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The First Woman: Winner of the Jhalak Prize, 2021

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Yet at the core of the book is Kirabo, a girl who is journeying into womanhood in the 1970s, in Uganda whose mother left her when she was still an infant. Although well-loved by her grandparents, Kirabo feels as if there is two of her and one flies out of her body. Early on her grandfather’s lover, Nsuuta, a local witch, tells her that the reason is because “our original state is in you.” I submitted a paper, however, asserting that Elizabeth Mytton, Lady Thomas Wilbraham (1632-1705) was the mystery architect. I have been researching the architecture of Elizabeth Wilbraham since 1959, when I was a schoolboy at Charterhouse in Surrey. This article is partially excerpted from my 2007 paper on Wilbraham and my forthcoming book, First Woman Architect. This is a coming of age story set in Uganda, Africa (circa 1970's -1980's), featuring a young girl (Kirabo) who is 12 years old when the book begins. She lives with her grandparents (Miiro and Alikisia) who have been raising her, along with assorted cousins and aunts. Their home is hospitable to their neighbors' children as well. The reader will come to know that the family is large with complex relationships amongst kin. Kirabo is being raised with love, yet feels hurt that her father (Tom) only sees her at his convenience. Kirabo also wants to meet her own mother, whom she does not know. There are nonetheless almost flippant comments about the effect of his regime, which showed a resilience to the callous control imposed on people’s lives. The feminist themes in this book and the strong women were wonderful. I loved how the book examined things like privilege, colorism, relationships, and marriage, and I liked that it did all that while providing a fascinating insight into Ugandan culture and history. I don't actually know that much about Uganda, so it was really fascinating to read about how it was negatively impacted by colonialism, their war with Tanzania, and how the traditional beliefs mixed with and/or superseded the christian ones that were imposed on them from England. Even though the patriarchal rules and expectations are harsh, it was surprisingly refreshing to see how the women still found ways to seize power from within, and how Kirabo, as part of a newer generation, was able to push the boundaries still further because of the efforts of the strong women preceding her.

NASA released its first digital, interactive graphic novel, "First Woman: NASA's Promise for Humanity," featuring the story of a fictional astronaut, Callie Rodriguez, who is the first woman and person of color to explore the moon. (Image credit: NASA)Once we shrunk, men had to look after us, and it was not long before they started to own us. Fathers sold daughters; husbands bought wives. Once we became a commodity, men could do whatever they wished with us. Even now our bodies do not belong to us. That is why when they need it, they will grab it. Things were so bad in some cultures, women had to be hidden away to protect them, in separate spaces where no men were allowed. Soon, they had to be spoken for by men. our Original State ….. was wonderful for us. We were not squeezed inside, we were huge, strong, bold, loud, proud, brave, independent. But it was too much for the world and they got rid of it. However occasionally the state is reborn in a girl like you. But in all cases it is suppressed I told you Grandfather is easy. Tom, I mean my father, is the same: they don’t put barriers against me. It is Grandmother, it is always other women, apart from you, who put up barriers against girls and on themselves. I know men can be tyrants, but a lot of women are nasty to women – everybody says it, unless you have not met Jjajja Nsangi, Grandfather’s sister.’ ‘Kirabo, have you seen God come down from heaven to make humans behave?’ ‘No.’ ‘That is because some people have appointed themselves his police. And I tell you, child, the police are far worse than God himself. That is why the day you catch your man with another woman, you will go for the woman and not him. My grandmothers called it kweluma. That is when oppressed people turn on each other or on themselves and bite. It is as a form of relief. If you cannot bite your oppressor, you bite yourself.” Kirabo's grandmother and Nsuuta were best friends as girls. When they played with dolls together, grandmother loved to take care of them. Nsuuta practiced being a nurse with them, using thorns as shots. Grandmother became a nurturing, caring mother to many children. Nsuuta became a nurse. Smart, headstrong Kirabo is raised by her grandparents in rural Uganda. But as she enters her teens, she starts to feel overshadowed by the absence of the mother she has never known.

The First Woman is a feast of Ugandan history, language, culture, mythology but above all mwenkanonkano—a Luganda word that loosely translates as feminism, but this concept is older, local, not something imported from the west. Maybe we will learn a lesson and never promote or elect turds for elected office? Maybe we should investigate and have future candidates properly scrutinized and tested? If we learn one thing it is that it is far easier to elect an idiot than a saint in this land. Kirabo is a character I enjoyed hearing from, I really could not get enough of her world. I delighted in her grown and her growing into her womanhood.Would highly recommend this for any Veep fans. It's like another couple episodes. If you're not a Veep fan, I would highly recommend you become one. The book was brilliant with lots of quotes that will make you think about women and their value in modern society. The story is a valuable lesson in what it means to be a woman in today’s world and how they need to survive in a patriarchal society that is determined to silence them. The story is also quite intimate, taking us through the lives of the female characters as they navigate the reality in front of them. It is a bold portrayal of the strength of different kinds of women, each with their principles held high. What one woman might think of as being submissive and powerless is that woman’s form of resistance against the injustices happening to her and her family. The showcasing of passion and strength to protect one’s family is varies from woman to woman, but their goal remains the same. The knowledge imparted by the lives of the women and their actions is incredibly thought-provoking. Every time I read through the pearls of wisdom revealed in the novel, I had to stop and think about the brilliance of it and how beautifully and smartly the author delivered them. While I enjoyed the book, I felt it could have benefited by having a stronger editor. I felt too much was happening and the themes were not strongly fleshed out. There is the hint at magical realism at the start of the book that basically fizzled out and was not carried through the entire book. In the beginning women were bold, independent, and strong, “but it was too much for the world”. This folklore tale about the first women who walked the Earth is told in a small Ugandan village during the regime of one of history’s cruelest dictators – Idi Amin. The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a vivid, powerful coming-of-age story, which is driven by indigenous feminism: while her characters are trying to preserve their identity in a patriarchal society, their sense of self-worth is reinforced by ancient myths passed down from generation to generation.

Running through The First Woman, from the schisms that divide Kirabo’s grandparents’ generation to the ambitions of its younger cast, is an exploration of how women preserve and cultivate their power. When Kirabo’s first love, Sio, tells her that he believes in “ mwenkanonkano”, he uses the English word, feminism, and she dismisses it “because as far as she knew, feminism was for women in developed countries with first-world problems”. When he uses the Luganda word, she pays more attention, but is also aware that Sio’s understanding of it is limited to directing her behaviour; as the story develops, Sio’s apparent egalitarianism reveals him to be something of an equal opportunities seducer.Miiro was a man after my own heart . I liked how he stood up for the women in his life in his own way. But the Bible says that God created Adam and Eve in his own image.’ ‘If he created them in his own image,’ Nsuuta snapped, ‘then afterwards Adam re-created Eve in his own image, one that suited him Set in Uganda in 1975 - 1983, this book starts with twelve-year-old strong-willed protagonist Kirabo living in a village with her grandparents. She has never known her mother, and her father only visits occasionally. Kirabo is a natural storyteller. She secretly visits local blind woman, Nsuuta, to find out about her mother, but the advice she receives only fuels her obsession. She meets Sio in her youth, and they develop a friendship that could develop into more, but Kirabo wants to continue her education, despite pressure to get married and have children. We follow Kirabo’s life as she moves to Kampala to live with her father and attends a Catholic boarding school for girls. Finally, a family tragedy brings the entire clan together, and opinions are aired, grievances followed through, threads come together, some rifts are healed, others not, but there is the opportunity to break new ground, and move on from the past, without significant loss. Design a Spacecraft Drag Syste m like NASA– Design a drag device system to slow the descent of a weighted spacecraft just like NASA’s inflatable decelerator called LOFTID (low-Earth orbit flight test of an inflatable decelerator), and learn how drag device systems help reduce the speed of a spacecraft so it can safely re-enter the atmosphere!

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