“NYAWAWA” are the unseen ghosts of the Dholuo tribe living next to Lake Victoria-Kenya that are famously known for tormenting the local people.
In the deep village of Usenge in Bondo-Western Kenya, precisely Bar-Kanyango, I met the children of the Luo tribe in their place, with whom I had a deep conversation, focusing on education, spiritual matters, and playing with them. My love for kids and playing with children helps me see the world as a child and, with much playfulness, it opens my eyes every time to see potential in all the chaos of today. After our conversation, I asked the children about their fears. There was a long silence before the mumbling of the word “Nyawawa”!
One girl, who seemed the most outspoken of all the children with a deep Luo accent, told me of the spirits originating from the lake that would occasionally torment the villages at specific times. She mentioned that the only way to get rid of them on communities’ land was by continuously hitting the metals to wade them away. I must admit, for a second I shivered, without letting out myself to the children. Come on! I told myself I was supposed to be the fearless big sister here. I acted strong.
The next morning, at the tree planting session organized by Ocha kwetu, one of my fellow Ocha kwetu ‘tribemates’ engaged the same girl, who by now had become quite free with us.
She told us of the lake spirits, which lured people to the lake sometimes when you would pass by the lake and smell foods like chapatti or spaghetti wafting in the air (I don’t know why the spirits decided on non-local foods like chapati or spaghetti)… Regardless, the whole story sounded too absurd, or maybe a mere façade.
Nighttime, as we sat by the fire in the village, as the smoke disappeared through the thin air, we couldn’t help but anecdote the stories while constantly joking with my fellow ‘tribe mates’ about how funny the name ‘Nyawawa’ sounded, especially coupled with the deep Luo accent. By the time I retired to bed after a long day, not much was on my mind after saying a short word of prayer to silence the spirit of Nyawawa — the celebrity ghosts of Lake Victoria.
At 3.30 am, my fellow ‘tribes lady’ woke me up for the morning shower, prompting me to process the 3 am shower. Who does that? I questioned myself. I took a leap of faith and opened the door to let myself outside, allowing the night, or should I say early morning breeze, to linger in my face and wake me up to the chilliness of the day. Fortuitously, out of kindness, our local hosts were thoughtful enough to light a fire outside to make sure we had a hot shower before our long drive back to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
The woods creaked as they burned to ashes, tempting me to warm myself. But who warms themselves at such a time? The water poured into the bucket as I contemplated whether to shower in the bathroom or just outside the house. The distance between the house and the bathroom felt like miles. Or was I just trying to justify the fear besetting my heart as I remembered the Nyawawa stories? I had been told about the 3 a.m. hour as the Nyawawa time.
“KAA MBAYA MBAYA!” I muttered a “Swahili mantra” to evoke confidence as I carried my bucket to the unfinished house next to our local host’s house. One by one, as if counting, I dropped my clothes onto a wooden seat pulled closer to my bucket to act as my torch holder and clothes hanger.
“Fear is a sin”, I whispered calmly to myself, as if to comfort myself from the grip it already had on me. Why did it have to wait for me to be denuded to notice that the wind seemed to linger a little longer in my face, the woods creaked a little louder than usual, and the early morning was more pitch black.
Was it just in my mind?.. NYAWAWA!, couldn’t get any better, rang in my head. “Covered by the blood of Jesus”, I repeated this Christian statement to myself, assuring myself that what was the point of believing if I couldn’t trust? All those Christ- teachings I listened to, yet the one time I needed to believe that no weapon formed against me would ever prosper. This time, I was shivering not because of the 3 AM cold but fear. My shortsightedness gladly seemed to make the situation worse. It just wouldn’t get any better. The next door belonged to the boys. I could hear one of them snoring loudly, yet I could not dare wake one to stand guard as I showered. I was not the village princess after all, though this is one time I wished I was! If wishes were horses…The more I tried to relate to the NYAWAWA stories as mere shams, the more they felt true. Oh goodness! What was happening?
Sometimes stories should be unfinished to serve as a living reflection.
I talked to people who understood or encountered the story of Nyawawa, the unseen Dholuo celebrity ghosts of Lake Victoria in Kenya, and most confirmed that they indeed exist and spoke of hitting metallic to wade them off. Others alluded to it as being a myth. What is your Nyawawa story? Share your experiences with us.
Written by : Kokwon Noel (Nomadic blue of the Ocha Kwetu Tribe)
Bondo Gathering was organized by Ocha Kwetu Tribe Africa (OKTA) together with Olungo Forest Creation Group in Bar Kanyango village in Bondo Kenya.
