GABON

READ

As you might expect from the title, Angèle Rawiri’s The Fury and Cries of Women deals with the adversities women face in a male-dominated society. In the case of the novel’s protagonist, Emilienne, the frustration comes from being unable to bear children for her husband Joseph, other than one daughter that was born to them early in their marriage. At least in part because of this situation, Joseph has taken a mistress, spending more nights with her than with his wife. Emilienne, then, is left with her mother-in-law who hates her and her husband’s two young nephews, who live in the house with them.

Multiple miscarriages and her husband’s infidelity have taken a toll on Emilienne. In the fictional city of Kampana, Emilienne has a very good job, making more money than her husband, and they live in an expensive house provided by her company. But none of that appears to matter in a country where women are prized for their ability to bear children. Emilienne is reminded of an observation from an article she read in a women’s magazine:

               “A woman is never completely satisfied. Whereas some enjoy professional

               success, other build a solid marriage based on love, and then there are those

               who have children to feel fulfilled. No woman, however, manages to enjoy

               all three.”

Having it all is apparently as much of a challenge for women in Gabon as it is for women in the United States.

Emilienne’s professional success is small comfort to her as she is assailed on all sides by people who blame her for what they see as her fertility problem. Even her mother seems to think that it wouldn’t be wrong for Joseph to take a mistress if Emilienne can’t give him children.

The plot takes many twists and turns, including murder, machinations against Emilienne by Joseph’s mother and his mistress, and a brief period during which Emilienne enters into a lesbian relationship. She explores different options for fertility treatments, from conventional medical consultation to hypnotism to sorcery. Her own feelings about herself run the gamut throughout the book too, as she is self-confident at some times, but self-loathing at others.

The book’s author, Angèle Rawiri, was Gabon’s first woman novelist, and she paved the way for the women writers in Gabon who came after her. The Fury and Cries of Women, which was published in 1989, was considered to be a feminist novel, with both the praise and the baggage that word evokes. A lengthy afterword by author Cheryl Toman goes into depth concerning Rawiri’s influence on women writers throughout Africa.

In the end, Emilienne is bent but not broken by the experiences she endures. She may not ever enjoy all three types of success discussed in the women’s magazine article, but she finally takes control of her own destiny.

COOK

Gabon is a former French colony, so most of the food mentioned in The Fury and Cries of Women is food we associate with France -- croissants, French cheeses, fancy meat and fish dishes. But there are also mentions of various fruits and vegetables, with bananas making an appearance in the novel more than once. So it was no surprise to find several baked banana recipes when I searched Gabonese cuisine online. The one I chose was from a website called International Cuisine, and the dish was called akwadu. It was simple to make, and easy to veganize by substituting Earth Balance for the butter and agave nectar for the honey. This dish was good served hot, but the leftovers were also good cold. I thought there was too much liquid for the number of bananas called for in the recipe, so if I were to make it again, I’d probably add in an extra banana or two.

GIVE

There were no projects for Gabon on the GlobalGiving.com website, so I searched the Internet to see what I could find. I discovered that the Nature Conservancy is working to preserve the health of Gabon’s rivers, which could be in jeopardy due to government efforts to create more hydropower plants. These plants may require more water than can safely be taken from the rivers, so the Nature Conservancy is working to gather accurate data about water flows.  By installing river gauge stations, the Nature Conservancy hopes to provide Gabonese authorities with the sound science they need to sustainably develop their natural resources. More information about this project is available at https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/africa/stories-in-africa/bringing-gabon-s-rivers-into-the-21st-century/.

NEXT STOP: THE GAMBIA