Where is hope for Africa?

Conflicts have been part of Africa for a long time. Currently there are conflicts, rebellions or civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Western Sahara, Senegal and Egypt.

 Many African countries have suffered greatly from civil strife and today Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Rwanda are still rebuilding after deadly conflicts.

Societies must guard themselves from sinking into strife to ward off the painful and difficult reconstruction and recovery process.

This is the message that Ishmael Beah’s latest book, Radiance of Tomorrow (Sarah Chrichton), carries.

Set in the town of Imperi in Sierra Leone, Radiance of Tomorrow tells the story of a group of returnees, all victims of war, who try to reconstruct their home town and lives after they were displaced by the seven-year-old war.

Each one has a story to tell about the war that left some of them maimed and without parents, children, relatives, neighbours and friends.

Some are former child soldiers, orphans and teenage mothers taking care of babies born out of rape

Beah paints a picture of death, displacement, pain, broken families, breakdown of infrastructure, poverty and disillusionment.

Those who return to the town find it in ruins and littered with human bones. They try to clean up to wipe out the reminder of the killings.

The two main characters, Benjamin and Bockarie, both teachers, try to rebuild their lives by teaching children at a local school.

The pay is too low and is irregular. To escape poverty   many children look for jobs in the nearby mines, ending their schooling altogether.

The mining company that employs them becomes a behemoth; it destroys water sources and farm lands, contributing to further impoverishment. The foreigners who run the company bribe government officials so that when Imperi residents complain to the local chief about major infractions, they are   punished for “spreading lies and propaganda.”

Beah presents the mining company as a symbol of evil which spreads its tentacles in the town, destroying everything in its wake.

Many of Imperi town folk die or disappear in the mines, even though the company denies this.

Ultimately Bokarie and Benjamin find that they cannot put food on the table from their measly pay and take up jobs in the mines.

Benjamin ends up dying following a mining accident and Bokarie is left to take care of his friend’s family.

Radiance of Tomorrow shows the instability that comes with war; the survivors have no roots on which to rebuild their lives. Their situation is made worse by greedy, exploitative people.

 The decision by the two teachers to leave their profession and seek work as casual labourers in a company that is destroying the very core of their community’s existence is symbolic of a desperate nation that has no sense of direction.

The violations of rich mining companies that profit from abundant natural resources  is not new to Africa; many destroy the lives of local people in their quest to get richer.

Unfortunately, these natural resources only benefit a tiny elite. 

Yet, the novel points to the possibility of rebirth. The writer is convinced that African countries may have had a history of struggle but there is hope that communities can come together again and co-exist.

This may be the story of Sierra Leone but it offers hope to other nations — that there can be a better tomorrow.

However, a better tomorrow can only come if we guard our relationships today; if we learn to prevent conflict rather than wait to heal broken bodies, minds and souls.

The novel is a reminder of the cords of humanity that bind all of us and which, therefore, must be protected at all costs.

It is a commentary on the pockets of iniquity in our societies which must be addressed if we are to maintain a peaceful world in which we treat each other with respect and accord one another the dignity they deserve.

Radiance of Tomorrow is an allegory of contemporary Africa and a story that needs to be told over and over again.

It is a story about forgiveness, reconciliation, inclusiveness and sharing of both individual and collective memories.

Radiance of Tomorrow may be a novel but Beah largely writes from experience since he was a child soldier in Sierra Leone.

His personal story is recorded in his memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

His personal experiences during and after the war therefore make this novel, not only rich in content, but gives conflict a human face.

The act of writing his memoirs and the novel in a way becomes a pointer to the message of hope and renewal around which the novel revolves.

Talking about the war becomes a therapeutic avenue, one which the other characters in the novel pursue.

Beah’s style of writing is captivating and his craftsmanship almost makes the reader forget that they are reading a story of war and pain.

His language is simple yet powerful in its rendition of the post-war experience in Sierra Leone.

The writer teaches Literature at the University of Nairobi. jennifer.muchiri@uonbi.ac.ke