In Things Fall Apart, in chapter 9, one of Okonkwo’s daughters, Enzima, becomes very ill. The narrator then recounts the story of when Okonkwo and Enzima’s mother, Ekwefi, entrusted a local medicine man to ensure that Enzima would not die as a child. After reading chapter nine, have students compare and contrast the way Ekwefi responded to the medicine man with the trust that Martha Benson places in the faith curist in Dunbar’s short story. How do the two women rely on their faith and their trust of others? How do the two women deal with adversity? Can the outcome of the two mothers’ trust have an effect on their faith?