Pains, pleasures and curiosities
“Tää on sit peruukki, nii älä vedä mun hiuksii”
I said to him, before he slid into me. Looking back at him, feeling his hands grip my waist. Bracing myself, warning him.
He didn’t care. We had a good time.
• • •
“Otatko sä sun letit pois, kun sä meet suihkuun?”
Curious children huddled around me, pulling at my braids.
“En.”
“Entä kun sä meet nukkumaan?”
“En.”
“Miten sun hiukset kasvaa noi nopeesti?”
I would get asked this whenever the length of my braids changed dramatically. A mystery my white peers could never crack.
“Ne vaan kasvaa.”
I never bothered to explain. Why are they so concerned?
copyright © Fiona Musanga 2020
A collection of memories — a semi-autobiographical text which follows Musanga’s relationship with her hair from her childhood to her 20’s — was submitted to a writing competition hosted by Ruskeat Tytöt and Kustantamo S&S. The topic for the competition was hair.
Musanga’s text won second place. The submitted texts will be compiled into a book which will be published by Kustantamo S&S in 2021. A collection of memories is 5 pages, here is a snippet. The text is in English and Finnish.