Liberation

BBC TV is showing a documentary film about a Kenyan woman in search of her father, just to know her roots. I wonder how excited or crestfallen she will be on finding a character or past she cannot identify with.

Maybe she finds the origin of a few physical or temperamental traits; yet feel bewildered by other things. She has grown up with a personality of her own – something she may never want to be otherwise, whatever her roots or history.

The past holds the potential to be a festering wound or a scar. It’s tough to kill the past once it becomes known. Those buried thoughts can re-emerge, like skeletons tumbling out of well-polished and organized cupboards.

Angela knows what she has done and takes pride in it.

Her mother was the victim of a patriarchal culture, but strangely wanted her daughter to live the same life. A…