Raising Firstborn Bainaka

In 1958 ten-year old Sorie was meant to walk in his farming father's footsteps, and his motivation must be spawned not from the secret dreams of revenge he harbored but rather from the need to bring justice to others. Loyal allies like Saixusorie, Botelai, Baraka and Mirya among others needed recognition. Honest workers like McCarthy, Yacine, Modumaka, Sarabella, and so many others also needed recognition, justice. And he, Sorie, was the promise of justice for those members of his family who expected the advent of peace and joy by dint of poverty-reducing deeds. The task was tricky in the context of a society confronted with the combined effects of its triple heritage--Islam, Christianity and colonialism. To prepare for this task, Sorie and his peers were engaged in educating themselves in order to establish both their own identity as individuals and the identity of the young People's State of Guinea amid nations. However, above all, by age 16 Sorie was most fascinated by stories depicting daring feats of adventure involving those of his peers who evaded poverty and embarked on migration treks toward France. He thus learned that the way to Paris went through Dakar or Abidjan. What will Sorie make of President Sekou Toure's efforts to get Guineans to think in one and the same brain--that of President Sekou Toure--who intended to use a helpless population of housewives, masons, electricians, plumbers, doctors, teachers, and farmers for his revolutionary project of social engineering?