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“The Spotted Butterfly”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2014

Michael Boylan
Affiliation:
Marymount University, Virginia
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Summary

  1. Life is about suffering,

  2. Hang on until it’s over.

– Michael Boylan, “Existence 22/7”

It was almost three weeks since the end of the long rainy season. The ground was drinking in the water from the rains. In a small village, Gimbaya N’kufo was doing chores with her daughter, Mangeni. They were going down to the river to wash their clothes. Many people in the village criticized Gimbaya because she did her own washing. They said that the wife of the village chief should have someone else wash the clothes. But Gimbaya was a strong woman. Though slight in height, she had broad shoulders and had developed endurance because of her willingness to work.

It was important to wash clothes early in the day while the locusts were still singing their songs before the water went bad. People got sick when they washed their clothes later in the day. Gimbaya was able to wake up with the sun and do her duty. When she returned she prepared a meal and then attended to the education of her two children.

Life was good. Adaon, her husband, was a tolerant man and rarely beat her. He spent his days attending to people’s complaints. It was not an easy task to be a village chief. Gimbaya was generally popular with the village women despite her meek demeanor. Some said she did not deport herself with sufi cient pride for a woman of her station. On this day, after she had worked with her own children, a young unmarried woman in the village named Makemba Youlou came over to greet Gimbaya. “Makemba how is it with you today?”

Type
Chapter
Information
Natural Human Rights
A Theory
, pp. 3 - 8
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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  • Overture
  • Michael Boylan, Marymount University, Virginia
  • Book: Natural Human Rights
  • Online publication: 05 September 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139342650.003
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  • Overture
  • Michael Boylan, Marymount University, Virginia
  • Book: Natural Human Rights
  • Online publication: 05 September 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139342650.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Overture
  • Michael Boylan, Marymount University, Virginia
  • Book: Natural Human Rights
  • Online publication: 05 September 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139342650.003
Available formats
×