MARCO CONCEPTUAL

156 against community; it is liberty in the community that transcends all forms of liberty in Africa.

So when the west accuses Africans of lack of urgency to time, they are not acquainted with the ontological believe systems of the Africans. An African longs for an enduring legacy such that is withnessed in African marriage.

This ideal of interdependence in Africa strengthens our communal existence because everyman need others; even those who live in isolation still make use of tools and items in which other men have invested their labor and time. In this network of interdependence and its result-orientedness lies the power in integrative resourcefulness which eschews divisiveness and truncates the noble ideals of living together.

157 A chunk of time is expended in welcoming visitors because of African sense of brotherhood.

That is why it seems as if time is not considered a treasured commodity for Africans. They are relaxed among their hosts and are ready to attend to or receive all that their host provides. There is no form of suspicion and there is high level of trust among Africans both within their folks and kinsmen.

Africans have a symbolic way of expressing welcome. They introduce kola-nuts, traditional gin, coconuts, etc. in various places and they are offered to the visitors to show that he is secured and welcomed. Processes like libation of the gin and breaking of kola nut are the prerequisite symbolic hospitable gesture in Igbo African worldview. Obiajulu and Nnajiofor acknowledge this vital utility of kola nut to visitors when they submit; ―Oji Igbo, cola acuminata is quite distinct from others in that it is used traditionally for rituals, for marriage ceremonies, title taking, offering of prayers at traditional ceremonies, to welcome a visitor and to introduce very important discussion and requests‖.²⁵

Another time gulping angle which is rarely noticed in other cultures is to seek the protection of the living dead on behalf of the visitor on his way home and pray that he departs in peace and meets more fortune as he departs. Ukwu onye ije jiri bia ga akari nke oga eji wee naa( his departure will be more glorious after his stay more than his entrant).

In performing this act the living dead is invited to play a protective role on behalf of the visitor, to this Okonkwo avers that ―Anytime a person considers it expedient to offer sacrifices to his departed parents, he will first of all bring out sacred object called okpesi on which he will make epiclesis with pieces of cola while raising up his eyes in thanksgiving to his parents. (Mgbe

158 obuna mmadu choro inye nna ya, ma o bu nna ha nwuru anwu ihe, obuputa okpesi ha goo oji wee mpekere oji togbochaa n‘elu ha kelee ha‖.²⁶

Unlike in the western milieu where appointments are religiously kept and observed, in Africa there is spontaneity in welcoming of strangers in general and to visitors in particular. No appointment is needed for one to visit a distant relation or neighbors. No special rendezvous is required to join in a meal in another family one has just visited during meals. On arrival, once there is food, the visitor is invited to eat. He or she is treated kindly like another self, just as one would like to be treated when visiting another home. During meal is another phase of discussions on issues at hand especially matters arising in the community. The meals are not hurried one bit to the extent that any future schedule is sacrificed on the altar of that meal. There is general believe among Igbo African that hospitality is life itself and by implication, refusing hospitality in favor of other schedule is a bad omen. He who brings Kola brings life, onye wetara oji wetara ndu (kola here signifies any act of hospitality).

Achebe painted this picture too well in things fall apart when Okoye came to pay Unoka a visit.

Unoka rose immediately to shake hands with Okoye who unrolled the goatskin which he carried and sat down. The posture of Okoye indicates that he was never in hurry to go home. Unoka went into the inner room and came out with a disc having a kola nut and some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. The formalities began when Unoka offered him a hand of hospitality when he said, ―I have kola‖ and passed the disc over to Okoye, his visitor. Okoye replied ‗Thank you. He who brings kola brings life. But you ought to break it‖, passing the disc back to Okoye.

They later argued on who it is the responsibity to break the kola until Unoka eventually accepted the challenge.²⁷

159 The time consuming aspect witnessed in the hospitality of the African can be depicted by Okoye and Unoka in their actions. Achebe writes

Okoye meanwhile took the lump of chalk, drew some lines on the floor, and then painted his big toe. As he broke the kola, Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health and for protection against their enemies. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams about the next ancestral feast and about the impending wars with the village of Mbaino.²⁸

Unlike in the West where time is allocated to each meal but it is not so in Africa. Breakfast is served when the food is ready because the cue in the stream may have delayed the serving of meal on time or an unforeseen rainfall may have wetted the firewood for the meal or any other unforeseen circumstances. So the breakfast can be ready at any time of the morning and African has to eat before embarking on any journey or any schedule but what is not certain is the time of the meeting. Since hospitality is life, no sane African will abandon such a favor for an uncertain appointment where such kindness is under probability. This is in line with African proverb that enjoins one who climbs an iroko to fetch all the firewood he can muster because such feat is not a routine affair.