What is the main conflict in Africans by Sheila Kohler?

Sheila Kohler's "Africans" was first published in Story magazine in 1998. It received greater exposure when it was published the following year in Kohler's collection of interlinked stories One Girl: A Novel in Stories. The book is divided into four sections, each one representing a life stage. "Africans" is included in the largest of the four sections, "Courtship and Marriage."