BINTI FROM ABROAD

"She says Kitula is so barbaric, she goes by the name of Angel" -Binti from Abroad

Welcome back to my  blog everybody. As an African writer, I've decided to try something new. I have started a hashtag #AfricanTuesdays where I'll be posting an African-themed poem every Tuesday.

So welcome to my first #AfricanTuesdays ever. What do I expect to gain out of this? Well, I'm glad you asked. Being from Tanzania and all, I haven't been able to get the African feeling in most of the poems out there. Don't get me wrong, I know a couple African writers who strive to add that African feel in their poems. Well, I wanted to be one of those. I want to create a space where Africans can read something they can relate to not only emotionally but also culturally.  I mean think about it, Africa to the world. Okay, stop fantasizing now and let's get on with the poem.

Today's #AfricanTuesdays Poem is titled BINTI FROM ABROAD. For some reason binti happens to be my favourite swahili word. It directly translates to someone's daughter. In most cases however, it's used to describe a young lady.  This is a poem of a young lady who lost her identity.
Enjoy.....!!

BINTI FROM ABROAD 

For she has become a Binti from Abroad

Binti walks so majestically,
Like she is scared to touch the ground,
Like the dirt from my sister's child will rub off on her expensive dress,
Like her mother's land is so foreign
Like she has forgotten the ways of the Chagga
She is no longer the girl I used to know
She is now a Binti from Abroad.

Binti sways as she walks,
You may think she's about to fall,
Her long legs so exalted, they carry her firmly,
She wears pointy shoes, the ones that can make you trip, fall and break a few bones,
But binti seems professional with the "shoes" of her days,
Forgive me eh Binti, for my old yet unsophisticated ways,
I respect that you are now a binti from abroad.

Binti colours her face, she paints it up and down,
She says it's beauty and fashion,
And that she's only being seeking to be modern,
Modern day beauty has surely lost it's touch,
Or am I just being primitive?
Her face has lost it's colour,
But she is a Binti from Abroad

I don't know where Binti got blue eyes,
She was born with big and round brown ones,
The ones whose stare can pierce through your soul,
Maybe it's the ride ,

in the white man's metallic bird that flies across the sky,
That destroyed her once mesmerizing eyes.
Or maybe, she is just a binti from abroad.

Binti from Abroad

No I refuse to believe, that my Binti is all gone,
Perhaps it's the food that she ate
Back in the land of the whites
Or the one that she didn't?
Because it makes her fat.
I fear that someday

the wind could blow her away

She never used to be a binti from abroad.

Binti talks weird, they say she has an accent,
She has forgotten the language
That once ran through her blood.
The one that was used to cast away an evil eye
She has forgotten her roots
Perhaps they weren't deep enough
For she has become a binti from abroad.

Binti doesn't want to be called
By her once original name
She says Kitula is so barbaric
She goes by the name of Angel
I heard her friends call her Angelina
She has forgotten the ties held by one's name,
Just like all the bintis from abroad.

Binti is the girl I once promised to marry,
She is my sweet childhood lover,
But like any child, I was allowed to dream,
Because Binti got herself a handsomely pale man,
Who is accustomed to the ways of abroad,
Binti no longer needs me all she sees is my shadow,
But I refuse to give up on this Binti from abroad.

Binti hear my silent cries,
Remember the "promises that never die".
Before you became a binti from abroad
You were my one and true mbege to my throat
Gosh, I can't even be romantic right,
Please look back, forget the ways of the West,
And just be the Binti I've always known.
Be the Binti of the red soils
And not the Binti from Abroad

......................

So how'd you feel about this Binti? Is she really as lost as described in the poem? Should she abandon the new ways and go back to her original African ways? Or is she misunderstood?

This is the platform where you can express your thoughts by commenting below. Who knows, I could actually write a poem basing on your thoughts.

For next week's #AfricanTuesdays  poem I'll be featuring a great Nigerian Writer. I'm gonna hide his identity for now. Keep you guessing a little bit.  

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See you next week.