Alamas Walk - Graphic Novel Reviews

I love this book!

“The images remind me of my childhood looking at pictures from African storybooks. They inspired me so much. I became a refugee at 11 and was shuttled from one refugee settlement to another around Africa. But the images of my African childhood stayed in my head. When I was still a child and safe in my ancestral land, I looked at the colourful pictures of Africa I could connect with. The graphic novel is truly a gift that I hope will reach far and wide amongst young African readers.

I want to send some copies to children in refugee camps in Africa, and to my nieces. This is gold. It's a treasure for us! I love the maps. For now, the graphic novel has been sending me to sleep remembering Africa. "

Njamba Koffi

author of Refuge-e: The Journey Much Desired.

I am grateful for the warmth of both the illustrations and the story

“I am struck by the layers of translation of embedded meaning enacted by the journey from physical objects like the walking sticks and leketyo, to written narrative inspired by them, to graphic illustration of both the words and the objects themselves. The sensory movements between and across emphatically material entity, written word, and drawing are so complex and intriguing. The sense of time and ambulatory tempo that I found so soothing in the book are terribly difficult to replicate in a much shorter graphic form of course but I found the passage of the day and Swahili time powerfully conveyed in Sadiq's illustrations - especially via the shadows on the earth. I also loved how richly saturated the colors are - the intensity of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks that vibrate from the pages and adumbrate sky and ground are so evocative, especially when seen in the gloom and rain of early January in England! I particularly like the way the notations of color in the ground have a textured patina to contrast the softer burnish of the sky - of course this helps suggest the physicality of natural features like sand and water, but it also adds to the sheer optical shimmer which is enveloping at points despite the modest page size. I am grateful for the warmth of both the illustrations and the story.”

Jonathan Shirland, PhD

Associate Professor of Art History

Department of Art & Art History

Bridgewater State University

MA 02325

Delightful story!

“This finely written and beautifully illustrated story reveals our age old yearning for peace and a sense of community. No matter your cultural background, geography or present day politics, Alama’s Walk - The Oracle Speaks is sure to gently tug on your heartstrings, give you pause for reflection, and help you realize once again the common humanity and simple desires we all share, and which bind us together. A truly refreshing read in these troubled times; Alama’s Walk is a story that transcends its East African setting and cultural heritage and speaks prophetically to all of us.”

Amazon reader review

Preview the graphic novel on Amazon

Alama's Walk, Healing the Earth (graphic novel, book 2)

It’s 5:30pm and sun is going down in equatorial Kenya, the sky is now a reddish orange. The smell of rain is the air, dark clouds form as Alama is led by three young boys to Aba Yusufa, the village elder. Alama is amazed by the rich river basin, a sharp contrast from his desert scrubland in the north. Fat cows, fields of maize, bananas and mangoes stretch across the land. A vibrant village with a rich culture deeply connected to the land. Alama absorbs joy from the children as he feels the warmth of the people. He has journeyed far. Soon it will be dark and Alama will rest his feet and gaze at the same stars from his homeland.

This is the scene I worked on over the last two days for the second graphic novel scheduled for the fall of 2022 - Alama's Walk, Healing the Earth.

These are the feelings I tried to capture in the illustration. I had several conversations with Sultan Somjee, the author/ethnographer of One Who Dreams is Called a Prophet about this scene. Besides my African childhood memories, readings and image research, Sultan advised me on time of day, the rain clouds, material culture and clothing. It is like going back to college and learning about the culture, landscape and ethnography. Like many art forms. I find this kind of illustration both enjoyable and meditative as I delve into a form of deep learning. 

Sadiq Somjee (Ilustrator)

Map Game with People and Animal Cutouts

This map game may be used as a resource to learn about the Indigenous peace traditions as you read the graphic novel, Alama's Walk, The Oracle Speaks. You will be introduced to East African Indigenous customs, stories, traditional clothing, artifacts and ornaments. Great for older kids too :-)

1) Print and glue the map onto card paper 

2) Print and cut out the people and animals along the dotted line
3) Glue onto card paper
4) Fold on the solid line at the base so they stand upright

5) Play the characters on the map and enjoy Alama's Walk

Alama, the nomad, starts his journey in search of peace from his village of Kataka. He walks to Maragoi and ends up near Tamba, both towns in the northern region of Yeta. Alama is guided by the Oracle who lives in the acacia tree at the Red Brown River and the Kokoloko bird. Along the way, he meets elders and people from various cultural communities from across the land. The elders exchange stories and their walking sticks made out of peace trees. 

Illustrating Time, Light and Shadows

Alama's Walk Time, Light & Shadows

In Swahili 7 am is called the 1st hour of the day and 6 pm is the 12th hour. The movement of the sun is rhythmic and predictable in equatorial East Africa. This celestial harmony sets the rhythm for all life. After the morning coolness and long shadows, the sun gradually brings warmth. At noon the sun is overhead and shadows hide under you, the day gets very hot until it begins to cool in the 9th hour of the day. The characters on the facing page show how the shadows fall during different times of the day. The shadows are long in the morning and shorten towards noon when they hide under you. That's when they are the shortest. Then they start to lengthen again until dusk and disappear with the sun. In the graphic novel, they show the time and direction of Alama's walk. 

The dawn sky reveals a splendor of colours, beckoning Alama to pray and bathe in its beauty. Animals, birds and roosters also awaken to graze and sing. Memories of my childhood awaken as I illustrate. I lived perhaps 300 miles south of Alama in Nairobi, the big city. When I close my eyes, I can still see and smell the mist and rain that bring out the beauty of the sun against the blue skies and opaque clouds. Dark rain clouds put on a spectacular show at the time when the rains arrive. The rains are brought by the monsoons from the Indian Ocean. New growth of seedlings and vegetation sprout, bringing gazelles, goats and creatures of every sort to feast in this season of abundance. The rivers and waters swell and replenish giving joy to the desert shrubs, trees and vegetation, and inviting birds, grazers, carnivores and vultures to fatten.

Illustrating this book, I began to feel the vastness and open spaces of the desert, the barren landscape and blue sky over the flat horizon. I thought about Alama, his reverence and prayers to colours of the rising sun. I began to respect and appreciate Indigenous wisdom drawn from environment and I started learning from him. Ultimately the desert scrubland is Alama’s home and land of his ancestors he knows and loves. Alama survives by digging up roots and tubers to drink from, catches desert hares with his homemade traps and harvests honey from his hollowed out tree branch beehives. I tried to capture these  elements and feelings visually in people, landscapes, colours and nature. While illustrating this book, I often became Alama, dreaming, walking with a stick and slowing down to reflect in the emptiness of the blue sky.

Once again I remember the colours of the sky, and shadows that predictably tell time, the smell of arriving rains and refreshing after rain smells mixed with the cooling earth. These are the feelings, colours, memories and dreams of my childhood that come alive as I read One Who Dreams is called a Prophet and illustrate Alama’s Walk, The Oracle Speaks.

Sadiq Somjee

September, 2021

Material Culture in Alama’s Walk: The Oracle Speaks

Alama's Walk, The Oracle Speaks

From the early 1970s, I started collecting and documenting the material culture of Kenya across Indigenous communities for the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nairobi, and the National Museums of Kenya. Hundreds of objects passed through my hands. I studied and sketched them in my field books. And I learned what material culture meant to the people. Working closely with the illustrator, Sadiq Somjee, we bring that experience of Indigenous Africa into the story of Alama’s Walk: The Oracle Speaks. This is a book of fiction inspired by the resourcefulness of the Turkana, Pokot and Borana people who draw from their histories, languages, and cultures to create objects of art and function. They also draw from the resourceful nature of the scrubland desert of northern Kenya. 

Their walking sticks, attires, containers and ornaments are artfully designed for use and adornment. These objects also hold cultural aesthetic codes and carry social meanings.

The elders’ walking sticks are often crafted from sacred (or peace) trees. They support the elders while walking and are held between men to stop fights. They are exchanged among peers of the adversary groups during negotiations to close the conflicts. Thus, they are also known as peace staffs and have distinctive shapes and properties of the wood sensed by touch and sight. In the book, they have personalities and I have given them names in Swahili. I have made them peers of the protagonist, Alama, so he may speak with them as an elder to an elder, and to the readers to say who they are.

Alama the Seeker, carries a headrest to lay his head down at night and when tired during the day. He carries the headrest together with the milk gourd, and a snuff container made from cow’s horn. The woman with a shiny belt and the man in white, too, carry water or milk containers with the peace staffs that are characteristic of their cultures.

The skin attires of Ua and the woman with a shiny belt are distinct. In that, they have been fashioned with distinct cultural patterns that are made by shaving and trimming calf and goat hair on the skins. The women of the two neighbouring cultures also have particular styles of wearing their skin apparels that are different from each other. 

Similarly, the sets of ornaments on the two women show the richness of diversity of Indigenous adornment and colours of Africa. Some, like the waist belt leketyo is a highly respected object. It’s revered as sacred for it supports the womb that is life of the unborn. It’s also a powerful as a symbol of motherhood. I have seen the leketyo  dropped between two fighting young men and immediately the blows ceased. In fact, in several of the eight Kalenjin communities, the word for peace is the woman’s waist belt called leketyo.

Sultan Somjee