The Sun Will Rise Again

Charles Dube

TODAY Sofia reveals the demise of Nyati and her father Joseph Takundwa. She is about to stand trial for the murder of her husband Nyati. Sofia makes it clear that she has matured as she is now too wise to try to come up with any feeble prediction of what the day that confronted her has in store for her. She cannot tell whether the judges are going to set her free or convict her. Whatever the case, her desire is for the judges to hear her side of the story.

Sofia is determined to break the bricks of silence. Silence has been a stumbling block to her. Silence has let women down in this story. Women have suffered a lot of abuse in silence. They have been timid to break this silence. But Sofia in this desperate situation is prepared to break the bricks of this silence no matter how strong those bricks appear to be. The situation is gloomy and dull. Sofia wonders whether tomorrow will be brighter than today?

All is dreary, hopeless. She wonders why the jail guard is taking long to arrive or time is playing tricks with her mind again. Loneliness in the cell could have caused this loss of proper timing. She admits that in prison a minute and an hour in jail are just the same. The same familiar routine could be the cause of such thoughts. What is real is that Sofia is uneasy at heart as she awaits her fate. She is in a state of fear as her fingers are shaking.

Is fear beginning to get the better of her? Sofia remembers that the last time she trembled in that manner was the moment when Nyati confessed that he washed in Tabitha’s blood! That was devastating news to her as she says the earth had shaken at that moment. She was livid. “I will wash in your blood just as I washed in your little sister’s blood! So you see, there is nothing so special about you. After all you are just another little daughter of a murderer.

Get ready to die!”

Sofia says that was the point when the tables turned. From the way Nyati fumbled from pocket to pocket it was clear that something was amiss. Nyati had been too quick to let the cat out of the bag and reveal that he was behind the murder of Sofia’s sister Tabitha. He searches for his gun to kill Sofia but remembers that he should have left it in the dresser. Sofia immediately seizes the kitchen knife lying on top of the table just by her feet.

“SATAN! Today you are going to pay for your sins,” bellows Sofia. She demands her sister from Nyati quickening her step towards her target. Her intentions are clear. This is no longer the innocent and timid Sofia both Nyati and Jeremiah had always known. This was a new Sofia who had become a stranger even to herself. Nyati did not like what he saw in Sofia’s eyes. He pleads with Sofia to let him explain, but Sofia does not take that nonsense. Nyati proves to be a big joke as he tries to calm Sofia by claiming to have been teasing her.

Nyati is insensitive as he thinks a Mercedes Benz can be a substitute for life. He gets a strong rebuke from Sofia over this: “SATAN! I don’t want anything from you except my sister; alive and well right now!” She viciously swung her arm forward and that was the point Nyati misplaced his foot. Within a split second Nyati was out through the window falling headlong to the hard concrete floor on the basement. Sofia was still holding his kitchen knife when she reached the ground floor. She found a small crowd having gathered around Nyati’s body and contemplating calling an ambulance.

Sofia informed her mother about Tabitha’s death that she had been killed by Nyati and her husband, Joseph Takundwa. Thereafter Sofia turned herself in at the nearest police station. Nyati had died on his way to the hospital.

He had suffered a severely fractured skull. She was therefore going to be tried for culpable homicide. She heard they intended to declare Nyati a national hero.

Sofia learns from her mother that her father had hung himself with a piece of barbed wire. The moment of truth has finally arrived for Sofia. Sofia believes in telling the truth. She believes the truth will free her. She says the truth is the holy chariot abode which she would ride to freedom. We find Sofia in court today and she is determined to win the case for the sake of her mother. She says her mother’s future is even more dependent on the outcome of that trial than her own.

“I therefore plead to you judges of mankind to at least afford me the chance to tell my story . . .” says Sofia. Sofia wants to tell her story as if she has been caged somewhere and denied the chance to tell her story. What she is about to says next sums up the plight of women in this story. The women folk in this story have been through hell. She says she will tell a story of tears and blood. She is about to tell a pitiful story. Women have been greatly abused both emotionally and physically.

We have seen how Sofia’s mother, Fatima, has been physically abused. Her body is full of scars as a result of beatings from Joseph Takundwa. Tabitha, Sofia’s little sister has been raped and killed for ritual purposes by her father Joseph Takundwa at the instigation of Nyati. Sofia was raped by Nyati and forced to marry him. Sofia today wants to break the silence. Women in the story have been suffering all the pain in silence. Sofia tells of the pain of silence — the pain of having bottled up emotions.

Sofia reveals the story of rape and plunder. As earlier stated, she is a victim of rape herself. Nyati and his friend have caused great destruction in the family. She has been forced to marry the old man Nyati and Tabitha has been raped and slain for ritual purposes. She wants to tell the story of hope and decay. There is little hope when children are deflowered and murdered in the hope of getting riches. There is no hope when the whole society is corrupt. Jobs are secured by those who have connections regardless of qualifications.

Sofia is free to tell the story of subjugation of the mother and child. She has lived through it. She has witnessed the abuse her mother gets from Joseph Takundwa, her father. She has been denied the chance to marry a husband of her choice.

Threats of eviction are used on the mother and child to tear the line. All this makes Sofia cry. She reveals that her eyes have seen a lot of tear-drops. The story of Sofia continues. Read on.

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