Publisher's Synopsis
"Undeserved Suffering" is a story of three generations of an uneducated Moslem family struggling for survival in a precarious shoe trade in Bemba. Amadou inherits almost everything from his father and abides by the latter's doctrine that one should always stick to one business no matter the hardships. The new trader is determined and ambitious, yet he turns out to be a cheat. He ignores the advice of his wife, Aisha, and that of his son, Buba, that life is supposed to be a dynamic activity, where people have to be flexible in the face of trials. When business declines, Amadou supervises rationing in his house and rules with tyranny. The sacrifice of Bob, the goat, brings no solution to the failing business. Buba leaves the home to try his luck at Temba, and here, the boy joins street children and becomes a thieving vagabond. Back home Amadou auctions the last vestiges of his shoe trade and surprisingly opens a provision store for his wife and takes to fishing. Hunger and policeman force Buba back home, where he joins his father in the fishing profession. On an adventurous fishing expedition, Amadou's fishing boat capsizes in the high seas and he drowns.
