Auma's Long Run by Eucabeth Odhiambo

Auma Onyango lives in the small Luo village of Koromo in Kenya with her Mama, her younger sister Baby, and her two brothers nine-year-old Musa and eleven-year-old Juma. Also living in their family compound is Bani, her father's mother. Her Baba works in shop in Nairobi, returning to visit them at the end of each month.  She attends KaPeter Primary school where she is beginning Class Seven. Auma loves to run, has big dreams of becoming a doctor one day, but in order to achieve her dream, Auma must get a scholarship to attend high school and eventually university in the city far from her village. She hopes to accomplish that by winning a scholarship for track.

Then one day after school, Auma is surprised to see Baba home from Nairobi, during a weekday in the middle of the month of November. Baba's job in the city has meant Auma and her brothers have been able to attend school regularly. Auma is suspicious of her father's unusual visit in that he has not brought them his usual gifts from the city. Aumua also senses that something was different about him, that his presence is not reassuring. "I couldn't shake the feeling that something dark and unfamiliar had followed him into our home."

With the death of Tabitha's husband, Mika, Auma notes that there have been many deaths in the past two years, supposedly from typhoid and malaria. Her best friend Abeth has lost both her mother and father and now lives with her younger sister Supa and her grandmother. "I still couldn't figure out why only parents seemed to be dying, leaving behind healthy grandparents."  However, Auma wonders why so many adults are suddenly dying from these diseases or if they are sick with something unknown.

It soon becomes apparent that something is seriously wrong with her father. Auma's father does not re return to his job in Nairobi, spends his days sleeping,, and continues to lose weight. When Auma asks her mother when Baba will return to his job, her mother ignores her questions. But Auma is determined. Eventually Auma's mother tells her that she doesn't know what is wrong with Baba and she decides to accompany him to the clinic. When they return, Auma notices her mother looks "like she had seen Death himself."

In January a new term begins at school with Auma now in Class Eight. Meanwhile Baba continues to grow weaker and sicker. Her mother refuses to take him to the medicine man, telling Auma that she will continue to pray to God for his healing. Then one day Auma returns home from school to find that her father is dying. Her mother mourns Baba's death but for Auma it marks the beginning of a challenging and sad period of her life where she must make some difficult decisions about her future.

Discussion

Auma's Long Run tells the story of the devastating effects of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Odhiambo decided to write this story featuring younger characters because the AIDS epidemic in Africa has primarily impacted young children who are often left orphaned by the deaths of one or both parents from the disease.  To date, the AIDS infection in Kenya shows little signs of slowing down. Over the last decade, the country has the highest rate of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 1.6 million Kenyans are HIV positive.

Born and raised in Kenya, Odhiambo states that she wrote "the story of the girls and women I grew up around. I wanted to explore some of the issues that thread through the lives of women: a woman's place in society, relationships, marriage, childbearing, motherhood, strength, confidence, and respect. Above all, I wanted to honor the resilience of HIV/AIDS orphans, many of whom overcome their trauma to grow up to be successful adults but have no platform to tell their stories."

One aspect of the AIDS epidemic in Kenya that Odhiambo addresses is the lack of information and the unwillingness of adults to talk about what was happening during the early years of the epidemic, both of which contributed greatly to the rapid spread of the disease. This is shown in the novel by the character Auma, who is an intelligent, observant girl, seeking answers. Auma is puzzled by the deaths of parents, leaving children and grandchildren untouched.  Although Auma is determined to learn what is going on, she finds the adults in her village are secretive. Only by surrepitiously listening in on a conversation between two adult women in the market does Auma learn about a disease called AIDS or Slim and that it kills people by making them very weak and unable to fight off infections.

When her father becomes seriously ill, her mother never talks to Auma about his illness. After overhearing villagers speak about her father's illness Auma suspects her father has AIDS but is unable to confirm this belief. "Over and over again I'd asked myself what could possibly be wrong with Baba. Over and over again I came up with only one answer. And yet I'd kept hoping that I was wrong. That Mama would have some other explanation for me."

 Even at her father's funeral, the adults speculate about what killed Baba, but never really naming what they believe killed him - AIDS. This reluctance to understand and talk about what is happening in the village is upsetting to Auma. "Maybe that was better, not knowing. Or maybe the worst feeling came from only knowing half of something, and never being able to get a complete answer...
And maybe the adults weren't hiding things from me. Maybe they really didn't know."

Fortunately, her teacher Mr. Osogo openly discusses AIDS with Auma's fellow Class Eight students, explaining how HIV virus attacks the body. Not satisfied, Auma asks "the big question", "How do people contract HIV?" While Mr. Osogo informs the class that it can be contacted through sexual relations with an infected person, he also identifies other ways to become infected. Mr. Osogo's description of AIDS confirms Auma's worst fears. Auma questions why the adults in the village have not spread this information. "Why weren't there a hundred Mr. Osogos dragging blackboards into the middle of the market and explaining this to everyone? Why was even the disease's name hidden beneath a layre of you knows and stupid nicknames?"

Odhiambo also highlights some of the myths that Auma encounters in the treatment of AIDS such as using the village medicine man and the idea that having sex with a virgin cures AIDS.

The novel also portrays how difficult life can be in rural Kenya for young girls; they face challenges in being treated equally and in making decisions about their future. For example, many girls do not continue on with their education, often not completing high school. In Auma's Class Seven, there are forty-five students, of which only fifteen are girls. Auma is determined that she will not be one of those girls who quit school because of her period - a common occurence in the developing world. Often this is the result of a lack of sanitary hygiene materials; Abeth shows Auma how she can use an old blanket for this purpose. Specific tasks like collecting water and going to market are considered women's tasks. While out collecting firewood with her brothers, Juma and Musa are confronted by a boy whom they sense wants to harm Auma. As Auma matures into a young woman, she discovers it is unsafe to collect firewood alone, or to fill the family pail at the stream. When Auma begins to menstruate, she decides not to tell her mother because she knows she will tell her grandmother who will then pressure her to marry. "If Dani had her way, I'd quit school now and leave home to get married. Leave my parents and siblings behind. Leave Abeth and all our friends..." Dani's attempt to marry her off, result in Auma having to hide.

Odhiambo captures the devastating effect AIDS has on individuals, families and society in general. What is particularly tragic is Auma's view of marriage as a life-limiting choice, one that leads to a life of hardship and even death. Even more saddening is her view of men, partly due to her father's betrayal that has led to such tremendous suffering for her family and the death of her mother. Because of this Auma forms the determination to never marry as a way to protect herself from AIDS.

Despite the tragic subject matter of Auma's Long Run, Odhiambo has created a resilient character in Auma. Despite the loss of her parents and the deaths in her village, Auma manages to maintain a hopeful attitude, demonstrating fortitude and great strength of character. She decides she will be an adult who looks for constructive solutions. "...I wondered why most of the elders in my life failed to think of constructive solutions to problems. Mama, Dani, Aunt Mary -- they all seemed to jump to the easiest solution or give up...What if they talked openly about AIDS, so that everyone knew how it spread and how to avoid contracting it or passing it on? What if they thought seriously about the consequences for orphans after their parents' burials?...I would not be that kind of adult. I would look for real solutions, even if they didn't come easily."

Well written, Auma's Long Run is a thoughtful, serious treatment of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, written for younger readers that encourages them to ask the difficult questions and to consider the global consequences of this serious illness.

Book Details:

Auma's Long Run by Eucabeth Odhiambo
Minneapolis:  CarolRhoda Books     2017
297 pp.