Bride Price

Ian Mathie paints a vivid and sympathetic picture of life in African tribal society from his experience of living and working among the native populations. This book takes you deep into the lives of the forest people of southern Zaïre in the time of Mobutu, bringing to life the steamy environment and the vibrant people who live there, exploring the local customs, traditions and practises in a way only intimate involvement can achieve while telling an amazing true tale. As with much of Ian Mathie’s writing, this book has an unexpected twist in the tail. DESCRIPTION Asked to foster an orphan girl named Abélé as a condition of being allowed to live in the jungle village where he was working in Zaïre, Ian settled down to help the forest people develop clean water supplies. All went well and his foster daughter thrived until a man from another village asked him to name her ‘bride price’. The suitor was a powerful man and most unsuitable, but could not simply be refused. Constrained by complex local customs, tribal traditions, taboos and rituals whose origins were lost in the history of the steamy rainforest, Ian struggled under the scrutiny of the local witch-doctor to find a price any man could pay but the suitor would refuse. During a tense interview outside his mud hut home, he named Abélé’s bride price and sent the suitor away to consider it. The man’s response was unexpected, dramatic and violent, turning life on its head and threatening the stability of the whole community. But the people of village where the suitor lived found their own solution and held a barbecue with the suitor as the main dish. Later a village lad stepped forward and asked for Abélé’s hand. The same price was asked and this time it was paid.