Write the synopsis of the short story,Memories we lost by Lidudumalingani Mqombothi.

      

Write the synopsis of the short story,Memories we lost by Lidudumalingani Mqombothi.

  

Answers


Martin
A funny disease strikes the sister to the narrator of the story Memories we lost.The villagers to this mysterious disease as the 'thing'.Every time this thing as it is referred attacks the sister to the narrator,he would come back altered and un recognizable,she would lose her memories and speech.
The narrator remembers the good time they share the instances when the thing attacks her sister.The thing wakes her sister up in the middle of the night.Her sister lets out a scream that calls all the villagers to come and look for her as they chant songs.Women and the babies remain behind to keep an eye on the homesteads.
The thing as the villagers call it attacks the narrators sister in the middle of the night and makes her hit her head on the wall leaving a blood stained mud wall.Sometimes the thing attacks the narrator's sister in the middle of her activities making her do unbelievable things like once when she threw a hot pot porridge on her sister in the middle of a joke.
In November,things get worse.She is attacked while in school.This affects her academic.The narrator even though younger than her sister,is in a higher grade.The condition disturbs the narrator who fakes sickness to stay at home and wait for her sister so that they can be in the same class.They eventually come up with their own language of communication full of life and understanding.The sister finally convinces the narrator to resume school.
The mother takes the narrator's sister to the sangomas-south African traditional healers,churches and even gets medication and still she is unresponsive.The villagers perform rituals to appease the ancestors to curing her.The sangoma and pastors promise that she will be healed. According to elders,there is a sign of healing because tobacco,meat and the matches offered to the ancestors are not found in the morning.
In school,the ' thing' marks its territory when the teacher to the narrator talk about a condition called chizophrenia which is a long term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought ,emotion and behavior,leading to faulty perception,inappropriate actions and feelings,withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion and a sense of mental fragmentation,and she realizes it is what her sister has and all the treatment were in vain.She opts to stop the medication from her sister and convince her mother that the medication is still going on and thus develop a language to keep their relationship going.
The mother become pessimistic and questions God about this thing which is also believed to have taken away her husband . Her husband is believed to have left the village in a horse and has never returned up to date.
The narrotor overhears her mother and Smelling foot -the uncle who has moved in with the narraotors mother- talking about taking her sister to Nkusi,a sangoma from the a remote village who bake people.Nkui makes fire from cow dungand once the fire burned red,he ties the demon possesed person onto a section of zinc roofing then places it on the fire.He claims to be baking the demons and that person would recover from the burns a week later.
The narrator makes a final decision and parks their things and the duo leaves together to an unknown destination although the narrator lies to her sister that they are going to visit their sick aunt.The narrator contemplates telling her sister about her mental disorder and why they are running away from home.The narrator sighs when the morning comes after a long walk and she sees modern building from a distance,a hospital.The duo tightens their finger and hopes for the best.

marto answered the question on June 28, 2017 at 13:28


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