Mandela Ocheire Rea

Ekegusii

Jane Obuchi

‘Yaya teri bo’ Mandera agateeba, ‘Bosibore tibori gento gia koenaria’

Nechingatare chianantigwe igoro y’omonyangongo bw’Egesinga kia Robeni.

‘Yaya teri bo’ Rea agateeba. ‘Bomanyi tibori goanchera goocherera’-

Nare  n’ebisambo, korende tairogeti, obosio bw’Omoreeri o Bakisitani.

‘Yaya teri bo’ Rea agateeba, ‘Koegena tikori  kebetererio’-

Eriogi ri’omosakorwa, rikanyeku korende rienenu ase Tabuchi,

Etochi ya Rea tekomisigwa ime yerikuruma ri’Abasiroti.

Erio, ase ebiro biensi, eriogi ri’emuma rikoeirora-

Mandera, Marara, Rea Saribu – etochi ya 

‘Yaya teri bo, Burometiasi agateeba’, rigenga n’ogoteera,

Bianyorire ogotiemwa, rigenga ri’obotonu riatekire goetera

Chiboki na Tabuchi, erio komorekera ense naende.

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Read the English translation – Mandela Comes to Leah by Prof. Wole Soyinka 

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Jane Bosibori Marando Obuchi is a writer, researcher, and teacher. She has translated into Ekegusii language, Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s The Upright Revolution, or Why Human Beings Walk Upright. She has published a novel, a collection of children’s short stories in Ekegusii and a dictionary of Ekegusii phrasal verbs. Jane has translated into Ekegusii, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart; William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Her manuscripts in review for publication include Ekegusii translations of Prof. Ngugi wa Thiongo’s I Will Marry When I Want, and The River Between.