THE AGONY OF BARRENNESS

   THE AGONY OF BARRENNESS

                                           

BY

SAEED FADLULAHI FROKO

 

A Review by 

KOFI YEBOAH

(General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association and Lecturer at the School of Communication Studies, Wisconsin International University College, Ghana)

  

At creation, when God charged Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth, His intention was to ensure succession to lineage but that procreation architecture has often been truncated by barrenness and impotence. Invariably, many women are demonized for their inability to give birth even when their husbands are the convicts of infertility.

The Agony of Barrennessis a classic novel that tells the story of this widespread ‘sin’ committed against women in Ghana and Africa in a rather compelling manner that constantly draws tears in the eye.

At age 35 (now 36) Saeed Fadlulahi Froko may be too young to worry about barrenness but at a glance, the bastardization of women living with a condition they have no control over or are falsely accused of, compels him to write a 554-page book on barrenness to earn his first title as author.

Saeed, a Level 300 Law student at Wisconsin International University College, Ghana, (who is now at the Ghana School of Law) repackages the age-old hostility against barrenness in a manner that renders the book a must read for all.

Cast in 16 chapters, the book is a collection of tradition, culture, religion, stigmatization, ignorance, emotion and pain, all packaged in grammatical eloquence spiced with intriguing proverbs and figures of speech that makes The Agony of Barrennessa priceless novel, even at a cost of Ghc60.

The author plots the action on a stage of how men, endowed with masculine features and beauty, are deemed faultless and revered by society even to the point of having women tear each other apart in fights to win the heart and love of such men. That was the story of Jinsung and Sungnuma, as the latter fought Hiyera, an age mate, in their girlhood over Jinsung at a village called Kabanyeh.

Using the village setting, the author demonstrates an admirable knowledge of the traditions and cultural norms of Northern Ghana to address a phenomenon that prevails across the country.

Months after getting married to the man all women in the village craved for, Sungnuma was haunted by her inability to bear children for a man whose family intensely abhorred barrenness. She endured insults, scorn and mockery from the village folks, including her friends, father-in-law and husband, who once told her in shattering words: “I am tired of wasting my precious seeds on your unproductive womb!”

Eventually, Jinsung married a second wife – Hiyera, the long-time rival of Sungnuma, and as the author puts it, “her[Sungnuma’s] whole system became an agony, poisoned with sorrow and inexplicable grief.”Sungnuma’s maltreatment worsened when Hiyera conceived, but blessed with exceptional beauty and kind heart, she paid her tormentors back with total love, even to the extent of making a long-distance journey into the deep forest to get pawpaw seeds for the cure of her dying husband. On her return from the mission to save her husband’s life, she lost her life from the poisonous bite of a snake.

Displaying exceptional storytelling skills and employing the potency of colluqial, Saeed succeeds in painting a vivid picture of the ugly face of barrenness to arrest the attention of readers. There is no doubt The Agony of Barrennessis a masterpiece novel that all must grab a copy to read from the EPP Books Services off the UPSA Road or the author on mobile number: 020 145 9201/024 3587 229