Publisher's Synopsis
Yimbo, hitherto known as Kadimu, is located in Siaya County of Kenya. It is the westernmost location, and is traditionally known as the home of mosquitoes and tsetseflies....Anindo Mwaloooo....suna kayo Nyeya, Anindo Mwalo kalando pier Nam...Suna kayo Ngeya suna gi Maugo.....was a common song we sang at youth. It has within it Lake Victoria and lake Sare; is neighbouring lake Kanyaboli on the Alego side, while Yala River traverses iupto Lake Victoria. its also host to the famous Dominion farms, which it shares with Alego.That Alego is a strategic neighbour to Yimbo Kadimo is wel explained by the paragraph above. But more importantly, most Yimbo residents survived courtesy of their sojourn in Alego- short, long to permanent. Yimbo was, and still remains the home of mosquitoes and tsetse flies...thereby making malaria and sleeping sickness as endemic diseases. Therefore any native of Kadimo who actually grew uip there is a walking miracle...surviving in the middle of the most dreaded disease...with vectors which other human beings in other parts of the country want to kill with bullets and hammers. The mere parasite load in their blood keeps others wondering how they are walking...this is why they are walking miracles.In the early parts of the 20th century, Japuonj Afulo was born (1922), just 37 years after his father's miraculous birth and survival (pon). Both lived in Alego for some time, with the latter spending almost the bulk of his active life in Alego--to survive the Maugo and Suna onslaught. Later, when they settled in Kadimo, Ogutu became chief and helped establish the first ever school, Usenge sector, sent Enok Obudho there as the founding headmaster, and sent his son Ogoma as one of the pioneer learners, among whom was Okulo from Ndiwo Kipenji (Dont dare ask lest....). Going to school was a mark of courage, stamina and sacrifice...as they walked over 20 km, departing from home by 4-5 am, walking through narrow paths and often meeting the hyenas, the leopards, snakes, among other wild animals. Yet this was a twice daily affair. Afulo was initially lucky because Ogoma represented the family in school....and the former was meant to be a family herdsboy....the wazee valued livestock more than everything else and sending a child to school was considered a waste...yet Chief Ogutu had to comply because it was a colonial law which he had to enforce in his vast Kadimu location.In later 1930's Afulo starts hiding to go to school..and he literally 'goyo akwadha' between schooling and taking care of livestock. He risked by choosing Yala, a newly established intermediate school in Gem, and became one pof the founder pupils. here he lears to the end, and joins Asumbi teachers college to qualify as a P4 teacher. He was first employed at Madianya sector in Uyoma where he taught for 3 years before geting a transfer to start the first ever catholic school in Yimbo, and the third after Usenge and Majengo. here he teaches for 2 decades, and a gunshot injury forces him to shift base to Barkanyango where he teaches for another 15 years before his retirement in 1985. he lead the community in various capacities, but most importantly, established a most successful family of two wives and 16 surviving professional children. The book gives a detailed account of birth and 'pon', early life, schooling, leadership, community rites of passage and culture, stories of some Luo heroes, parables and sayings among the Luo, the Luo migration and spread across Africa, and ends up with an analysis of: community coezistence; which way Luo?; Which way Imbo?; and Yimbo as a cultural pot of diversity. To make this history beyond the death of Afulo 13 years later, a total of over 50 elders from Yimbo and beyond, with a mean age of 78 were interviewed over a period of 1 year. The eldest is the indefatiguable Jeremiah Ongech Ogola 'aka' Dola, arguably the oldest surviving Yimbo elder at 96, and the youngest is Okelo Jalela, a family friend.
