THE LONE WOMAN IN THE VILLAGE SQUARE

 

 

By Big Pat

The crusty village square is barren.

The entrance is marked by a aged old greying post, its grandness washed off by the march of time.

Here, in the coolness of the highlands, it rains often. The surrounding high mountains trap the evening mists.

The mornings usually dawn into foggy cold shivery mornings. You can sense its numbness in the way the locals dress to keep warm.

The rains bring mud. And in the square, it does get muddy. But on this afternoon as our picture here shows, its muddiness is in the faces of the people who own the place.

The air is as tense as the fog of gloominess that has engulfed their valley since last December.

A lone woman, barefoot, wrapped in a warm sweater, with a laplap covering her waist and bag slung over her shoulder, is addressing the men. Perhaps a brave woman. Maybe a strong one. But one thing is for sure, she is talking and her people are listening.

Who is she? What is she yakking about? We have it on good record from the winds of change that this mother has challenged her quarrelsome men to lay down their arms and give her, her fellow women and their children the chance to live normal lives.

In many rural out backs, like Kamano in Eastern Highlands, women hardly take centre stage. Their role is confined mainly in the house and the garden, child rearing, cooking, household chores, feeding pigs, planting and harvesting and mourning the dead.

But since last December, this woman and her people have lived in fear of their lives after a fight between Jafa and Jamposa communities in the Kamano area.

Ten people have died. There is no more need for more to die, she pleads. Lay down your weapons, she is adamant.

She is our unsung hero. A BRAVE WOMAN INDEED.