Keeper of herbs

(Part one)

This evening is like the so many I have spent in my herb garden yet an evil foreboding clouds my heart. I try to silence my worries by speaking to my herbs- I call them my daughters; strange, right? However, the disquiet with in me increases. I carefully regard the clear skies colored by the orange rays of the setting sun. Is it the impending dry season of January which leaves most of my herbs wilted that worries me? Although I do my best to water them, I have suffered loss in the past on account of the long-parched spells. If only our forest reserve in Namasole village had not been cleared ten years ago to set up that large plywood factory. True our youngsters and kins men are getting employment but at the price of these unpredictable weather changes. A friend Nyinamwiiza awakes me from my musings as she comes to pick her fortnightly herbs. I always laugh whenever I see her given the nature of herb she picks. Her shy spouse or rather man friend can’t bring himself to pick the ‘Mwitanzoka’ (Caesalpinaceae Cassia occidentalis L commonly used for erectile dysfunction). I had already prepared and carefully wrapped it in banana fibers. She paid her ten thousand shillings. She admiringly looks at the flowers and herbs as she is her habit. Her heavy sighing makes me feel like she shares my heavy heart.

“Do you know that just this afternoon, a gentle man claiming to be the landlord came to our house? He is asserting that we are illegal settlers on the land, and that he wants us off. Apparently, he claims to own almost our entire Kalagi village.” She groans as she regards the setting sun seeking solace from the beautiful creation.

It is then that it dawns on me; the evil foreboding I have been having all along.

“He says that we either get a land title or give him almost three quarters of our land. Of course, the price of the title is way beyond our reach. He is moving from house to house making the same demand. He will soon be knocking at your door.”

A vibrant garden showcasing diverse plant life.

The news hit me hard, and I am at a loss of words. We have been hearing land conflicts in our neighboring villages over in Gayaza sub county and we were secretly praying that we don’t experience them. These land conflicts in Kyankwanzi district never seem to end. People had lost their homes, gardens and have nowhere else to go. There was a woman who almost succumbed to death by poisoning herself and two children because she was at her wit’s end. Thankfully, she was rescued by a village health worker who found her helplessly laying in her compound during his routine visit. She was relocated to a public piece of land in Kyanga village and given two acres to grow her crops. She was however told to get a lease certificate from the lands office to secure her stay there.

Nyinamwiiza points to three people coming our way. One of them is our Kalagi village leader.

“Nakato, there he is the tall man between the chairman and the other person. It looks like they are coming towards us.”

True to Nyinamwiiza’s prediction, they approach us. After formal pleasantries or rather non pleasantries, the tall gentleman shares his agenda that is to either get us off his land or get a land title certificate (pay him a hefty sum of money to secure our land titles off his land title). Seeing him with the chairman makes us lose all spirit because it feels like our leader is already on his side.

Like he told Nyinamwiiza, the tall man (landlord) goes ahead to say his price for acquiring a title or he takes three quarters of the land. At this stage, he has already showed us his land title. There is no way of telling whether it’s genuine or not, so we get the plot and block numbers to do the land search. However, in the meantime, I must think of a peaceful way to secure my five acres of land which my gentle father left me with as a caretaker and my herb garden /forest which I inherited from my grandmother.

(To be continued to part two)