Ruined

Scene 1 opens with Fortune still standing outside the bar. Mama Nadi and Sophie sing together, while Josephine engages with soldiers and a miner. Mr. Harari and Christian are present, and Christian is drunk. According to the stage directions, Josephine dances expressively, using her movements to communicate her intense emotions, which begin with playfulness and build up to fury. Sophie supports Josephine when she stops, as Josephine has exhausted herself.

At the start of Scene 2, Mama and Salima discuss Fortune. When Sophie expresses some optimism, innocently saying “[i]f he doesn’t love you, why would he still be there” (66), Mama Nadi scolds her with a harsh reminder of the reality of the situation: “The woman he loved is dead” (66). Mama comforts Salima by taking her into her arms and reminding her that “Mama takes care of you” (66). When Mama leaves to tend to the miners in the bar, Salima explains her story to Sophie, lamenting that Fortune does not know she is pregnant. Salima begins by describing the dishonor Fortune experienced when she returned home, she who was “made poison by their fingers, that is what he said” (67).

Salima loses patience when Sophie tries to defend Fortune, and in an emotional outburst, she tells Sophie every brutal detail of her captivity, from the soldier who couldn’t tolerate the sound of her baby crying and “stomped on her head with his boot” (68) to her powerlessness as she “lay there as they tore [her] to pieces, until [she] was raw” (69). Salima feels extreme pain as she tells the story, and “[s]till [she] close[s] [her] eyes and [she] see[s] such terrible things. Things [she] cannot stand to have in [her] head” (69). Sophie tries to reassure Salima that she did nothing wrong, but Salima cannot let go of the fact that her pregnancy will bear “the child of a monster” (70). Salima finishes her outburst to Sophie with a sense of resolve that comes from the memory of Fortune’s bad treatment of her, upon her return to the family compound: if Fortune continues to stand outside the bar, then Salima is “sorry for him” (70).

Scene 3 begins when Fortune gives Mama Nadi a message of love for Salima as well as a pot that takes the place of the cooking vessel she sent him to buy on the day she was taken by the soldiers. Mama, misunderstanding the gesture, mocks Fortune, as two government soldiers make a scene. Fortune scolds the soldiers, and Simon approaches him to tell him that “[t]he commander is gathering everyone” (72) in preparation for a march on to the next village. Fortune resists, wanting to wait for Salima, and Simon responds to Josephine, whose lascivious behavior has been a distraction to him throughout this scene. Simon and Fortune have words, and Simon reminds Fortune of their orders while pressuring Fortune to “consider that maybe she’s dead” (73). Fortune attacks Simon when he hears that “the men are making a joke of [him]” (73), explaining to his cousin that he is a farmer and that he wants his wife and family. Simon responds by reminding Fortune of the commander’s orders “to kill all deserters” (75), and leaves Fortune in the rain when Fortune challenges him to do so.

Christian is drunk at the start of Scene 4, loudly complaining about Osembenga, who evilly “plays at democracy” (75). During Christian’s rant, Mama Nadi unsuccessfully tries to quiet Christian, and, finally, she desperately insists that Christian “[l]eave the philosophizing and preaching to the wretched politicians” (76). Two rebel soldiers arrive, and Josephine and Kisembe emerge from the back room. Christian and Kisembe engage in a discussion of Osembenga, who has been giving Kisembe and his rebels “some trouble” (77), and Kisembe launches into an intense tirade against Osembenga. Mr. Harari, whose presence confuses Josephine, introduces himself and gives Kisembe his business card to ease the tension that has built in the bar. Kisembe leaves with his men, as “duty calls” (79), and Christian drunkenly mocks him after he leaves, which makes Mr. Harari nervous.

Mere moments after Kisembe leaves with his men, Osembenga arrives with Laurent, his assistant, and Osembenga voices his appreciation of Christian’s parody of Kisembe, unaware of the anxiety he provokes when he wonders out loud about the expensive-looking truck he saw leaving moments before. When Mama Nadi appears, he flirts with Mama and then with Sophie, who resists his advances. Sophie spits on Osembenga’s feet, shouting “I am dead! Fuck a corpse! What would that make you?” (83). Christian tries to protect Sophie from Osembenga’s consequent anger, and Mama Nadi goes with him to the back room while Christian scolds Sophie for her rash words and actions. When Mama Nadi comes back, she slaps Sophie and orders her to go to the back room with Osembenga. Mama Nadi defends her choice to Christian, asking “[w]ho would protect my business if he turned on me?” (85), and when Christian scoffs at her mention of her business, Mama mocks him. He orders a beer, and Mama Nadi defiantly defends herself to Christian, explaining that the girls would “rather be here, than back out there in their villages where they are taken without regard” (86). Christian dismisses her rant with a poem and leaves the bar, vowing never to return.

When Osembenga and Laurent leave Mama Nadi’s at the start of Scene 5, Fortune interrupts them to tell Osembenga that he has seen Kisembe at the bar. Fortune explains that “[s]he was hiding him” (87) and that Mama Nadi “is holding [his] wife” (88). Osembenga orders Laurent to “prepare the brigade to move out” (88).

Scene 6 opens at dawn, and Mr. Harari is nervously waiting for a ride over the border to Uganda with an aid worker because his “driver, fucking idiot, took off last night” (88) after hearing gunfire. Mr. Harari reminds Mama Nadi that “[t]here is no shame in leaving” (89) and “[p]art of being in business is knowing when to cut your losses and get out” (89), especially as “[t]he commander knows that Kisembe was here” (89). Mama Nadi resists his rationale, but Mr. Harari reminds her that someone like “a lovely girl like Sophie” (89) lacks Mama’s optimism and strength, which causes Mama to experience a change of heart. Just as Mr. Harari is about to leave, Mama Nadi convinces him to take the raw diamond in her safekeeping and spend the money he can get from it on Sophie and her operation, but Mama is too late. The aid worker leaves with Mr. Harari in a panic, and Sophie loses her opportunity moments before the bar is sieged by Osembenga and his soldiers. Osembenga accuses Mama Nadi of lying to him, gesturing towards Fortune when the commander says “[t]his soldier said he saw Jerome Kisembe here” (93). Mama Nadi denies the claim, and chaos ensues. Government soldiers attack the women, and as Josephine pleads with Mama Nadi to “[t]ell him, Mama. He was here” (93), Salima enters, bleeding from the middle of her dress and screaming “STOP!” (94). Fortune holds Salima in his arms, and within moments of their reunion, Salima directs her last words to all of the men in the room: “You will not fight your battles on my body any more” (94).

Scene 7 begins peacefully, with Sophie singing and cleaning the bar alongside Josephine. Mama worries about rebuilding her establishment after the siege, asking herself “[h]ow the hell are we supposed to do business?” (95). When Christian arrives to the bar in a new suit, bearing a letter for Sophie from her mother, Mama Nadi tries to contain her pleasure; they banter as they used to, at the start of Act One. He acknowledges the siege to Mama Nadi and she replies that “Salima was a good girl” (97). Christian and Mama talk, and Christian admits that he has missed Mama Nadi, even though he feels he shouldn’t “expect the sun to shine where only mold thrives” (98). Mama offers him a cold beer, but he opts for a Fanta instead, and Mama approves of his sobriety. When Mama offers to put on some music, Christian responds “[w]hat’s the point” (99), as Mama always refuses to dance with him. She explains the practical reasons behind her resistance to his overtures, and Christian expresses his desire to “stay, help you run things” (99) and fix problems that need fixing. He pledges his love to Mama Nadi, and she responds with anger: “‘Love.’ It is a poisonous word. It will change us. It will cost us more than it returns” (100). As Christian turns to leave, finally beaten by Mama’s cruel rejection, she panics and tries to get his attention; finally, in defeat, he asks her, “[w]hy not us?” (100). Mama Nadi answers: “I’m ruined. I’m ruined.” Christian, with this new understanding of Mama Nadi, expresses sympathy and love, trying to comfort her, and Mama weeps as Sophie walks in and interrupts them. When Sophie leaves again, Christian asks Mama to dance one last time and recites to her one more poem. They dance. Sophie and Josephine watch them happily.