from The Book of VaNyemba: Virgines eius squalidæ, et ipsa oppressa amaritudine.

Tete sits me down and tells me the story of our ankestors. She says it with a hard K.I squelch my sass, and listen. Our ankestors were hunters, of the zebra totem. There were two brothers and a very beautiful sister, as sweet as a sugar bean. So they called her VaNyemba. They came all the way from Mozambique to this place, tracking wild game. When the chief saw VaNyemba’s beauty, he granted her brothers leave to hunt on his land. They set out to hunt early, leaving VaNyemba to tend the fire. She was very beautiful.              The chief surprised her. She screamed, but her brothers were far, far. He was a heavy man, and as he thrust himself inside her he found her penis. Our VaNyemba hanged her busted bare body. When the chief saw it, he was afraid. He stripped off his regalia and fled, leaving the land to her brothers. That is the land they buried her in. And that is how we came to live in Chihota, the land of sweet potatoes. I am sitting next to Tete, wondering if I will ever eat a sweet potato again.