Title: The Silent Footsteps
Author: Ipara Odeo
Cost: KSh1,000
Contact: iparaodeo@yahoo.com
Publisher and Year: Kibabii University Press, 2020
Reviewer: Mbukha Shitemi
The Silent Footsteps is an extraordinary story that takes us deep inside Prof. Ipara Odeo’s life and achievements.
Significantly, this autobiography does not only present the fantastic story of the author but also fundamentally tells the story of the Iteso people of Western Kenya and Uganda.
It traces the migratory trends of the community and its rich culture in a logical sequence that makes the book an easy read.
Odeo manages to give deep insights into the existential and cosmological worldview of his people, the Iteso, by bursting the tag of a backward society that has been the bane of this minority group.
It is possible to argue that in this autobiography, Odeo displays his wealth of knowledge about his community, its lore, rites and rituals.
He is a historian, storyteller and philosopher sage, all wrapped in one.
As he shares his people’s wisdom, we learn about a community clearly structured with a deep sense of identity and belonging.
He traces his lineage through history and time. His story and his meteoric rise to the helm of one of Kenya’s national universities correspond with the evolution of his community.
His people’s migratory trends and dispersal to various regions of East Africa is a profound piece of historical record that all children in Kenya should know about this community.
The interrelatedness of individual and family history to the communal struggles and hopes makes this autobiography a study of the construction of collective identity.
You will enjoy reading about the vision of Odeo’s grandfather, who, like Moses of the Bible, moves his family from Iteso land, around Malakisi, to Eldoret, where the young Odeo experiences a new beginning.
The story of his childhood, upbringing, schooling, career choice, family life, and eventually about the man we know today is rendered in catalytic bytes that propel the story to its denouement.
We are told that Mzee Kefa Ipara, Odeo’s grandfather was tired of the series of deaths and misfortunes in his family.
This experience he associated with the environment he lived in. So, he defied the Iteso culture and beliefs and left his native village of Malakisi and settled in Eldoret, the land of foreign people, with no idea where to begin.
He willingly took the risk that transformed his family and produced its first professor.
As they say, personal histories are the essential elements that make us appreciate that deep sense of belonging.
To understand the self within the context of others in time and space brings a sense of fulfillment to an individual.
And this is what we read in Odeo’s autobiography. In this nous, the politics of colonial and post-colonial Kenya are replayed with clarity of purpose and sagacious patriotic flavor.
Weaving the colonial experience in Kenya, the post-colonial politics, and the twin cultures of the Iteso and Bukusu community is a task that the author accomplishes with the precision of a committed surgeon.
In this autobiography, Odeo is also a contemporary historian who gives the history of the establishment and transition of leadership and policies of academic institutions in the country, including Kenyatta University, Moi University, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and Kibabii University.
He takes a few acres of space in this autobiography to talk about the establishment of university campuses, which grew into fully-fledged universities.
He rightly paints this as a positive development in the education sector.
From a religious point of view, he gives the history of the establishment of the Friends Church in Western Kenya and the influence that the church has had in his life.
He gives us so much insight into the world of the growth of Kiswahili and the associations that champion its development.
He talks about Kiswahili with the passion of a high priest of a religion.
It is no wonder that his students claim that he is the best teacher of the language they have ever encountered.
The central place of family in children’s growth is also an essential subject of this autobiography.
Nevertheless, there are moments in this memoir that are solemn.
At one time in his life, Odeo was chastised and stigmatized for being unable to get children within the first eight years of his marriage.
How did he pull through? All that is answered within this autobiography. However, it is clear that society can be very judgmental, and without a strong support system, one can easily break down.
Odeo is a twin. We see him surmount the taboos of not being allowed to bury his twin brother.
We see the other side of the soft-spoken man when he defies the cultural beliefs that a twin should not be allowed to bury the other twin.
He is astute, firm and humble at the same time. What is even more encouraging is how the Ipara family came up with an association to put the whole of the Kefa Ipara Odeo family together to retain the family name and culture through good and bad times.
A mother is indeed supreme.
Ipara has all the kind words for Loice Nakhungu, his mother. Despite not being well educated, she did her very best to bring up her children in the right way and made sure they went to school and imbibed Christian values.
YOU CAN ALSO READ: BOOK REVIEW: A Silent Song and Other Stories
I enjoyed reading this book, for it pricked something in me that yearns for family stability. As his personality suggests indeed, Prof. Ipara Odeo’s Footsteps are always silent but surely inspirational.
Prof. Ipara Odeo is the Vice Chancellor of Kibabii University. He is also a Kiswahili language scholar and author of several other books.
