from the press

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sunday_life/Ladies_black_is_beauty_81939.shtml
Sunday Life March 22, 2009
By Joshua Masinde
Book: Butterflies of the Nile
Author: Jane Musoke-Nteyafas
Publisher: Cook Communications
Reviewer: Joshua Masinde
She writes poetry, short stories and plays. She is distinctly feminine, describing the African woman’s beauty with a passion. Such is her description: “In the beginning, God populated the earth with black women and he made them a rich embellishing combination of all colours and shades.
They were beautiful rainbow complexions of coffee, cocoa, and ebony, chocolate…” she writes on, “and the Devil came along and created skin lighteners…”
Butterflies of the Nile by Jane Musoke-Nteyafas, is drawn from a poem by the same title. The poem is an artistic and compelling praise of African beauty (read African women’s beauty).
Despite the beauty the African women are endowed with, it is strange but uncommon how the natives of Africa, especially the men who live in exotic lands, have alienated many things African by having a chronic penchant for exotic tastes. Muhwezi, in Prom Night, passes for one of such alienated blokes.
He is a Ugandan-born, Canadian-bred chap who does not appreciate his Ugandan-born Canadian girlfriend, Aisha. Despite her breathtaking beauty, which is admired by many a man, Muhwezi does not appreciate such African beauty.Aisha is authentically beautiful.
But, as Muhwezi does not appreciate her as much as she deserves, she puts on makeup and uses lots of beauty enhancing elements to appease him. Nevertheless, he does not still appreciate her spruced up appearance meant to placate him.
In a drunken stupor, he abuses her instead. Nteyafas writes of deep love and affection in Nakimera’s Love. Nakimera and Rwomushana, both from Uganda but living abroad, meet on an online chatting site.
Although they live continents apart, they fall deeply in love such that Nakimera does not object to his suggestion of going to England to stay with him. Nakimera’s Love is an enchanting love story of the African love, which brings together and binds her and Rwomushana. Through her, Rwomushana appreciates how beautiful women from his home country are.
Modernity has brought with it myriad makeup, which most women use to appear (beautiful), fashionable and sophisticated. The face presents such a scenario. Katrice, an African woman, though beautiful in her natural way, uses a lot of makeup to fake artificial beauty, which unfortunately she does not attain.
She has the body and features, which though she dislikes, present her as more beautiful than one would ever think. After adorning the makeup, she is visibly ugly and is abandoned by her boyfriend.
However, her second boyfriend dissuades her, just like her mother did sometime back, to stop using makeup as it exaggerates her looks and makes her appear ugly. After ridding herself of all makeup, her authentic African beauty stuns her boyfriend, who vows to keep by her side forever.
Nteyefas is potently feministic, championing the rights and place of women in modern society. In her simplicity, she writes strongly and passionately of the beauty of African women, love and relationships.
The themes run through the plays, poems and short stories, with a touch of biblical allusion spicing up some stories. She writes to heal the distorted stereotypes and misconceptions attached to African women’s beauty. It is powerfully written, passionately moving, truly sensitive, and ecstatically enchanting.