SFX: FARIDA TRIES TO LIFT THE BAG OF FERTILIZER BUT FALLS DOWN SCREAMING IN PAIN. JENNY: (WORRINGLY MOVES IN TO HELP FARIDA) Farida! Are you okay? FARIDA: (GROANING IN PAIN) It’s okay; I just slipped. Okay, let me help you up. FARIDA: No, I’m fine; I can manage. SFX: HELPS LIFT FARIDA UP, BUT SHE SCREAMS IN PAIN AND JENNY NOTICES SOME INJURIES. JENNY: (CONCERNED) Farida, are these bruises on your arms? FARIDA: (TRYING TO BRUSH IT OFF) No, it’s nothing. JENNY: Nothing? What do you mean nothing? FARIDA: I just slipped and fell in the bathroom. JENNY: It’s him, isn’t it? He has been hitting you again? SFX: THERE IS AN AWKWARD SILENCE BETWEEN FARIDA AND JENNY WHEN SUDDENLY SIFA AND ZUHURA COME RUNNING IN FROM THE STABLE AND ZUHURA IS CRYING. ZUHURA: (CRYING AS SHE APPROACHES THE MIC) Mama! Sifa took the orange that Aunt Jenny gave me. SIFA: (RAISING HER VOICE) She’s lying! She’s lying! I did not take her orange! FARIDA: Sifa! Why do you like bothering your little sister, eeh? SIFA: (IN A TONE) But I didn’t take her orange. I have my own. FARIDA: (TRYING TO COMFORT ZUHURA) Stop crying, my I will buy another orange, okay? ZUHURA: Okay. CONTROL: Farida
MAMA MJUNI: And how many women are against the idea? MAMA K: (SHOUTING) Over here!... I can’t even keep up with my own work, so how am I supposed to help somebody else? SFX: SOME WOMEN RAISE THEIR HANDS. MAMA MJUNI: Okay, so we managed to get more votes in support of the idea, and that means that this idea will stand. SFX: MIXED REACTION, BUT MOSTLY CHEERS. MAMA MJUNI: I think this shows that most of you actually care about the other women’s plight—and that is a good thing. This decision to work together will not only help the women with children, but it will help the women without children because we will be able to work together—and I’m sure we will achieve a lot. SFX: CHEERS. CONTROL: Mama Mjuni Scene 4 Location: Ext. Sigi’s warehouse. Day. Background SFX: Warehouse ambience. Characters: Sigi, Alex, Adam, farmer. SFX: DOOR OPENS AND SIGI AND FARMER WALK OUT. FARMER: So will you pay me the same amount for my common SIGI: Now, how long have we been doing business together? FARMER: I just want to make sure that we are on the same page; that’s all. SIGI: Have no fear, my good friend; in fact, I might even double it this time! FARMER: You?! Sigi pay me double? That will be the day a dog brushes its teeth.
SFX: SIGI AND THE FARMER LAUGH. ALEX: (INTERVENES, APPROACHING MIC) Excuse me, Sigi. Can we talk for a moment? SIGI: Talk? Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of a conversation here? ADAM: We can see that, but it’s really urgent. SIGI: (LAUGHS) Urgent, huh? (TURNS TO THE FARMER) These kids today … no respect whatsoever! FARMER: It’s okay, carry on. I think me and you are pretty much done here. SIGI: Okay, then in that case, I will come pick up the common beans this Wednesday. FARMER: Okay. SFX: FARMER LEAVES AND SIGI QUICKLY PULLS ADAM AND ALEX ASIDE. SIGI: (LOW TONE) Why didn’t you call me before showing up here? ALEX: We didn’t have any credit on the SIGI: So you decided to come to my place of business unannounced? ADAM: Look, we forgot, Sigi. And even if we wanted to, we couldn’t because we had no credit. ALEX: Besides, it’s not like we are coming here for nothing. We have business to discuss! SIGI: (SIGHS) Are you stupid or what? You sell me stolen goods, you numbskull! What if somebody gets suspicious? ADAM: We didn’t about that. SIGI: (ANGRILY) Well, next time … use your head! My clients are always here; this is my place of business. I can’t have you coming and going as you please. It would raise suspicion.
ZUHURA: It’s common beans! SPEAKER: Very good—that is the correct answer! What is your name, baby girl? ZUHURA: My name is Zuhura! SPEAKER: Okay, Zuhura, you won yourself a beautiful Come on stage to collect your prize. SFX: PEOPLE CHEER FOR ZUHURA AS SHE GOES ON STAGE TO COLLECT HER PRIZE. SPEAKER: Here you go, Zuhura! ZUHURA: (HAPPILY) Thank you! SPEAKER: Give another of applause for Zuhura, please. SFX: CROWD CLAPS FOR ZUHURA. SPEAKER: Okay, now I’m starting to ask difficult questions because I only have few prizes here with me today and only a few people can walk away with the prizes. The next question is … What is the correct spacing when planting common beans? SFX: NO RESPONSE FROM THE CROWD. SPEAKER: Anybody? Nobody? Okay, I will help with this one. There are two types of spacing. First of all, when you plant common beans as the only plant, the correct spacing is 50 cm between plant rows. Within rows, you have to plant two seeds every 20 cm or one seed every 10 cm. And the other type of spacing is when you intercrop common beans with plants such as maize. Now, let’s say you are intercropping common beans with maize … you need to plant maize at 75 cm between rows and plant a row of beans in between the rows of maize. GRACE: I have a question. SPEAKER: Yes. What can you use to measure the spacing?
of land be enough to cultivate a lot of sacks of common beans for the factory? How many sacks of common beans does the factory need? STELLA: Well, usually for every harvest, we demand about a thousand sacks of common beans. JENNY: Eish! That’s a lot! FARIDA: We can’t produce even half of that on Mama Mjuni’s farm and with the number of women in the group. STELLA: (EXCITED) But we don’t need you to produce even half of that! We have different buyers, but we can reach an agreement for you to produce a small portion of that number, let’s say 90 to 100 sacks. FARIDA: Yes, that’s a reasonable number. I think we can pull that off. Don’t you think so, Jenny? (DOUBTFUL) I don’t know, Farida. It’s a lot of work to produce that much. Plus, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We still need to talk to Mama Mjuni about the proposition of using her land. STELLA: Yes, you are right. I think you guys should go ahead and talk to Mama Mjuni first. CONTROL: Farida Scene 5 Location: Ext. Mama Mjuni’s farm. Day. Background SFX: Ambience of Mama Mjuni’s farm. Characters: Mama Mjuni, Farida, Mama K, Grace, Doris, Monica, Mama Juma, Lydia. SFX: WOMEN ARGUING. MAMA MJUNI: (RESTORING ORDER) Please, can we have some order! Can we have some order in here! SFX: DIES DOWN.