| The icing on the cake for me is the metamorphosis of some of the characters from the down-trodden to the victorious." After we have eaten, Dawson had a special treat in store for everyone. The author had agreed to participate in a conference call to discuss her book with the club. After Dawson got the author on the line and gave a summary of the book -- it is customary for the host to start the discussion -- the club members jumped in with questions for the author and freely expressed their views animatedly and with a great degree of candor. "The animation and passion with which we discuss books could be easily misinterpreted," said Dzigbodi Akyea who founded the club about eight years ago as a social outlet for her friends and her. "I think once or twice, some of the Whites who used to be a part of the group felt uncomfortable because we aren't always politically correct. We are tolerant and cognizant of people's cultural differences. Amongst us Africans, we have a lot of diversity. For example, we have a Muslim member and we have to be considerate of her feelings. We do have a few differences that we don't mind. But like I said, the passion and the candor is so uniquely Black in a way. We don't try to offend anyone, for the most part." Khoury's book is loaded with topics for the women to talk about: African versus American culture, isolation, male-female relationships, double-standards when it comes to sexual relationships, African stereotypes, commitment to the motherland, and interracial relationships. Khoury's book is part romance novel and part political treatise. When the group begins to discuss the book, a Muslim member from Somalia leaves because she cannot be present for the discussion while a man is present. The book is steamy in some places, deeply philosophical in others, and light reading in yet others. Khoury packed multiple themes into this book as if she may not ever have the chance to write another. Over the course of the next hour, which flies by very quickly, the women freely discuss the book and their own relationships with the author. The women do not hold back. Khoury should have felt that this was a goldmine of feedback because the women were very honest in what they said. All in all, the members of the club loved the book. For Akyea, the book club is a great release because it challenges the women intellectually in a period of their lives where they may be preoccupied with careers and child-rearing. "This group forces each person to read," Akyea explained. "A mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." Our knowledge expands a little. And the fact that we are able to travel to different places without setting foot there and without spending money is wonderful. I might not ever be able to go to Thailand or China, but if we read a book about China's cultural way of life, that transports us there. I love the fact we are able to get out of our comfort zone. There have been a few times when people said 'I'm not sure if this would be okay. I think this is about lesbian something and I know how Africans feel about that.' People would respond that 'Come on, this is a book. We don't care about what the topic is.' We have even read the Koran. This has really made people open-minded and taken us out of our comfort zones." The group has read books by European, Asian, African, and American authors. Most importantly, the group and the discussions give the women insight into their own lives. "We talked about which African traditions are used as an excuse and which ones are not," Akyea said about the selective adherence to African traditions once people emigrate to the U.S. "People use traditions that suit them at that particular moment. We are able to say 'Come on, that is crap.' We respect traditions and everything. However, where it is used to oppress or suffocate or attack progress, we';re going talk about it. We might not be able to do anything right then, but the fact that we are giving an expose to it, it kind of catches on. Maybe we are able to solve the problem in that little space. Or the problem may still exist, but we feel fine when we get together." And the support the women share with each other has grown over the years. They have held wedding showers for members and have helped each other through health problems and other crises in their lives. The previous week, one member had lost her job. Unbeknownst to her, the other members pooled their resources together, bought her things to tide her over until she got a new job and presented them to her at the end of the meeting. "We are learning something each time, even about our own culture and way of life," Akyea said. And maybe, just maybe they are preserving the African values they cherish the most and their own humanity in a new land in the process. That is some kind of sisterhood. |
| The Nubian Women's Book Club discusses "So Pretty An African" A journey into the soul of relationships By Jonathan Gramling |
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| The Nubian Sisters' Book Club: Seated at bottom: Cecilia Kambwa, Angola. Seated: Lygia Snow, French Guyana, Tia Rice, U.S., Zainabu Kooistra, Gambia, Gelsy Verna, Haiti and Canada, Ann Marie Dawson, Sierra Leone, Abiodun Lesi, Nigeria, Vicki Caan, Ghana. Standing: Moi from Ghana, Anita Makuluni, U.S. Malawi, Kema Williams, U.S., Jennifer, Kenya, Florence Naab, Ghana. [Not present: Sonia aka Shoba Valle, Solomy Ntambi, Belinha Boyd and Nasra Wehelie. |
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| (Right) The cover of "So Pretty an African" |
| There were women there from across the African Diaspora: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Malawi, the Caribbean, Canada and the U.S. We sat in the living room of Ann Marie Dawson, this month's host of the Nubian Women's Book Club. Dawson had selected this month's book, "So Pretty an African" by Hannah Khoury, which traces the experiences and loves of three Sierra Leonean women who have emigrated to the United States. Dawson, also from Sierra Leone, had prepared some delectable Sierra Leonean dishes to complement the evening's theme and get everyone in the mood. |
| "I got the book sometime last spring, even before I got to know the writer and her family," Dawson said. "A friend of mine had informed me about the book and since it was written by a Sierra Leonean sister, I decided to find out what it was all about. I chose the book for the club because it fell perfectly into what we do at the book club, which is read and discuss books about the plight of women all over the world. It benefits me personally by learning about women and how they function in different cultures, the similarities in our struggle for survival and acceptance of our basic rights. I learn and draw on the enormous strengths some of the women possess. |