Kaveena (Global African Voices) by Boubacar Boris Diop

Author:Boubacar Boris Diop [Diop, Boubacar Boris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2016-03-27T22:00:00+00:00

Their little matter with Prieto da Souza had worked out well. N’Zo Nikiema was getting more and more excited. He told Pierre Castaneda, “We should take this opportunity to do some cleaning up. We have all the names.”

Castaneda was more cautious. “We’ll never have all the names, Niko. These stories are not that simple.” Then, as if thinking aloud, he added, “All this is so new. Let it go.”

He seemed more disappointed than angry. N’Zo Nikiema learned a few days later that Castaneda had discreetly given some money to Prieto da Souza’s elderly parents. Even though he tried hard not to let it show, Castaneda was very worried. And rightly so. We heard the first rumblings of deaf revolt. Anger rose over the course of the weeks. Where had this sudden rage come from? No one knew. Every night, leaflets were mysteriously distributed in the city and they were becoming increasingly virulent. They castigated the lifestyle of the Whites of the Belvedere Complex, considered glitzy to the point of indecency.

The Belvedere Complex was the name given to an area of nearly a thousand hectares which housed Cogemin executives. Other than N’Zo Nikiema, they were all foreigners. Belvedere, as it was called, was well equipped. There were pools, two fancy restaurants that were terribly expensive, and several stadiums for soccer, tennis, volleyball, etc. And a movie theater. I have already spoken of its two supermarkets with supplies arriving directly from France, which always astonished the visitors. They were also the pride of Pierre Castaneda. Some executives, like Jacques Estival, boasted of not having been in the town proper more than twice during their several years of living in Ndunga. Others still went to the African downtown, especially when they wanted to escape the stifling atmosphere of the housing complex. Although it was huge, residents felt crammed on top of one another. Stories of sexcapades were rustled up like nobody’s business in Belvedere, as were fierce professional rivalries and even some alleged political wrangling. Some of the newcomers, young and still a little tender, often suffered from mood swings. We left them alone and they soon fell back in line.

It was during this troubled time that the inhabitants of Ndunga came back and built their slums close to the housing complex. Castaneda became very suspicious and saw it as a deliberately thought-out political act. In his mind, it was a quasi-military maneuver to stifle the European section of the city before attacking it from all sides. He was definitely exaggerating, but his fears were justified by the way it looked. The encirclement of Belvedere was indeed performed in a gradual and, so to speak, inexorable way.

In the beginning, a few young women came during the lull in the day to sell rice dishes or braised chicken to the miners for almost nothing. Then the shops opened, and soon there were bars which in turn attracted prostitutes, public transportation, beggars, and some homeless types. Many of the kids who offered sunglasses or bottles of ice water to passersby were pickpockets.

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