No Sweetness Here

Chicha is the village schoolteacher in Bamso and the narrator of the story. She is a largely passive observer who records events and receives information. Assigned to Bamso by the government, she knows she will not be staying and will be assigned elsewhere eventually. Chicha is often in motion. Chicha is not a native member of this insular community. Nevertheless, she fits in well and is well-liked. Though she gets worried and concerned over the divorce and custodial proceedings, she does not object to them or question the community’s practices and traditions. As an outsider, she is somewhat detached. When she shows feelings, they are very subtle, as when she realizes after Kwesi’s death that her face is “bathed in unconscious tears” (74). Like everyone else, she adores Kwesi; as a character who observes, she often comments on his beautiful appearance. She is friends with Maami Ama and cares a great deal about her. Chicha has a cruel sense of humor, talking to Maami Ami about beating her son and often joking she will take him away, even though Maami Ami always gets upset and takes her seriously. She is not entirely joking about taking Kwesi away, however. As a younger woman, educated and with a career, Chicha represents a more modern Africa (or colonized Africa), saying of herself, “I was a teacher, so I went the white man’s way” (58).