THE RIVER THAT RAN DRY
A village in Abia State Agam was a river. It was named by my ancestors. Ancestors who are now long gone. But they lived in that corner of the earth. On lands they found and claimed as their own. That piece of real estate, the new settlers called Umuokehi Obiohuru. For they were the children of the Great Cow (Okehi). Folklore has it, that their homeland became too small for the sons of Okehi. So, the youngest son, gathered his family and went in search of new lands, until he reached my ancestral village. He discovered Agam the river, so he pitched tent and settled with his family. Agam was their source of water and lifeline. They lived close to the river and gradually expanded out to claim more land as the families grew. In the mid 1970s and 1980s when we would take trips during summer holidays and Christmas breaks to my village. I remember going to the river a couple of times with relatives. There was even a footpath, to walk all the way to my mother's village on the ...
