By AMOS KAREITHI
The thunderous roars of the angry giant have long been drowned by the violent waves. Meanwhile, the occasional feeble chants of worshippers damning the unwanted spirits into the lake waters sound like whimpers.
It is rare but expected for the worshipers, coming straight from their church a kilometre away, to march in rhythm to the drums. This they do with their Bibles occasionally thrust in the air. As the worshipers reach the shores, they chant as they symbolically fling invisible loads to the lake, as its waves rush at the headland, creating undulating waves.
Their mission accomplished, the members of The Last Calling Church leave the beach as noisily as they had come, with songs and chants, promising to battle the spirits any time they venture anywhere near their church. It is strange that at this time and age talk of physically banishing spirits is still rife in an area where fishermen and oarsmen converse in whispers whenever they pass certain sections of the troublesome waters.
Strange name
The land jutting out of Mawigo headland near Winam Bay has a very strange name, Soklo Kipenji, which loosely translated means, “the hill whose name you should not ask about.” It captures the fears and beliefs of the locals. A visiting oarsman who tries to ask the name of the hill is violently silenced by the sailors who fear capsizing in water for annoying the spirits.
The story of the spirits and that of Nam Lolwe, another name for Lake Victoria, is intriguing and entwined with the mythical history of the origins of the lake that is believed to have been formed by a benevolent super being, a giant.
Acting as unofficial historian at Osiri beach in Kendu bay, Andrian Onyando, a natural storyteller retells the story of Nam Lolwe, the bad tempered giant who answered the cries of drought stricken residents by passing urine on them.
“There was a major drought at the time and the people residing here at Osiri pleaded with the giant to come to their rescue. They were so desperate that they did not mind the giant’s urine which they hoped could rescue them from certain death from thirst,” Onyando narrates.
The people pleaded with the agitated Lolwe, who was towering above them until the giant unsympathetically shrugged off their pleas and reprimanded them with a voice that sounded like thunder. So huge was the giant that when he talked, his voice caused the earth to quake. But the residents were so desperate in their want that they egged Lolwe on.
Tired of being nagged, the giant started passing water as he stomped around, creating deep depressions on the ground he stepped on, even as his urine collected in pools of hot liquid. Finally, Lolwe walked away from Osiri and rested on the opposite side on a mountain, Got Matedo, where the impression of his bottom was formed after he rose from his seat
Cooking mountain
This, the residents believe gave the hill that they regard as the cooking mountain its funny look, with its depression on the top as is typical of volcanic mountains. “It is suspected that he peed all the way to River Nile and all the people living around Lake Victoria and along River Nile from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt owe their existence to our peeing giant, Lolwe.”
To a visitor Osiri beach may take the stories of spirits and peeing giant as myths meant to frighten children by the fireside, but to the locals they are real. Luka Ramogi, a canoe man who frequently ventures into the fresh water lake will not allow any of his passengers to mention the hill that spirits do not want asked about. “These are nasty spirits.
The whole of Osiri’s land, prime as it is has been uninhabited for eons for fear of the spirits. Osiri Hill has been a reserve for magicians. Many contests and duels between wizards have been held here,” Onyando explains.
The magicians who once inhabited the place were from the Kaguria clan of very shy people who were chased away by Kanyanda Kochir from Gem. Before their departure, the Kaguria Council of Medicine Men decided to hold a farewell party for the victorious Kanyanda clansmen where they were feted with alcohol. Unknown to the feasting Kanyanda, they imbibed the irresistible brew that had been laced with medicine that was meant to make them hate Osiri Hill.
“So potent was the medicine that that very night the Kanyanda started packing and also vacated the place. The Kaguria clan members also took off and later settled in far away hills where they are widely consulted for their medicine,” Onyando says. Long after their departure the area is still dreaded by the locals, who talk of encounters with hippo-riding wizards, who alternated with taming crocodiles that they allegedly unleashed on their rivals.
Relics of this mythical era of the dueling spirits are still evident in the people going by the stories waxed around the unexplained feats performed by extraordinary men.
They include the legendary magician, Gor Mahia, the colonial era chief that once sojourned in Winam Gulf. But long gone are the days when as the locals recall, magicians held contests where lightening was used as a weapon by most accomplished magicians. Those not so endowed used their modest power to tame hippos and crocodiles.
To date, some parents in Kochier West with children about to sit national examinations visit Kaguria medicine men famed to have super natural powers. Ramogi adds, “Recently we had a magician who imitated his powers to lure fishermen into spots with lots of fish deep in the lake. Later the fishermen would disappear, never to be seen again.”
Another elder, Otieno Omolo says: “People still consult medicine men of Kaguria descent, whenever they encounter challenges in life. When my son was about to sit his form four examinations, I consulted a medicine man. I have no regrets for he did not disappoint.”
Although there are few tangible signs of the epochs during which the super men from Kanyanda and Kagura duelled spiritually, the Osiri hill to the locals is even now littered with evidence to a discerning eye.
Dueling spirits
To the locals, the rocky patch of the hill that overlooks Lake Victoria and Got Matedo is covered with thorny shrubs and uninhabited. Enough proof that the place is unfit for human habitation.
As he unrolls the mat of time and retells the story of Nam Lolwe and the dueling spirits who rode on hippos and crocodiles during the time Gor Mahia plied his trade in this part of the land, Onyando gathers his international guests around the inspiration tree, ochor ratieng.
After decades of being uninhabited, Osiri hill has finally found company – as Onyando who is a literature teacher has started an education centre that he hopes to transform into a university later.
This very hill that has been famous for spiritual duels will become a platform for ideological battles by scholars and students. This will happen when Onyando and his Scandinavian friends finally establish Global Bay University on this very site.
The spirit of the drunkenness cast by the Kaguria medicine men, who also inspired the descendants of Kanyanda to abandon the area, is finally wearing off and a new journey has began.
“This area has some residents who have never gone to school, instead opting for a life of romantic fishing where at the end of the day they make a paltry Sh100. This is not enough to buy one enough drinks,” Onyando says.
Once Osiri hill is rehabilitated and made into a heritage site, and the education centre matures into a University, the residents hope they will stop being slaves of the lake; forever dependent on the benevolence of Nam Lolwe.
“We hope to use the myth that has always kept people away from Osiri driving them into the lake, at times surviving on only one fish a day, to reverse the curse. We want our sons to go to schools so that our land can prosper,” William Odhiambo says.
When the school going orphans of Osiri and Kanyanda in Homa Bay finally abandon the beaches of Lake Victoria and retreat up the hill once cursed by magicians, another giant will rise in the area and overshadow Nam Lolwe whose fame and influence is only felt up to Egypt.
But before the Global University cleanses Osiri of the ghosts and the nasty spirits, Lake Victoria and Winam Gulf will continue to be the lifeline of the descendants of Kanyanda, as the fears and dreams of their ancestors continue to shape their aspirations.
akareithi@standardmedia.co.ke
