By
Obododimma Oha
There is a memory-invoking Igbo proverb that says: "Nne nwata lọta ahịa, ọ dị ka nkà ibe ya agaghị alọ (When a child's mother returns from the market, it looks as if the mother of another child won't). The proverb also points to presuppositions in our interactions.
A child whose mother returns from the market in the local African area is overjoyed. The child sings and welcomes her and other children may be very jealous. In our time, the welcoming song was:
Mama alọta! Oyooyo!
Mama alọta! Oyooyo!
(Mama has returned! Oyooyo!
Mama has returned! Oyooyo!)
The joy expressed is prominent and is in focus. It also symbolizes the celebration of motherhood and its presence. Her absence did not elicit this kind of joy. It was not just because of the akara balls and roasted groundnuts expected. These are a given in returning from market. But it was mainly because she returned and was then around. The singers could feel her presence.
The other child's mother would eventually return. Maybe she was delayed where she went to buy fish. But she is coming soon. And we would hear a shout and another joyful song.
It is even wise for me to make my shout of joy loudest, not just louder. Stimulating the envy of the other child whose mother is yet to return should occupy my mind. That child has to feel bad, depressed, woebegone.
It is always good to realize that the sun that shines for you also shines for another person. It is not in one compound alone that people grieve, neither is it in one compound that we hear shouts of joy.
Mama alọta today for America. But that of Africa may also be on the way. There isn't only one shout of joy. There are many and together we unwrap the goodies. Wuhan could turn to a shout of joy, if our prejudices could permit. Together one shout of joy would enrich and energize another shout of joy. But a shout of joy inspires another. And there isn't one shout of joy.
The thing is this: it is not reasonable to be sad because there is a shout of joy in that other compound. One should be happy that they are happy! We have seen that the shout of joy in our compound is only few steps away!
What we have to hope and pray for is for mothers to return from the market and not remain there or be kidnapped and raped on the way as they are returning. The market and the way home are becoming something else. They are hindering the shouts of joy.
Of course, life is a market experience itself and that compound where a mother is yet to return would not sleep, what more give a shout of joy. Her husband and her children would go looking for her. If she returned to her other home beyond, there would be a shout of joy there. Such is life and shouts of joy.
Mama alọta! Oyooyo!
Mama alọta! Oyooyo!
Can you hear on Oyooyo trying to wrestle with and rise above others?
Well, as indicated earlier, what is very crucial is that she went to that market and returned. It is worth celebrating. She could have sold to or bought from Complete Gentleman looking for ways to build the body. Or she could have met seven-headed spirit armed with AK-47 on the way. But she braved all and returned.
Mama alọta! Oyooyo!
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