Summary

Chapter 2 opens with the letter-writer’s reflections on their annual holiday visits to Chakowa, the village where Zenzele’s grandmother lives. Although her daughter disliked the heat in the village, the letter-writer appreciated those moments when they pray together before eating. At those moments, the letter-writer felt that “God’s spirit dwells in Chakowa, far from civilization and deep in the African countryside” (7). At night, Mbuya—Zenzele’s grandmother—wandered the old farmhouse “like a sea captain on deck…making sure that all is in order [and] that her crew is safe and accounted for” (7).

The letter-writer remembers an incident when a relative, Sekuru Isaac, praised Zenzele by saying that she should be married soon. Zenzele was upset, though the letter-writer insists that “the old man meant no harm” (8). The next summer, Zenzele practically refused to return to Chakowa. She wanted to go with...