How come I'm just seeing this thread? . Thanks Ndipe for an informative thread.

Anyway I read African child when I was very young and I loved it. How come such books are no longer written?  the likes of so long a letter, toads for supper, Arrow of God, Second class citizen and the slave girl? 

anyway so he took a second wife while His beloved Marie was in prison?    [s]How come men always have to go and spoil a love story[/s]? 

I read that book a thousand times I think. It was a good book. I really should go on amazon or something and order all the African series again for my library. Im tired of people like paris hilton publishing books and calling themselves authors ! 

I can understand Marie's anger and disappointment, but the man was ill and had children to take care of. I'd rather he married the lady to provide constant care for him, and a stable environment for the kids, cos otherwise he'd have to change helps every few months. She for try calm down. If her church didn't excommunicate her when she married a muslim, it was irrelevant at that point as well.

Excuse me but the purpose of marriage is not to quickly find a woman to look after a sick man and his gang of kids. What a life for a new bride. Glorified housegirl.

I've actually read Camara's dark child.I've also read the brief of SADDEST LOVE STORY.I'm really depressed.Just his fate,

I read it while I was in jss1... along with "A Dream Of Africa"
It's really a sad love story. ..

Ndipe:
If I tell you that I wasnt moved by his biography, I would be kidding you. I had just finished reading "The African child" at home and was quite floored by the sentimental description of his life in Guinea. Mirrors my own childhood back home. That same year, or thereabout, while visiting a friend, I stumbled upon his bio and read it. His life in exile was a rude/dark contrast to his idyllic life in Guinea Sekou Toure was a monster. Already, some magazine is trying to paint him as a hero? I might pen a rebuttal by bringing up his atrocities against Camara Laye as well as thousands of Guineans who suffered under his regime.

How true @bolded. I've always been curious about what happened afterwards between Laye and Marie since I read the book. The African Child is one of the finest autobiographies I have ever read. Its idyllic world of a child I found so magnetic. I wished to be in it.

You can read more about them in the sequel, "A dream of Africa," where he marries Marie immediately after arriving home from France. This book, "The writings of Camara Laye" by Adele King which was published posthumously in 1980 was where I first read about them not long after reading "The African Child."

Ndipe:
You can read more about them in the sequel, "A dream of Africa," where he marries Marie immediately after arriving home from France. This book, "The writings of Camara Laye" by Adele King which was published posthumously in 1980 was where I first read about them not long after reading "The African Child."

What a wonderful thread and God bless you for bringing this wonderful story back to life, for me at least.

BLS1:


What a wonderful thread and God bless you for bringing this wonderful story back to life, for me at least.

Amen! Some people have expressed the same sentiments on the board as you may have read and several have contacted me on Yahoo messenger about it too. I even got an email from a Cameroonian who lives in France about this topic. Well, like I wrote, I read "The African Child" during my teenage years. Never ever thought I will know about this couple. So, how I stumbled upon "The Writings of Camara Laye" by Adele King, seemed a bit incredible, but true. When I saw it at my friend's place just lying there (we were classmates and he was a day-student while I was visiting him from boarding house) at his house, I think my first reaction was "What is this book doing here?" Then I read the story. Indeed, it was nice at first, the story of the son of a blacksmith falling in love and and eventually marrying the daughter of a medical doctor (her father was half-french). I became engrossed in the story till I flipped to the last page and read of their divorce. What came on my mind was, "Is there a force in the universe that is responsible for breaking up love stories?" Because some of them for unexplainable reasons always have sad endings. There is a footnote in that book that talks of how his grandfather saved the life of Toure's grandfather (I have forgotten the details).

Ok, I don't have much, but I'm the grand daughter of Yoro Diarra. Marie was in the camp with my grandfather and was his last wife upon his death in 2000. She's still living in Guinea.

She married my grandfather, Yoro Diarra. They met in that horrible camp. He passed in 2000, but she's still living in Guinea. She was his 3rd wife.

Wao, the popularity of Nairaland extends to Guinea as well. How are you doing, Farima? It's nice to read that Marie is still alive. She is truly blessed.

Akanimo@yahoo.com is my email.

I read part of this book some eight years back only to stop at the point where Laye gained admission into an higher school of learning... Father preparing him Quran concoctions... had a brief romance or so it was with a 'foreign girl'?... Blablabla?... Damn, my memory is falling me... I've spent the last 15mins of my life perusing gutenberg and the likes for download to no avail. I'm sort of anti hardcopy but wouldn't mind even paying to download this: My 'Africanize' yourself project...

You can order the book from Amazon.com (It's called "The Dark Child": but in Nigeria, its called "The African Child" The 'foreign' girl you are referring to is Marie who later on became his real life wife.

P/S: I stumbled upon the review of Terry McMillan's new novel, "I almost forgot about you" It is a love story and the critic of the novel says, "Everybody wants a happy ending. . . " meaning everybody wants a love story to have a happy ending.

Wow! I'm getting the 'diary' then... Amazon, have some dollars!!

Wow, thanks for bringing this here. When I read that book, I thought their love was just a teenage thing that would end once they go their different ways. I never knew they got married. And reading the circumstances leading to their divorce is also very sad. Why haven't Africa been able to get it right in terms of leaders?
Please @ndipe, if you have the soft copy of the sequel to african child, would you mind sending me a copy via mail?

Fingerprinter:
Wow, thanks for bringing this here. When I read that book, I thought their love was just a teenage thing that would end once they go their different ways. I never knew they got married. And reading the circumstances leading to their divorce is also very sad. Why haven't Africa been able to get it right in terms of leaders?
Please @ndipe, if you have the soft copy of the sequel to african child, would you mind sending me a copy via mail?

You can order the sequel, "A dream of Africa," from Amazon.com and have it shipped to you, that is if you live abroad, or you can have friends/relatives who live abroad to do so for you. Best wishes.

I read this book growing up with books by Ngugi wa thiongo and I can say both writer were and are the best classic African authors we have around. I read the African child again today and that made me start wondering what happened to Maria. It's painful they had a sad ending.. what about 'fanta' the local girl he had.?
Cc: ndipe

tobimillar:
I read this book growing up with books by Ngugi wa thiongo and I can say both writer were and are the best classic African authors we have around. I read the African child again today and that made me start wondering what happened to Maria. It's painful they had a sad ending.. what about 'fanta' the local girl he had.?
Cc: ndipe

No clue, there is no mention of her in the sequel, "A dream of Africa." Rather, he writes of his marriage to Marie which occurred the very day he returned home from France, a trip he undertook in "The African Child."

And u called this love?

This should be in politics section

great post!

I loved this book! One of the few autobiographies I've ever loved (another was Black Boy).

This end to his tale with Marie is just sad.

The Camara guy sef... I liked Fanta. He didn't 'worship' her looks with his description the way he did Marie's but I liked Fanta more. After all the Fanta drama, I didn't like that he just meets Marie, and is swept off his feet. So he married her and then married another person because she got locked up. My guy no try.

chigoizie7:
And u called this love?

This should be in politics section

How so? It's a love story, not a political story.

Ndipe:


How so? It's a love story, not a political story.

oopps! I'm totally dumbfounded. This is too great! I dont even knw where to start from. God bless u for mentioning me. I'll look for d saddest love story but let me start the african child afresh

Sekou Toure's son, Mohammed, and his wife, Denise, were arrested (and imprisoned briefly) by the US Government due to allegations of forced child labor. They were accused of bringing a young Guinean girl from their home country, Guinea, to the US where she lived with them in Texas. According to the report, the girl was physically and mentally abused by the pair, wasnt allowed to go to school and was forced to work from sunrise to sunset, until she finally escaped recently. The accused couple denied the allegations with Mohamed telling the US government officials that he was planning on adopting her. On account of that, he was indicted for making this false claim of adopting the girl so their passports have been seized to prevent them from leaving the country. If convicted, the pair would spend a long time in prison.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article218681600.html

Ndipe:
Enough of the hackneyed story of the doomed romance between Romeo and Juliet. Theirs is fiction, the one I am posting is true.

While living in Nigeria, I read my brother's novel, "The African Child" authored by Camara Laye. I was moved by the tone of the novel, especially its sucessful attempt to portray Africa as a continent filled with love, hospitality and compassion. Towards the end of the story, the protagonist falls in love with a half caste lady, Marie and then embarks on a study leave to France. In real life, Camara Laye married this lady. I came across this interesting information while reading his bio. Sadly though, the marriage ended in divorce. But their marital split would have been averted were it not for the evil machinations of a third party , Sekou Toure.

After completing his studies, Camara Laye returned to Guinea. The country was in the throes of development and this young budding writer was named the ambassador of his country to Ghana. When Guinea abruptly cut of diplomatic relations from France, the latter retaliated by cutting off funds to punish the country. Camara Laye in his plum position was able to secure some funds to bail out his ailing country. As the years went by on, Sekou Toure morphed into an evil dictator. During that period, Camara Laye fell out of favor with the president and he was imprisoned briefly. During his incarceration, he was poisoned, and the consequences led to a swollen body. Then, he was released and with his family, he fled to neighbouring Senegal, never to returned to his beloved homeland, Guinea.

Laye's life in exile was marred by tragedies. His parents had passed away during his days in Senegal, but he was justifiably absent from their funeral for fear Sekou Toure, though he was the first born. Financially, he was struggling. A one time ambassador, he was now reduced to the position of a research assistant for some organization in Senegal. And to compound his woes, he was faced with a kidney problem (which would be the cause of his death), probably as a result of the food poisoning earlier in prison. Nevertheless he and his family thrived on, until a telegram from from family friends in Guinea would torpedoe his relationship with his wife, Marie.

Marie's father was dying. In the telegram, he dictated to friends, he begged Marie to visit him while he was alive. Against the wishes of her husband who was concerned for her safety, Marie flew out of Senegal to Guinea to visit her father who had just been released from jail. As soon as she arrived at the airport in Guinea, she was immediately arrested (at the airport) and taken to jail where she was incarcerated for SEVEN years!!!.

Laye took his wife's incarceration hard. He was hospitalized out of a very serious illness relating to his wife's incarceration. To curb the lingering loneliness of Marie's absence, he took in a second wife, an act that was in accordance of his islamic faith. Ramatoulaye Kante, his Senegalese wife also played the role of his nurse because of his failing health. But her presence in the household did not dim his affection for Marie. Acting on the advice of some friends, he suspended the publication of another novel of his which was to be a scathing attack on Sekou Toure for fear of his wife's safety. He changed his stance of his attack on Sekou Toure, organized some friends of his to pressure the president to release his wife. Eventually, he would cede to their demands and release Marie. This came after seven years.

Upon her release from prison, Marie moved back to Senegal to be reunited with her family. But the reunion was not as memorable between husband and wife as one would have anticipated. Marie refused to accept the presence of the second wife on valid grounds , she was Roman Catholic. And so, she divorced him.

Laye did not live long after the divorce. In failing health since the 60's probably stemming from a food poisoning incident in prison in the sixties, exarcebated by his beloved wife's incarceration and their subsequent divorce in 77 which consumed him towards the end of his life, Camara Laye gave up the ghost in 1980 and was buried in exile, Senegal.

Sekou Toure's evil deeds caught up with him in 1984, when he died, while undergoing a heart surgery in the United States of America. His demise was celebrated in his country. I dont know if Marie is still alive or not, but in 1990, she was alive and living in Guinea. She is memorialized on the website of the infamous Boiro prison in Guinea. I am amazed that she even survived the incarceration, because people died in that camp. Documents have surfaced that some of these dead people were buried in unmarked graves.

Read his books while growing up! The guardian of the world and others, the African child included.

Sekou Toure's son, Mohamed, and his wife, Denise, were recently found guilty of forced child labor in Texas. If convicted, they face upto 20 years in prison.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article224238625.html