The men were ushered to sit down on wooden stools which surrounded an open fire, which was kept burning all day and all night for protection from wild animals and to keep the place warm, as the altitude was cooler there. He introduced himself as Wambu of the Kamba Tribe, the chief in the village and the proud husband of five wives. At that moment, Tamura widened his eyes in shock as he looked at this scruffy old man and wondered where the family was when suddenly each one of the five wives came silently out of hiding with their children to see the visitors.
The chief introduced his family of 20 children and five wives, and turned to Tamura, and said, “This young man is my nephew I told you about, he came from Huru to find me and you all. Please make something for them to eat and drink, they must be hungry.”
At that instance, the group leader, Chief Bongo, asked the man who had killed the deer to hand it to the chief as their token of gratitude for the welcome they had received, and Wambu thanked them and asked his older sons to prepare it for tonight’s feast.
The boys immediately got busy doing that while the women waited to be handed over the leftover bits and pieces, such as offal, feet and head and some other tender bits to cook for their children.
Tamura looked at his uncle for a long moment before he could bring himself to say exactly what he came for. He already felt deflated by what he saw before he could open his mouth to ask, as the way the whole family looked, left a lot to be desired and far from rosy.
However, because he was there now, he had to say what he came for and face the consequences later. “Err, Uncle,” said Tamura hesitantly, “can I please speak to you in private? There is something very important I need to discuss with you.”
“Sounds ominous,” said his uncle, rising to his feet to go somewhere more private. Tamura also asked Chief Bongo to go with him for moral support.
Tamura and his uncle went into a small room away from where the rest of the men were seated outside and sat on the wooden stools therein. Tamura got straight to the point and said, “I came to see whether or not you would be willing to help me look after my brother and sister, since I am finding it difficult to cope on my own from the time our parents died?”
“Well, I was expecting that, judging from the way you kept looking at me and my children,” said his uncle with sarcasm. “I don’t have any objections for you and your siblings to come and stay with us, but I can’t promise you anything more than a roof over your heads and food on your table. In return, I expect you to work hard and contribute towards your upkeep.”
Tamura looked troubled and wondered how he and his brother and sister could cope in a place like this. Moreover, it will be a culture shock for them to live in such a big family and having to give up school altogether as there didn’t seem to be any school around here from what they had gathered coming up. Worse still, his uncle had made it very clear that education was last on his list of priorities for his children.
He asked him, “Uncle, what about school, do your children go to school at all?”
Wambu laughed hysterically and blurted, “School, what school? I don’t see anything wrong with my teaching them all they need to know about life and working hard for survival, that’s all they need to know, nothing more.”
Tamura looked at Chief Bongo as if to say, ‘Please help me out here’. Chief Bongo took him aside to talk to him in hushed voices and said to Tamura, "Young man, I don’t see a future here for you and the children you left behind, your uncle doesn’t seem to have value for anything more than food and shelter, and in his case, too much drinking can’t possibly give him good judgement about anything for that matter.
“I don’t think it’s fair on you and your siblings to be stuck here forever in these appalling conditions. You are young and need a chance in life to have a good start and a good education for your siblings. Look at me, I never went to school, but I will never deprive my sons and daughters the chance to shine and to lead a better life than mine.”
Tamura said, “But what can I do now? My hope has been dashed. I thought I was going to bring back with me some good news to my family.” He sank to the ground with dismay and looked close to tears. His uncle just looked on puzzled at why Tamura should not be happy with his offer.
Chief Bongo knelt down in front of him and put his hand reassuringly on his shoulder and said to him, “Look, not all hope is lost, at least since you are coming back with us, I could put in a good word for you with the king and see if you can come and stay with us,” he added, “you could work and help educate you siblings and the king wouldn’t mind an extra pair of hands in the yard surely.”
Tamura said, “Wouldn’t that be asking for too much? I have already taken you from your duties and brought you up here on this fruitless journey?”
Chief Bongo replied, “Don’t worry yourself about that, the king is a generous man, he won’t think nothing of it. Besides I needed to get away from my nagging wife.” He giggled and Tamura seemed to have cheered
