Refugee Mother and Child ~ Chinua Achebe
Refugee Mother and Child is a poem published by acclaimed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi in Nigeria in 1930 and is one of Africa's most respected writers. He is better known for his novels than for his poetry, and especially for Things Fall Apart, the powerful novel that explores the impact of European culture on African society. Achebe's writing during the 1960s and 1970s was politically influenced and focused on addressing Nigeria's internal conflicts. His literary work is considered to be post-colonial as he focused primarily on issues arising from colonial history and the issues faced by post-independent countries. However his work attempted to focus on the humanity of the people he described, raising awareness of their concerns and issues.
Refugees and Refugee Camps
According to the United Nations (https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/refugees)
The definition of a refugee is someone who:
"owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."
There were 79.5 million people forcibly displaced world-wide at the end of 2019. Among those were 26 million refugees, half under the age of 18.
Refugee camps are temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution or violence. While camps are not established to provide permanent solutions, they offer a safe haven for refugees and meet their most basic needs such as food, water, shelter, medical treatment and other basic services during emergencies.
In situations of long-term displacement, the services provided in camps are expanded to include educational and livelihood opportunities as well as materials to build more permanent homes to help people rebuild their lives. These services are also offered to host communities.
According to statistics from the United Nations only 6 million refugees reside in refugee camps, 22% of the total population of refugees globally.
Biafran War
The Biafran War also known as the Nigerian Civil War took place from July 1967 until January 1970, shortly after Nigeria gained independence from Britain on the 1st October 1960.
The new country sought to combine groups divided by ethnicity and religion — a process that led to tensions that culminated in two military coups from which the leaders of the country’s Northern region emerged triumphant. When the Northern coup resulted in the murder of military and civilian members of the Igbo (Ibo) people in 1967, they declared their homeland, the Eastern region, independent. It was now known as the Republic of Biafra, and Odumegwu Ojukwu was its leader.
During the colonial era the Hausa (northern), Igbo (eastern) and Yoruba (south-western) peoples had been conquered and were combined into the single state of Nigeria. Further division was caused by the fact that the Hausa in the north were largely Islamic whereas the Igbo had largely been converted to Christianity during the colonial period.
Upon independence, ethnic and religious differences escalated eventually leading to the secession of Biafra (a newly created state in eastern Nigeria). The Igbo initially tried to lead a coup against the Northern (Hausa) dominated democracy due to corruption and failure to distribute resources fairly to all groups. However the deaths of many northern politicians was seen as an attempt to establish Igbo dominance and a countercoup was organised. The Igbo then seceded to create their own state of Biafra. However oil was discovered in the Igbo territory of Biafra and the new Nigerian state was reluctant to lose the valuable resource which was lucrative to the continuing economic dominance of the European countries.
*secede - to become independent of a country or area of government (Cambridge Dictionary)
The Nigerian army secured the oilfields that were essential to the Biafran economy and then blockaded the Biafran state denying them food and humanitarian aid. This led to a humanitarian crisis.
Estimations of the death toll due to fighting, ethnic cleansing and starvation is at 1 million.
Kwashiorkor
Kwashiorkor is a severe form of malnutrition. Due to not eating enough protein or other essential vitamins and minerals.
It's most common in some developing regions where babies and children do not get enough protein or other essential nutrients in their diet.
The main sign of kwashiorkor is too much fluid in the body's tissues, which causes swelling under the skin (oedema).
Other symptoms of kwashiorkor include:
- loss of muscle mass
- an enlarged tummy ("pot belly")
- regular infections, or more serious or long-lasting infections
- red, inflamed patches of skin that darken and peel or split open
- dry, brittle hair that falls out easily and may lose its colour
- failure to grow in height
- tiredness or irritability
- ridged or cracked nails
If left untreated kwashiorkor can lead to physical and intellectual disabilities and in severe forms can lead to death.
Adapted from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/kwashiorkor/ and https://www.etymonline.com/word/kwashiorkor
The Madonna and Child in Art
The Madonna and child in art is a central image of Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. The Madonna is a representation of Mary, mother of Jesus, and she is often depicted with her child, seated upon her lap, holding him gently. She is a representation of a mother's love and the infant Jesus, is a symbol of his innocence and purity.
Poem - Refugee Mother and Child
No Madonna and Child could touch
that picture of a mother’s tenderness
for a son she soon would have to forget.
The air was heavy with odours
of diarrhoea of unwashed children
with washed-out ribs and dried-up
bottoms struggling in laboured
steps behind blown empty bellies. Most
mothers there had long ceased
to care but not this one; she held
a ghost smile between her teeth
and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s
pride as she combed the rust-coloured
hair left on his skull and then –
singing in her eyes – began carefully
to part it… In another life this
would have been a little daily
act of no consequence before his
breakfast and school; now she
did it like putting flowers
on a tiny grave.
Analysis
Characters and Narrative Voice
The poem opens with the Mother the clear focus and subject of the piece, later shifting to the unnamed child. The narrative voice of the poem is clearly sympathetic to the plight of both, praising the mother for her motherly virtues of care and protection. His comparison of her to the divine mother (the Madonna) shows his immense respect for both the woman and her role, this is then further expanded upon later when he compares her favourably against the other mothers who have lost their ability to care, whilst she still retains the "ghost" of those virtues. Still caressing her child out of pure habit, despite the loss of her ability to care for the child that is reflected in his malnutrition.
This is largely due to the fact that the loss of these virtues is not due to her own disinclination but rather due to the circumstances in which she is placed.
The child itself is very much portrayed as a victim, and is described very similarly to the images that emerged from Nigeria during the Biafran war, that showcase the widescale malnutrition and its consequences for children. That he is a victim of kwashiorkor is clearly illustrated by his "washed-out ribs" and "blown-empty belly". Other conditions such as the references to "diarrhea" and "dried-up bottom" speak to other issues related to malnutrition, probably due to eating inappropriate foods out of desperation and starvation. The children's lack of energy is conveyed in the words "struggling in laboured steps" another symptom that is associated with kwashiorkor. The final clue the child is suffering from kwashiorkor is his "rust-coloured hair" a famous characteristic of the disease.
The ultimate fate of the child is hinted at in the poem as well, in the final lines, where a "grave" is mentioned.
Though the details of this particular mother and child are clearly focused on in the poem, Achebe also hints at a universality to his characters. They are unnamed, their identities lost and only their current roles and predicament remain. Though Achebe in his writing tries to grant them some individuality, even he is hardpressed to focus on what makes them unique. Seeing only "ghosts" of what they once were. In this Achebe tries to highlight the incredible loss of his two characters, although he is trying to rehumanise them and give the mother back some dignity in his writing, she is very much a part of the refugee masses. In this way she becomes an archetype of the displaced refugee.
Archetype (n) Literary - the original model or a perfect example of something (Cambridge Dictionary)
The fact that she is an archetype is reinforced by her comparison to the Madonna discussed above.
Setting
The title indicates clearly that the primary character is indeed a refugee and from this we can infer the context of where she is living. The atmosphere and mood are quickly set by Achebe's diction, and he uses scents to convey the poverty and discomfort of the situation. The use of the scent of diarrhea in particular helps to convey the poor hygienic conditions of the camp as well as the illnesses that run rampant through a situation where so many people are forced to live in close proximity.
Structure and Style
The poem is written in free verse, with heavy use of enjambment and punctuation that is disruptive to the reading pace. Dashes, ellipsis and colons are regularly used to separate the clauses midline, creating a disjointed effect that mimics the disruption of the refugees lives.
Grammatically the clauses are often juxtaposed upon the readers conceptions of what daily life is like. The harsh reality of the refugees is shown first to the reader before the expectations of of our own peaceful daily lives. Conditional phrases such as "would have", help to show this transition between the two, and euphemistically help to convey the horrors of the refugees situation. In addition juxtaposition is used to compare "this" mother with the others who are implied as no longer caring. The comparison elevates the mother who is the subject of the poem, into a mythical status.
The diction of the poem is primarily concerned with symptoms of illness, highlighting the unhygienic conditions in which the refugees live. A situation that is exacerbated by the fact the refugees during this war were denied foreign aid, and the Nigerian blockades upon Biafra also blocked organisations such as the Red Cross.
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