Building the city walls

Image by Ifeoma Onyefulu

Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu

'... this photographic alphabet captures the rhythms of day-to-day village life in Africa....'

Writer, children's author and photographer

Ifeoma Onyefulu

Ifeoma Onyefulu

Writer, children's author and photographer

Ifeoma's books

around the world

The Goat That Vanished

eBook short story for the Kindle

Words: Ifeoma Onyefulu

Images: Emeka Malbert

Published Autumn 2013

BooksgoWalkabout, Cambs, UK

This is a story about what happens when the elders are disobeyed.

In one particular village, the elders, who were used to total obedience, requested a gift of a cow at a funeral. They were pretty confident they would get it. But they were given a goat instead

by the relatives of the deceased.

Naturally, they rejected it.

Reviews of books by Ifeoma Onyefulu

You can see Ifeoma's bookshop online here...

Author: Ifeoma Onyefulu

Publisher: Frances Lincoln

ISBN:  9781847801289

Reviewed by: Yvonne Coppard

Set in Ethiopia, the appealing photographs and minimal text follow young Helen Buli’s search for new shoes, for her auntie’s wedding. Clues to the material poverty of a third world country are there in the background of the pictures, but Helen and her family are normal Ethiopians going about their business and celebrating a family occasion.

The excitement of new shoes is common to children in every shoe-wearing culture; for the Western child, the pictures of Helen and her mother cruising through the vibrant African market until they find the shoe stalls will be appealing. Shoes are piled into a chaotic jumble of pyramids, so unlike the pristine shoe-shop experience here in the UK – and yet the frustration of a little girl who cannot find shoes she likes will instantly strike a chord. We celebrate with Helen when she finally discovers the perfect shoes, and takes them home to show off to her father.

There’s little to this story, but that is its point: we are given a glimpse into a life lived in a far distant country with a very different culture, and yet we instantly recognize the familiarity of the experience. It is refreshing to see positive images of life in Africa, for once: fundraising campaigns and news stories have to show us unrelenting misery and despair, apparently, or we will refuse to part with our pennies to help. It would be good to see more books like this, that show just how similar we humans are, and what a huge influence the lottery of our births has on our lives.

Category: Picture Books
Series: Look at This! Home

Onyefulu celebrates light, color and the people of Mali in this and three other themed suites of bright photos of common items or activities.

The book offers one or two full-page views of each of a dozen subjects, from a row of outdoor “Chairs,” a “Pestle and Mortar” and a ceramic “Water Pot” to a “Sleeping Mat.” Clothes offers images of Western-style “Trousers” and a traditional printed “Bogolan Dress.” Most of the photos in Food pair fresh with cooked or otherwise prepared views of grains, fruits and fish—all of which, aside from a regional snack called “Farini” made of fried millet, are eaten, if not relished (see: “Okra”), by children on either side of the Atlantic.

The groups of children in Play are all engaged in games from the universal likes of “Hide and Seek” and “Cat’s Cradle” to “Waly,” played on a board with pebbles, and a girls’ copycat game called “A ay.” The photographer adds explanatory notes, either in her warm introductory remarks or accompanying the large one- or two-word captions on each spread.

The pictures, aglow with light and life, are snapshots of daily life that is both similar and different to our own.

Building the city walls

Image by Ifeoma Onyefulu

Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu

More reviews

of Ifeoma's work

here...

Read this book and Ifeoma's other forthcoming titles on a Kindle Fire.

Amazon.co.uk - a great reading experience for stories about Africa...