Christie Watson - Tiny Sunbirds Far Away

review by showhost
This book has been reviewed recently by Maggie but it deserves to be reviewed again.
It’s a simple story following part of the life of Nigerian Blessing & her brother Ezikiel & her mother as seen through 12yr old Blessings eyes.

The story starts in Lagos where they live in relative comfort in an apartment block with a generator, toilet, air con & fridge plus they have schooling .
But their world changed on day when their father was found with another woman and her mother lost her job. They could not longer afford the rent. They had to leave and go and stay with their estranged grandparents in the Niger Delta.

The village is in a compound with no electricity, no running water, no toilet. Her brother warns that there is trouble in the area but they have no choice.
Mama has to find work, any work, to pay for 14yr old Ezikiels medication (he has asthma & nut allegy), to pay for schooling and to put food on the table.
At 12 yrs old Blessing begins her apprenticeship with her grandmother who is the deliverer of babies in a country where female circumcision is still widely practised.
It’s a story of contrast and greed. How circumstances can change a life sometimes with devasting results as did Ezikiel, in a country with internal fighting and gross corruption. How material things aren’t as important as a loving family around you. How a country fuelled by greed leads to violence.

The oil companies paying the government to allow them to dig for oil but leaving the country with millions of gallons of spillage, causing health & environmental damge. The government paying the ‘kill & go’ police to silence any villages who protest which in turn cause the rebel boys to oppose them.

Grandma summed it up in her protest: Quote from book
‘We are sick of the failed promises. Sick of sickness. Sick of our environment filled with pollution and our rivers filled with oil spills. Sick of guns. Sick of no electricity. Sick of our government putting billions of pounds in their own pockets. Sick of the oil companies giving these men money knowing it will not go to the people. Sick of no jobs. Sick of white men shipped in to do the jobs local men could do.

I also loved the wisdom of the grandmother, quote:
“Sometimes things fall apart, so we can put them together in a new way”
“An anthill that is destined to become a giant anthill will become one no matter how many times it is destroyed by elephants”
“Sometimes words are more powerful than guns. And sometimes silence is more powerful than words. It is the things that are not said that are important.

I so enjoyed this book which moves you to tears. It isn't a grim book, it's a 'life' book, its told matter-of-factly, with moments of humour and happiness. It's their life as it is.

There are recommended sites at the back of the book which I have looked up and so should everybody so we are all aware of the real struggle.