I recently read a book entitled The Chain & The Amulet by David Kujabi. The book is published by Ukiyoto in the year 2024. This book revolves around the life of Satou, a young girl born and bred in rural Gambia. It narrates the journey of Satou’s life and how she got an education – a rarity for girls of the time especially in the rural areas of the country.
Set in the 1970s, the book talks about a time that many in the current generation know very little or nothing about. It uses one of the characters, Lang, to give a glimpse of what life was like before, during and after the abortive coup d’état of Kukoi Samba Sanyang. Thus, in addition to enjoying the beautiful narrative of life in the provinces, one is given the opportunity to have some level of understanding of what went on during those turbulent times in the country.
The Chain & The Amulet also reveals how villages were governed in those times. It reveals the communal nature of village life at the time and blends in the all-pervasive superstitious beliefs of the people of the Gambia – then and now. It reveals how when a young person is in need of anything seemingly beyond his or her reach, they rush to an occult-healer to seek the help of ‘the gods’.
The book also talks about marriage and betrothal in the Gambian context. In earlier times, when a girl is born the parents almost immediately start thinking about who she should marry when she grows up. Thus, many, if not most marriages, at the time were arranged marriages. It reveals a clash of generations when the girl Satou, betrothed to a wealthy businessman, falls in love with a brilliant young man while still in school and far away from home. The young man so happened to be the son of the very person Satou is betrothed to.
In a unique and subtle way, the author tells how these traditions are being challenged – and in some cases replaced – by modernity. In fact, it goes on to highlight the differences in marriage and its concepts in these two different times. What is it that was expected from a wife then and what is it that is expected of wives now? Read the book to get the answers to these questions. In this manner, it highlights some of the ills of society then and now.
I loved reading the book and enjoyed every bit of it as it employed all the wonderful techniques in hooking the reader up. The descriptions are so well presented, so vivid that one feels that one is in the vicinity being described. I could relate to many of the scenes created, being a villager myself.
The narration of Satou’s schooling, especially the first day, gave me goose bumps as I read though. It was as if I was transported back to the day I enrolled in school.
It tells of how schoolchildren feel when they begin school for the first time. What children need most at such times is encouragement and understanding. It is important to remember that in our situation, we are being compelled to learn in a foreign language which makes it twice as hard. The book seems to wish to begin a conversation on this very important topic.
In narrating the schooling of Satou and her exploits, it talks about an excursion to the urban areas and showed how friendships were made during those trips. However there are slight mix-ups in the narrations when certain schools are mention when it should have been another. The same thing happens a few times when it comes to the names of certain students in the narration.
These minor slips should be rectified and the language polished a little bit in the narration of the travels of Lang during his sojourn in Libya and other places like Cuba. Such polishing will bring the book closer to perfection and make it much easier to read and understand.
It is indeed a very good book which should be read by young people in particular; not only for entertainment but also to gain valuable knowledge about the country, marriage, tradition and how societies used to – should – live. I recommend that the education authorities make this book available to the school going children and parents to buy these books for their children.
It is a very good way of preserving our culture and traditions.
Musa Bah
Writer and Principal, Mbullum Ahmadiyya Muslim Senior Secondary School
