Who Fears Death

Following Banza, Onye notices that the group is beginning to divide in various ways: between the sexes; between Binta and Diti on one side and Luyu and Onye on the other; and between Fanasi and Diti. Onye notes that Fanasi had followed Diti into the desert, but in the desert Diti and Binta had “discovered life as free women” (223).

In the evening, Onye makes a stew, calls a meeting, and addresses the tension, which naturally starts the bickering anew. She tells them, though, that she believes she knows how to break the juju so that they can once again enjoy intercourse; she walks off, forcing them to come to her if they want her help.

The women eventually come to her to ask for her help; Onye forces them to apologize but tells them that she’ll help them the next night.

The next night, the women walk to a spot in the desert a mile away from camp. In the reverse order of their Rite, Onye performs magic on them; the procedure is painful, and their screams loud enough that they reach Fanasi and Mwita back at the camp, which Onye had intended. The women leave for the camp; Onye wishes to stay behind, however, and rest, as the procedure had taken a lot out of her—“My skin was chaffing […] A swath of it the size of the entire back of my hand sloughed off.