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The story decries the devastation of the environment
and the ravages of wanton human activity on Mother Nature. The story subtly
suggests that hell hath no fury than an environment destroyed! As the narrator
notes, human beings have indiscriminately allowed their greed to prevail upon
them to destroy the environment. This has been exemplified through the felling
of trees even those that have traditionally been preserved for their religious
and medicinal value. Consequently, the people begin to witness unusual
happenings in the form of prolonged droughts, flash floods and as the narrator
observes, “It was as if nature was on a furious revenge mission” (110). These
happenings are reconstructed through the eyes of the two lovers as they
traverse the endless pastoral lands herding their livestock.
Norpisia is an unusual woman who defies the entrenched
Maasai traditional roles assigned to women. She takes up roles that would
otherwise have been assumed to belong to men in the Maasai patriarchal society
in which she is brought up. Her mentoring takes a turn from the traditional
socialising approach when hyenas attack and kill the sheep belonging to her
grandmother. When the grandmother comes back and discovers that the sheep had
been attacked and Norpisia had done nothing she is so cross with Norpisia that
she admonishes her and cajoles her as being good for nothing. Unknown to the
grandmother, Norpisia takes up the challenge and in a few days manages to kill
several hyenas hence feeling vindicated for her negligence.
This is one of the things that Norpisia begins to
learn under the tutelage of her grandmother – self-defence. She is also taught
voyeurism, traditional medicines and how to treat different ailments. These are
part of the things that decorate her life when she gets married to Kedoki. She
not only experiences nightmares, but she also apprehensively looks around as
most of the things she dreams about come true. It is also her ability to carry
weapons and defend herself that makes Masintet, their friend, refer to Kedoki,
her husband, as a Lesiote – the legendary man who had been brought for a woman
but did not know what to make of her. The jests of the men about Norpisia
carrying weapons are however quashed when she singlehandedly defends her
husband against cattle raiders who ambush them in the forest while they are
herding their livestock. Their disbelief transposes into admiration and respect
for her especially when they realise that she is also very good with the herbs
and other medicinal trees.
Kulet succeeds to infuse the text, Vanishing Herds, with Maa diction and
the flavour of the language is so fluidly intertwined in the narrative that the
reader hardly realises that s/he is interpreting the story from the lenses of a
local language. The story not only underscores the vanishing forests, wild
animals and domestic animals as well, but it also predicts a sad premonition;
that human beings, the only educated herd, might also be staring its own
effacement from the earth straight in the eye. Our unabated destruction,
encroachment and unbridled use of natural resources might eventually result in
the end of the world literally speaking.
The story moralises us on the need to exercise
restraint in how we utilise Mother Nature’s resources. It also creatively
suggests some noble ways of preserving the environment and suggests that some
of the ways through which we imagine to be taking care of the environment are
in essence an indication of our vanity as human beings. There is also a subtle
suggestion that certain misconceptions and myths about the environment, certain
tribes amongst others are baseless. Consequently, as we embrace technological
advancement, there is need to take stock of our cultural milieu and integrate
that which is beneficial even as we discard practices that might hold us
prisoners of unfounded traditional mores.
Ultimately, the text warns us that if we don’t take
heed to preserve our environment for posterity, we might as well be sojourning
to another life as part of the Vanishing
Herds that are depicted in Kulet’s novel.
PS: This review was first posted on the Daystar Language & Performing Arts Book Reviews Section long before the novel won the Jomo Kenyatta Literary Prize
PS: This review was first posted on the Daystar Language & Performing Arts Book Reviews Section long before the novel won the Jomo Kenyatta Literary Prize
