Has your voice ever stopped mid-flight for 39 years? Mine has. For 39 years, my voice has been thrown back at me, like a raw egg before it's hatched, raw and messy.
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| Speaking about poetry and leadership at the Hargeysa International Book Fair |
Adong Judith, playwright, Director and Fulbright scholar, approached me a few years ago to write a play. This play, Ga-AD, which premiered on 30th July, also the eve of my 40th birthday. Adong's production company, Silent Voices, with an excellent cast and crew will give an artistic treat of a rare kind at the Uganda National Theater throughout the first week of August.
The play Ga-Ad is another birthday gift because it reflects the layers of the 39 years of silence that I have lived through institutions, friends and self-pity.
Has your voice ever stopped mid-flight for 39 years? Mine has. I also lost my voice on arrival at Hargeysa due to heavy air-conditioning and cold nights in transition. My voice is back now on the eve of my 40th birthday.
Before arrival in Somaliland, like many people, I used to believe that women who wear the hijab and cover themselves are oppressed. And yet as I saw women laughing and chatting, I envied the ease with which they adorned themselves with fine jewellery that glittered like their smiles and with fine linen that bore stories of elegance.
I truly felt like I was the oppressed one. A fifteen minute walk outside my house brings insults just because I'm a woman. I seek alternative ways to walk but each time I try, my voice is silenced. They don't want me to walk, to exercise or to seek alternatives. It's easier if I'm kept behind the gate.
Them.
I lost my voice on arrival at Hargeysa due to heavy air-conditioning and cold nights in transition. My voice is now back.
The 39 years are over.
Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva
