Abakaliki: ‘There’s rice around us, but we feed on husks’
They have almost lost the ability to laugh. It may be said that poverty has expelled laughter from their throats. What emerges as a laugh is akin to a cackle. The cackle is a lament which attempts to resemble a laugh. Their words, which tend to rise and fall, slowly adopt a dirge-like quality .It […]
They have almost lost the ability to laugh. It may be said that poverty has expelled laughter from their throats. What emerges as a laugh is akin to a cackle. The cackle is a lament which attempts to resemble a laugh. Their words, which tend to rise and fall, slowly adopt a dirge-like quality .It is like an elegy to something that once was, but which has soared beyond human reach and beyond the human imagination. Their words are simply echoes or mirrors of something beautiful that has vanished. There is wealth here, for this is the home of the swift growing Abakaliki rice. There is much poverty too. The women are all of average height. Dust covers their entire bodies, making them look like a part of the dust itself, as though they have emerged from the dust, which now makes them look quite funereal. They are like children of the dust. They are Odes to dust,and their voices become a swelling hymn to pain and want, and to the dust. Their scarves which were once quite colourful, are now discoloured. Their wrappers faded long ago, and none can remember the year when the wrappers were bright and lovely. The dust falls in layers around their eyes and on their faces, also making them look much older than they really are. They begin to look like ghostly forms, and this is intensified by the Abakaliki sunlight. These are people who want to be happy. This is seen in their gestures, and in a sudden new sound within their voices.But arousing this positive state of mind is difficult for them. There is dust everywhere. It is the dust that naturally emerges from the milling of rice.
The women are some 20 feet above the ground, and they are standing at the summit of the mountain of husks which has formed over many years behind the Abakaliki rice mill in Ebonyi state. They have an intimate relationship with the mountain, for on the mountain top they sieve the residue from the rice mill, and they use this to feed their families. They feed on left overs. Some of them have done this faithfully for well over 30 years,which means that poverty has soared nonstop for three decades. The husk is a beacon of life to them. Every day women carry bags of residue on their heads from the mill, and convey same to the mountain of husks.
On a good day, some of them get twenty cups, and they are happy when this happens. On bad days they get much less. It is a painful, difficult life these women live. There is a glow in their eyes, but it is not the lovely glow of joy or of insight. It is a sudden shine forged by many years of seeking just a little food to eat. So, their eyes have become especially keen on account of the harsh daily search for food, which occurs come rain or sunshine. Their palms are firm and their limbs are taut. There is no extra weight of the upper classes among these women. Poverty has endowed their eyes with an eager look and a spark which some may take for a glow. Their otherwise gentle natures have been toughened by the endless search to survive.
Nkwegu Nwibo has been going to the mountain of husks for 30 years, searching for food to feed her family. On her work, she says “I carry 7 to ten bags each day from the mill, and bring to this place where we offload the bags. Then the residue is winnowed.”
She adds that she uses the rice obtained from the site to feed her family, and says that she has done this in an unbroken line for thirty years.
Her words “I am able to get 20 cups each day. I then take these home and mix with eba which we eat with soup. We have done this continuously for many years.” She says that if she did not have access to the mountain of husks, it will be totally impossible for her to feed her family. She raises her palms skywards in a kind of lament. There are many like her in the neighbourhood, and each day hundreds of women ascend the mountain of husks to continue the search for food. A footpath leads up the mountain, and there are a few tributaries which lead off this main path heading to other smaller mountains.
Coming up one of these tributaries is Angelina Mkpuma, bearing a load of residue from the mill. “This is the main site where I get food to feed my family,” she tells Daily Trust, stressing that if the site did not exist, countless women would not know what to do to survive. She says that her husband is a subsistence farmer, and he is able to provide just a bit of food for the family. She has a child and complains that times are hard. A few of the women sell the few cups of rice they are able to gather at the site. But majority use same to feed their families. Mbam Nwido has been working at the site for 25 years.
She says “I come here every day to winnow the left over in order to get some food for my family of 3 children.” She carries 9 bags everyday up the mountain of husks, and she proceeds to winnow these. There are about 50 women at the mountain today when Daily Trust visits. On this Angelina says “there is not much work now at the mill, and so the population of women here is low. But when there is a lot of work to do at the mill ,about 200 women will be present here winnowing the bags brought from the mill.” According to her countless people within Abakaliki use the husk as a source of energy in their households. Many people travel down to Abakaliki to gather the husk which is also used for parts of the construction process. Others use the husk as a form of manure on their farms, she adds. Elizabeth Mbam conveys 6 bags on her head each day to the mountain of husks. She arrives by 1:00pm and leaves at about 5:00pm and she is able to gather 13 cups of rice every day at the site. She says that before she began to work at the site, she used to do manual labour in neighbouring farms for a fee. Regina Ogbaga has also been visiting the husk site for 30 years now, and quickly says that it is the main means by which she feeds her family. She also adds that women are drawn to the site every day, in large numbers.
But the husk is a powerful source of energy, Daily Trust is told. Stella Nworie, a teenager, who was also present at the husk mountain, says that people usually visit the site to collect the husk which is used in their poultries. It is also used as manure in the farms, and birds also eat the husk, she adds.
Timothy Affia, who served as my guide says “With this husk, one does not need firewood. It is free and a cheap source of energy for the people.” Other countries have used their reserves of husk in very creative ways. An example is India where rice husk, such as seen in Abakaliki, is used to extend power to countless communities.There are more than 80 plants in the Bihar region of India, which is enough to give power to 200,000 people in 300 communities, states irri.org. In Spain the rice husk is used to make disposable chopsticks, which means that trees are being preserved, rather than being felled. This is significant.
Now, it is morning again in Abakaliki. At noon women can be seen at the summit of the brown mountain of husks,which has something strangely elegant about it. From a distance they look like busy vigilant ants. They raise their baskets and allow the wind to influence the winnowing process in a timeless ritual. Then they rest a little, only to start again after a little break. They repeat the cycle of movement and rest all over again. It is like a scene from another era. There is something to admire in these women, who though outwardly poor, have shown an immense wealth of spirit, and have not given up on the struggle to keep their heads above water, even if it means walking up the mound of husks every day for 30 years.