Ivory Coast. Students ranged in age from 18 to 45 years of age. Some were working to become certified after years of pupil teaching, while others wanted to gain entry into the university and were working on the ‘A’ level exams. During the vacation periods, she traveled over 16,000 miles overland in Central, East and Northern Africa by native transport, and witnessed the rapid change of governments from colonial occupation to independence. As a woman, she gained admittance into the households of young wives and mothers of all beliefs; she shared in their joy and their hardships, and listened as they poured out their dreams of a better future to her.

Suzanne has returned to Africa many times, and been actively involved in the education of girls and vulnerable children, as well as building homes for those in need through work with VillageSteps, the charity founded by her family for the education of orphans and vulnerable children, especially girls, and Global Village, the international branch of Habitat for Humanity. Suzanne is a mother, a grandmother, and an advocate for literacy and humanity in emerging countries as well as locally. At home on her horse farm in Enumclaw, Washington, she writes, is active in the arts, and serves as Director of VillageSteps, the charity founded by her family. This is her first novel, and she hopes you will find it encouraging and let her know how it affects you.

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Table of Contents

Dedication

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER 1 CHRISTMAS BREAK

CHAPTER 2 ANNOUNCEMENT OF PROPOSAL

CHAPTER 3 THE WEDDING OF MYRNA AND FESTAL

CHAPTER 4 IN THE MARKET

CHAPTER 5 ALL IS WELL

CHAPTER 6 VIOLET MEETS HER MAN

CHAPTER 7 JOSEPH’S HISTORY

CHAPTER 8 JOSEPH VISITS CHITUNDUS