Doeba Bropleh

Word from the Editor

“  . . . we have many inspired writers, young and old, of the diverse literary genre . . . If we continue neglecting the development of the intellectual resources of our country in preference for that of the physical infrastructure alone, we will break down tomorrow what we build today.” – Wilton Gbakolo Sengbe Sankawulo (2007)

A Great One Has Passed On

By

Charlina Daitouah-Smith

(February 2009)

Like a raindrop
caught in midair;
scarcely out of heaven,
yet hastening to earth,

sentinel of culture,
custodian of ancient lore,
afore we could fully hail you,
you were summoned home.

When you did write,
Liberia sat enthralled.
Your beloved Haindi became ours
in your spellbinding tales
that held our hearts so rapt.

In your life’s works we discover
the bedrock of our culture,
in your lore we meet
our true Liberian history.

Haindi wail,
Fuama moan,
Bongese raise a lament,
Liberia lift up a dirge,
the nation is bereaved of a  precious son.

Oh! Let your tears run free,
restrain them not from their full course.
Let elegies speak of the deep loss sustained,
let requiems be sung, recounting the awesome feats.

Nature protests, “Long, long,
he was here quite long”,
yet I cry,  “too soon, too soon,
a national treasure is forever gone”!

2008 took William Lewis, our first “Minister of Culture”.  2009 brought more mourning into our home with the loss of another great. In this issue we remember and honor Professor Wilton G. S. Sankawulo, Liberia’s gentle, generous literary giant who transitioned in February 2009. Sankawulo was a regular contributor to the journal. He was our mentor. We sorely miss him, but we remember him with joy for his life of passion, purpose and accomplishment.

We begin our 6^th year of publication and invite you to sit down and talk with us, travel the imaginative roadways with us, but along this journey we ask you to pause, point your hearts to the warm ocean off the west coast of Africa and listen to a Liberia who appreciates her true history, arts, culture, essence.

The sound you feel shaking your gut like the full-bodied beat from the Sangba drum is the rhythm from Liberia-based visual artists and writers. Despite the caustic hangover of war, they continue to hear above the shuddering din of the generator coughing, above the restless cacophony of struggle, uneven relationships, greed and ignorance choking the streets and roaming halls of power.

The fresh and vibrant earth colors of David Wolobah, our featured artist, capture the grace and perseverance of our superwomen. In short stories, James Dwalu, Saah Millimono and Daniel Chukpadeh Gayedyu take us down different paths, but each guides his plot through a unique Liberian moment and its cultural context. And as you listen, the words of fiction will turn to supple song as the poetry of Watchen Johnson Babalola, Chrichtian Neal, M. Woryonwon Roberts, Charlina Daitouah Smith, Nathaniel Nah and Augustus Voahn course their own waterways. Reaching back, across the waters of the Diaspora, Ralph Geeplay, Ruby Harmon and Alexander Queh join our Liberia-based writers in a chorus that needs to be heard.

“Please tell Stephanie that you all have lost one of your good writers.” Mrs. Sankawulo said to Robtel Pailey and me, in the hallway of the intensive care unit at the JFK Hospital, when we went to visit the Professor on February 14, 2009. “He’s gone.”

Behind us, on the bed next to the window which led your eyes into the gray-blue of the Atlantic, Wilton Sankawulo, the man who wrote for our souls even when we chose to forsake ourselves, eyes rolled back, kept pushing the covers off his body. He left us exactly a week later. Mrs. Sankawulo knew that her husband of more than 40 years had crossed to the Ancestors before his body did.

Those who knew or know of the Professor paused in deference to the selflessness he embodied. Not fully aware of who we are, we, in our unfettered ignorance, allowed this keeper of our flame to drift into relative obscurity. As a country we did not serve the Professor all his sweet palm wine while he was alive to drink it. And so we put our hands on our heads, fingers interlocked, and cry dirges to show our appreciation for this man of letters.

Abdoulaye Dukule′, Robert H. Brown Sr., D. Elwood Dunn, Althea Romeo-Mark, Vamba Sherif and Patricia Jabbeh Wesley tell us about the texture of a mentor, friend and comrade. Stephanie Horton, the writer Mrs. Sankawulo informed of her husband’s death a week before his body followed, writes of her deep connection to Professor Sankawulo’s work.

In a fitting send-off, Althea Romeo-Mark reviews Sankawulo’s 2005 novel Sundown at Dawn – A Liberian Odyssey.  One can only hope that soon “collective positive efforts” in Liberia will compel the sun to rise at dawn and usher in a brand new day.

We all owe a special thanks to D. Elwood Dunn for re-exposing Sankawulo’s essay, “LIFE IS ETERNAL: Essay in Memory of My Father”, and to Robert H. Brown Sr. for sharing a personal letter from Professor Sankawulo. This correspondence allows the Professor to speak directly to us as we reflect on this genius of a man.  Roam our archives after you have exhausted this current issue and discover or rediscover Professor Sankawulo; his work is there in folktales, short stories, essays – some of his gifts to us.

“Where Have All the Years Gone?” Patricia Jabbeh Wesley asks in her engaging memoir of her return to her mother-soil after years of exile. Dr. Jestina Doe-Anderson juxtaposes optimism with caution in her critical review of Helene Cooper’s The House at Sugar Beach. Then, Robtel Pailey challenges our sensitivities with a post-colonial take on the same book. Jestina and Robtel, Liberian brainchildren, deconstruct from different prisms and provide viewing platforms for us to read over, inside, around and between the lines of the book.

Abraham Jomo Stubblefield, filmmaker, charts a course in swirling rapids for a way forward in Liberia. His essence is captured in this edition’s interview conducted by Sengbe Boakai K. Khasu.

Strap yourself down and experience our featured video, a trailer of a film that Jomo co-produced: Apocalypse Africa. Experience it and know why we’ll continue to be stepchildren, why we’ll continue to kill ourselves until we finally decide to know ourselves. And, importantly, why well-moneyed others will spur on the massacre. Guns. Greed. Genocide.

Before he became too ill to care, we were able to tell Professor Sankawulo about the writing prize named in his honor . . . He was supposed to be one of the judges . . .

The entire Sea Breeze board is proud to usher in the inaugural writing contests:

• The Sea Breeze / Albert Porte, Yahney King Sangarey Creative Non-fiction Prize
• The Sea Breeze / Joseph J. Walters, Wilton Sankawulo, Vamba Sherif Short Fiction Prize
• The Sea Breeze / Bai T. Moore, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley Poetry Prize

I join the board and the contributors to this our inaugural contest and Sankawulo celebration issue to say thank you plenty for reading.

Yor please come back again nes tahn. We wey always have swee chew for yor.

Let the power of the purpose propel you.

For Liberia . . .

Doeba Bropleh