Uganda

a girl is a body of water

by jennifer nansubuga makumbi

Possibly my favorite book in this reading challenge so far, A GIRL IS A BODY OF WATER, is set in Uganda and follows the life of Kirabo, from her rich, happy childhood in a small rural village in Uganda, to her young adulthood as an educated, student nurse in Kampala. Abandoned by her mother at birth, Kirabo is loved, mothered, and guided by multiple women throughout her life, in a uniquely African way.

I enjoyed so much how the novel dealt with large, societal, and feminist issues in such a contained way and with such well-drawn characterization, that I never felt the explicit presence of these over-arching themes, instead, they were simply the water the characters swam in. This style of confronting political and social issues through fiction, reminded me of how Nadine Gordimer revealed the flaws and fissures in Apartheid South Africa by writing stories that simply reflected the truth of the world she was writing about and allowed it to reveal itself. Makumbi writes about Uganda with compassion and obvious connection, but, like Gordimer, she doesn’t shy away from portraying her society, warts and all. As a result of this honesty a quiet activism is allowed to emerge in the novel, which is inextricably bound to its place; the patriarchal Ugandan culture that shapes the lives of all the girls and women in A GIRL IS A BODY OF WATER.

Makumbi also draws a beautifully eloquent distinction between cultural ideas of wealth related to land, sustainability, and generational security, versus western ideas of Capitalist wealth related only to the acquisition of material belongings and private ownership.

Kirabo moves from her rural home in the village of Nattetta and goes to live with her father, Tom, and his new, young family in Kampala. She soon realizes she has more in common with the rural housemaid than she does with her westernized half siblings. She is alienated by “the Europeanness” of her father’s wealth and comes to see how it reduces her grandfather’s wealth to nothing, although the opposite is true. “At Tom’s house she had all these attractive things around her and they showed on her body in the way she dressed, walked, spoke, and carried herself. But Tom’s European wealth was in house gadgets, a car, and in speaking English. Grandfather’s wealth was Ganda. His biggest wealth was his children and their education. Of course, he had land and land and land: you would have had to cycle for days to see it all… But there was no glamour in that kind of wealth… here in the city, Tom wore a suit and tie to work. A car collected him. In this way, European wealth trounced Ganda wealth so thoroughly that no amount of land or farms could beat having electricity in you house.” This distinction is revealed not only in her father’s house, but through Kirabo’s childhood friendship with Giibwa, the daughter of one of her father’s farm laborers. As the two girls age and their access to education and opportunity begins to diverge, so does their friendship, which cannot survive their social differences and the betrayal ignited by Giibwa’s jealousy.

There are so many layers to this story, all eloquently dealt with and revealed through the everyday events of a young women’s life. Makumbi keeps her story immersed in its African-ness; in her use of language, cultural references, setting, and the historical details of Kaunda’s Uganda. A lovely story by a talented writer, told well. I can definitely recommend this book!