The passing of Chinua Achebe is a great loss not only for Nigeria and Africa but also for the world at large. I send my condolences and those of my brothers and sisters in The Gambia to our brethren of the great nation of Nigeria on the occasion of the death of the doyen of African literature, the most learned Chinua Achebe, “Towering Man of Letters” as the respected New York Times would call him. The loss of an icon and a repository of knowledge saddens us.

The Gambia has been mourning as well as celebrating Chinua Achebe during the past few weeks. We mourn his passing and yet are relieved and compensated by the wealth of knowledge and inspiration he left us. We are crying but we are also happy and we gladly celebrate his legacy. I guess this paradox of tears and laughter to mark his death was somehow foreshadowed by the doyen himself because a reviewer of his works once said that Achebe “makes you laugh and then catches your breath in horror.” I, the one who has been labeled The Gambia’s Pen, could not have been left behind in the mourning and celebration of Achebe. So when our national TV anchor Ebrima Baldeh (a student of African literature) sought me for an interview that was meant to be a tribute to Achebe. An 11-hour day at the office and its fatigue would not be enough to stop me from paying due respect to a deserving son of our continent. I left my office at 7 PM and drove straight to GRTS Headquarters in Kanifing.

The provocative journalist in Mr. Baldeh showed from the get go as he started his interview by quoting a jester who said that at the ripe age of 82, Chinua Achebe left the pitch of a football match eight minutes before the end and the game is incomplete. Surprised as I was at such a lighthearted way to start an interview that was meant to be a tribute, I smiled and answered: Well Chinua Achebe himself has answered this satirist of a jester. Chinua has not passed away he merely passes on from one state of being to another. His legacy lives in his books and teachings.

His legacy and his life continue in me as one inspired by Achebe’s works. Incidentally, our main national newspaper published an article of mine on the day of this interview titled “Wisdom from Our Mothers” that explained the significance of proverbs I learnt from my mother, the wise Kaddy Jammeh of Lamin Village. I connected this article to Achebe’s assertion that in his career he sought to write down the eloquence of Africa. I further quoted Achebe to say that the man who is credited with retelling the story of a continent that was largely written by outsiders has himself become a story because in his bid to write the story Achebe’s life has become a part of the story. And this is what Achebe said about the story: “… [I]t is only the story that can continue beyond the war and the warrior. It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters. It is the story […] that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence.

In my desire to convey the general mood of Gambians on the demise of Chinua Achebe, I sampled a few Gambian writers and this is what they have said about him:

Dr. Cherno Omar Barry lauded Achebe for the role his books played in African schools. The above quote from Achebe’s works was taken from Mr. Barry’s thesis. Making reference to James Miller Dr. Barry said that Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” “became the first novel adopted as a required text for African secondary-school students throughout English-speaking Africa. By 1965, his works were already known by a significant number of students and adults in most of the African societies.”

A renowned Gambian researcher, author and Curator of our national museum said this: “Chinua Achebe was to African literature what Herodotus was to history: Achebe removed African literature from the arcane crannies where it laid almost undisturbed to the centre stage of world attention, appreciation, respect and acceptance. Achebe was the ultimate colossus of African literature not only by his numerous books, but also through his editorship of the famous African Writers Series from 1960 to 2000, where he helped to expose over 100 African writers to the world.”

In the above statement, Hassoum Ceesay, who is also Vice President of The Gambia Association of Writers summed up my admiration, debt of gratitude and respect for Chinua Achebe because going through high school the only books I read apart from the required academic texts were titles from the African Writer’s Series. And having never sat in a literature class throughout my education, his editorship of the AWS qualifies Chinua as my teacher in the art of literature. Truly the icon has left an indelible mark in the minds of Africans like me.

My publisher Mohammed Hassan Loum CEO of GUELWAAR Publishers said this: “I grew up reading Chinua Achebe. Achebe’s novels for me chronicle African history. Of his books, I’ve read and enjoyed “A Man of the People”, “Anthills of the Savannah” and “Things Fall Apart”. Things Fall Apart was one of the first African Literature novels I read in School, loved and still do enjoy. The striking themes in this particular novel taught me the dynamics of culture, the struggle between change and tradition, and the quest for dominance. What I found particularly appealing is Achebe’s use of language by integrating traditional Igbo words in “Things Fall Apart”. Such usage of traditional language is also evident in Sabally’s wolofisms and Mandinka aphorisms. The demise of Chinua Achebe is indeed some things falling apart for African Literature.”

Well said there Mr. Loum, but the passing of Achebe is actually a turning point for Things falling in place. The legacy is a gold mine and writers like me will continue to grow and build by feeding from the wellsprings of his deep and rich legacy. Indeed his passing and the eulogy that the New York Times did on him were so remarkable that it has impacted my psyche. I do not think that it is a mere coincidence for me to be finalizing my first text in fiction at the time of Achebe’s demise. In his works, he has left perpetual instructions for us young ones on the way forward for African literature. And we shall follow his path. As I told Mr. Baldeh during our interview there is a Wolof proverb that says “an elephant clears the path purposely for her young ones to follow through”. In his trailblazing works Achebe has truly cleared a path for us and we shall follow all the way through to heights he would be proud to see us reach.

GRTS’s Weekend Spectrum Anchor and literary critique Ebrima Baldeh has this to say about Achebe: “Having carefully crafted his novel, Things Fall Apart, Achebe’s world was supposed to be united, but a union that was based on solid personal achievements nothing less, nothing more. Indeed, an anatomy of Achebe’s life will certainly take us to what he described as the misstep he took when he left the Faculty of Allied Sciences for the Faculty of Arts – in others words, Achebe as a first year student, knew he would be a teacher of light as Sallah and Iyeala describe him in their book “Chinua Achebe: a teacher of Light”. He did spread the light and his act was recognized by no less an authority than the great Simon Gikandi, the thoroughbred English Literature professor at Princeton University who once called him the father of African Literature. But isn’t it too sad, to see, the father of African literature departing without getting the Nobel Prize for literature? Better still, critics may ask: What’s so special about the Nobel, does it make you the best? Rest in peace Achebe, the battle has just begun.”

What a story! Rest in peace Chinua Achebe, Africa remembers and we will never forget you.

Momodou Sabally is of the Gambia’s Pen



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/the-gambia-mourns-chinua-achebe/

U can never know the real value of ur asset until it is lost. Chinualumogu Achebe lives.