Chapter 2: Nwakaego

Igboland, 1781

The first feeling of discernment may not be easy to deal with. Living alone in the outskirt of a large village where everyone interacted with each other but avoided a particular person based on some rules is even harder to deal with. The loud cry of condemnation can terrify a human soul to the point of suicide. 

The village in the east was not far from the village in the west but they did not live in harmony because of an ancient history that told tales of wars with bitter endings. Apart from the village that lived in the north, the village in the east was not at peace with any other village. True, they had large farms with fertile loamy soils that could turn a yam tendril into a full-blown adult at one thrust. Still, they didn't have the capacity to maintain order in their village.

The time for wars had come and gone. Men were only interested in drinking to stupor. Women were only interested in distinguishing between old clothes and new ones. Children were not left out in this parade of shame. They got involved in torturing themselves with bamboo sticks. If a strange man should suddenly arrive in the village of the east, he would be surprised at what his eyes could see and what his ears could hear.  There was no room for reasoning neither were there rooms for progress. The people in the east just wanted relaxation. They wanted a life where everything could be done with the snap of a finger. They wanted a life where they would be free while other people begged for their freedoms. They didn't bother too much about threats because they believed the mistakes of their ancestors had been undone, fixed and thrown away from the reach of a potent seeker.

They were very few men in the village who cared about change. They were tall, huge and caring. They tried to bring back law and order to the people of the east. They didn't succeed. The few that survived the villagers’ fists, ran to the village in the south for protection.

The people who were members of the village in the east thought they were gods so they didn't care to pay respect to any supreme being who lived in the sky. They mocked any villager who brought up suggestions that involved them making sacrifices to Igweka-ala. If that villager was lucky enough, the people in the east would make sure the news didn't go smooth. They were cruel when it came to justice. They were compassionate when it came to hedonism.

The second woman to complain about the attitude of the people in the east was burnt on a stake. Her burnt body was torn into pieces before she was buried. Some people said she was the daughter of a werewolf who left the village a century ago when he could no longer quench his desire for flesh. Others said she was a witch who lost her womb to a deity.

The people living in the east held an annual festival to respect the presence of the full moon in the sky. They sang, drank, laughed and had orgies. Old women slept with their sons. Fathers raped daughters. Virgins became experienced in one night.

The sexual lifestyle of the people in the east cost a lot of problems for them especially when it came to identification of fathers and mothers. A man could become both the grandfather and father of a boy. A woman could become both the grandmother and mother of a girl. If the situation was worse, a man could become the great-grandfather, grandfather and father of a boy. There were a lot of irregularities in the training of children. It was a crime to give a child breast milk. The liquid was seen as a reminder of their sinful nature. Still, all the mothers living in the village gave their children breast milk in private places.

Apart from their immoralities, the people in the east also loved an open declaration of trust. It was believed that two souls attached together could form a binding force as long as none of the partners failed in their promise to keep each other's secret. Though it may sound quite unrealistic, the people in the east believed that every member of their village was born with a secret. If a person gets to the age of sixteen without discovering their secrets, the penalty was death by hanging. They would be dragged slowly to the center of the village. The oldest man in the village would officiate the ceremony while the oldest woman in the village would arrange the grave of whoever that was to be murdered.

The people in the east made sure that every victim who was scheduled for hanging did not escape their fate. But there was one particular woman who ran away from the village after an attempt to capture her failed. She was neither tall nor short just average. She had the abilities to see far without stressing her eyes. She didn't make a lot of friends among the people of the east because they had murdered her mother who was the second woman to complain about their attitude. She ate, slept and cried alone. Many times, she would wake up in the middle of the night to see the face of the moon. After she escaped from the village, there was chaos among the people in the east. No one had ever dared to go against their laws but she did. They searched for her but didn’t find her. Her name was Nwakaego.