Goodbye My Friend Part 1

Months went by. Salifyanji's relationship with Nkasha grew as they got to know each other more and more; stealing any available moments to sneak off and be together. Cecilia was glad that her friend had found happiness but she was losing her... The more time she spent with Nkasha, the less time they spent together. On top of that, she was afraid they would all get caught sooner or later.

It was a few days before Salifyanji's Coming-of-age ceremony as she had just hit puberty - only a few months after her thirteenth birthday. She was excited because she would be finally ready to marry Nkasha but also anxious because of the things she had to endure before being married off. However she felt that she could endure anything as long as she got to marry the love of her life.

"When you get married, I will be coming to your place to eat nshima everyday," Cecilia joked while they were weeding and watering the gardens.

*Nshima was the main traditional dish eaten by everyone.

The next two days, Salifyanji didn't show up to the river as usual. Cecilia assumed it was probably because she was preparing for the ceremony. It was lonely for her because Salifyanji was her only friend. That night, Salifyanji's parents came to Martha and Lutu's hut while they were outside by the fire with three of their now seven children.

"May we speak to you?" They said.

"You are welcome," Lutu replied reaching out to shake Salifyanji's father's hand.

"Please sit down," he gestured to a couple of big rocks by the fire, which the youngest children had gotten up from in order to make room for the guests.

"Thank you," they said.

"What troubles you?" Lutu asked.

"Salifyanji has been missing for 2 days now. She even missed her ceremony with the other girls today." The father said. "We were hoping her friend there would know where she has gone."

Lutu nodded and then turned to Cecilia and questioned her. Cecilia was speechless for the moment; she feared for her friend. In that instant, her disappearance made sense and she had to protect her. She denied knowing anything about it or where she was. Her father got angry and slapped her across the face. He was convinced that she was lying because the girls were too close for her not to know. Regardless of the repeated beatings, Cecilia held fast to her statement - she didn't know anything.

Lutu paused and considered whether his daughter might actually be telling the truth because as far as he knew, he and his wife raised a decent girl. He never even wanted to have any daughters. According to him, they were too unpredictable and troublesome. That's why he asked the witch doctor to help him poison every other baby girl they had. Of course Martha had no idea because the witch doctor told her that the babies died naturally of unknown illnesses. Lutu apologized to Salifyanji's parents who then rose up, thanked him and left.

The next day, Cecilia snuck off to hers and Salifyanji's secret place. She was hoping she would show up there, alas, she did not. She went there again the following day until it was very late in the day. She got up to leave but then she heard Salifyanji's voice behind her. She turned around and quickly gave her a hug.

"I was so worried about you," she cried.

"I'm sorry. I can't stay in the village," Salifyanji said.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Salifyanji proceeded to explain that the few days before she was to have her ceremony, her parents told her that was betrothed to one of the village elder men and that he had already paid dowry. He was only waiting for her have her coming-of-age ceremony and to be put through teaching and training (known as "ama fundisho") by the bana Chimbusa for a week. It would take longer if there were any complications or if the girl was stubborn.

"I don't want to marry a fifty-something year old man Cecilia," she cried. "I want to be with Nkasha."

"Did you tell that to your parents?" Cecilia asked.

"I did. But they said that Nkasha is too poor to take care of me properly. And that he couldn't afford to pay the dowry paid by the elder." She explained. "So I ran away. Nkasha is supposed to join me and we will move to the township."

The townships were the more developed regions controlled by the British since the country was still a British colony at that time. Men were able to find jobs in the mines mining copper and earn wages. Many men had left the villages in search of a better life in the townships. As such, Salifyanji and Nkasha planned to do this primarily because no other village would accept them after running away from their own village. In fact, they would be apprehended and handed over to their village Headman to face the consequences of their actions.

"But Nkasha hasn't come," she said with a worried expression on her face. "It's already been more than four days."

This entire time, she had been living in the bush, eating wild fruits and drinking water from the river.

"Nkasha is not coming. Ba Kapaso have him detained. I did not know why but I now know." Cecilia said regretfully.

According to the customs, Nkasha was not supposed to be arrested by ba Kapaso. Nothing was supposed to happen to him. It was only because he had stolen the heart of a girl one of the respected elders of the village had his eye on.

"It seems this old man will go to extreme lengths to get me. Nkasha is in danger." Salifyanji said tearfully.

"What will you do?" Cecilia asked.

"There's only one thing I can do," she replied.