Stories
50,012+ life stories available to read on Lumaa.
life
The Baker of Thiès
Every morning at four, before the first call to prayer, Assane lit the oven.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadlove
Letters from the River
For a whole year I wrote to her from the bank of the Gambia. I never sent any of the letters.
by Demba Kah 7 min readReadtravel
The Old Map
My uncle kept a map of a country that no longer existed.
by Demba Kah 5 min readReadwisdom
The Teacher
Master Sarr was not a kind man, and this is why we loved him.
by Demba Kah 8 min readReadchildhood
The Mango Tree
The mango tree in our courtyard was older than any of us, and it was in charge.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadtravel
The Night Train
The train left Dakar at nine in the evening and arrived in Bamako, if it wished, two days later.
by Demba Kah 7 min readReadlife
The Quiet Market
There is a small market at the edge of my town that opens only on Wednesdays.
by Demba Kah 5 min readReadhistory
My Grandmother's Radio
My grandmother had a small blue radio she carried with her everywhere.
by Demba Kah 9 min readReadwisdom
The Lantern
When the power went out for the third night in a row, my father brought the old lantern down from the shelf.
by Demba Kah 4 min readReadlove
The Rain in April
It is not supposed to rain in April, and this is why the rain, when it comes, feels like a gift.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadlife
The Fisherman
Old Ibrahima fished from the same rock for fifty-three years.
by Demba Kah 7 min readReadchildhood
The Blue Window
The house at the end of our street had a blue window that was never opened.
by Demba Kah 5 min readReadadventure
Notes on a Narrow Escape of Lumaa
The map had a gap in the middle. That was where we were going.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadtechnology
Memory of the Old Server
The bug that had been crashing the system for six months turned out to be a single misplaced character.
by Demba Kah 12 min readReadsports
After the Match, Again
We lost every match that season except the last one, which is the only one anyone talks about.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadhistory
Nights of the Archive on a Rainy Day
In our family, we did not throw things away. We repaired them, or we forgot about them.
by Demba Kah 5 min readReadsports
Nights of the Trophy
We were down by four goals with seven minutes left. We won.
by Demba Kah 8 min readReadfood
Under the Cook
She said the secret ingredient was time. She was not being poetic.
by Demba Kah 12 min readReadtravel
Letter to a Small Island
The border crossing took three hours, and I spent all of them thinking about home.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadadventure
The Colour of the Sea Crossing
The map had a gap in the middle. That was where we were going.
by Demba Kah 4 min readReadart
Questions About the Melody
He painted the same door every morning for a year. By the end, it was not the door.
by Demba Kah 9 min readReadscience
Before the Experiment I Remember
Science is mostly waiting. The discovery is the brief, accidental reward for patience.
by Demba Kah 10 min readReadchildhood
Beyond a Football and Me
My best friend, when we were children, could talk to birds. Or at least, we all believed he could.
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadhistory
A Kind of the Forgotten Name at Dusk
The street has a different name now, but the old people still call it by the original.
by Demba Kah 9 min readReadchildhood
On the Edge of a Kind Uncle Worth Keeping
We used to play until the light went, and then a little after.
by Demba Kah 4 min readReadphilosophy
One Morning at Virtue in the Morning
The question I keep returning to is simple: what is a life well lived, and who decides?
by Demba Kah 6 min readReadtravel
In Praise of a Small Island
There are places that teach you something only by showing you how small you are.
by Demba Kah 5 min readReadadventure
Through the the Expedition at Dusk
We set out with three days of food and came back twelve days later, full of stories.
by Demba Kah 12 min readReadfood
A Kind of the Dish Between Us
The recipe had no measurements. My grandmother cooked by feel, by colour, by smell.
by Demba Kah 4 min readReadtravel
Through the the Harbour in a Small Town
I arrived in a city where I did not speak the language and did not need to.
by Demba Kah 7 min readRead