Four Days With Grandpa
Published by Peter Lumba at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Peter Lumba
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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Also by Peter Lumba Published at Smashwords
African Greenhouse Cooking Kit (Non-Fiction)
Not Even The King’s Daughter(Fiction)
Moth’s Pursuit of Beauty(Fiction)
The Guardian Angel Of Stolen Love
The Sexism Path Gats Narrower And Darker
CHAPTER 1: DAY ONE
In an African village called Shago, everything seemed peaceful in a disturbing way. The time was 4.45 pm, one of those quiet cloudless warm evenings most old people like whiling away either outside their houses or at the verandas of the local trading centres, basking in the sunshine. The August vegetation was dusty and unsightly and the shambas were bare, for the rains had failed for two seasons in a row. The occasional laboured cries of skinny cows, scraggy donkeys and scrawny roosters added to the anxiety. Fifteen-year-old Tara, a Form 2 student, and her brother, Twelve-year-old Rafa, a class eight pupil, had just arrived home together from school. Their faces lit with delight as they watched their grandfather, Kefa, lowering himself slowly into a chair just outside his grass-thatched mud hut. His hut was about twenty-five metres away to the left of their father’s brick hut. Clad in a red long sleeved shirt, a dark blue sleeveless sweater, a pair of black trousers and rubber sandals made from an old car tyre, the old man settled down to enjoy the warmth of the evening sun. After a long violent cough, he looked up into the sky to search for the moon and ascertain its position in relation to the sun. Placing his frail looking hand above his strained narrowed eyes to shelter them from the direct rays of the sun, he finally sighted the pale crescent moon that he supposed to be about thirty degrees below the sun. The rain that “washes” the new moon is only a few days away, thought the old man. It would reduce the effects of the dusty sunny weather.
“Rafa,” called Tara.
“Yes,” answered Rafa promptly.
“You remember Grandpa promised to tell us a story today after school.”
“Right,” agreed Rafa, “a story about the origin of the crocodile, the hippopotamus and the wild pig. Let us take our schoolbags inside the house and then join him outside.”
The two children broke into a run towards their father’s hut. They put away their bags, took a stool each and rushed outside again.
As they ran towards him, the seventy-five-year-old gaunt faced grandfather gave them a modest smile that hardly reached his deep-set eyes. Their tacit racing contest had no clear winner.
“Grandpa… you pro …promised to tell us the…the story about the origin of the… the crocodile, the hippopotamus… and the wild pig today after school,” said Tara, gasping for air.
“That is right,” agreed their grandfather, “do sit down both of you.”
Tara and Rafa still clad in their school uniforms sat on their stools facing their grandfather. Tara was dressed in a grey skirt, a white blouse, a maroon cardigan and black dusty shoes, while Rafa was dressed in a green pair of shorts and a pink shirt. Rafa’s dusty feet were bare.
“Okay, we are…a …attentive now,” said Rafa as he recovered his breath.
The old man cleared his throat roughly and said, “Do you know why I want to tell you this particular story my grandchildren?”
“No, grandpa,” both replied.
“It is because there are a growing number of young people who are misled to believe that our native languages are useless.” He paused. Then he added, “Some alien languages may be superior to our local languages in more ways than one, something I can’t argue about, but it is our indigenous languages that give us our identity as a people.”
“But grandpa,” began Tara, “today many schools do not teach children their mother tongues any more.”
“My little ones, it is not the responsibility of our schools to teach children their mother tongues,” replied their grandfather. “It is the duty of parents and the community in general to do so. It is necessary to learn our native languages because they give us a sense of belonging and the power to persuade. Before I tell you my story, I want to give you some reasons as to why it is essential to learn your mother tongue.
"My grandchildren, if today you want to destroy other people’s cultures and introduce them to your way of doing things, the most effective way to achieve this would be to teach them your language first. Then discourage by all means possible, the use of their own languages. This will make them appreciate only those ideas allied to your culture while at the same time they would start hating everything related to their culture. It is significant to note that this too extends to trade and politics, considering that the owners of the language we normally use will always have the last word on our affairs. They will decide what we eat, what we wear, what our children learn, what we worship and how we are governed too. They will also decide what is good and bad for us bearing in mind that they will be able to use their language astutely to impose their way of life on us. In a few words, a community that is not proud of its native language is up for grabs, as it has nothing else as relevant as its language that it can identify itself with. Are we together, my little ones?”
The children nodded silently.
“More to the point, publicity campaigns are only made in a language that the targeted section of the public can understand well. So the authors of the language we usually speak will use it to make us aware of only products, services and ideas of their choice.
“For instance, my grandchildren, we have only two clans in our country - the Kuchikuchi, which we belong to, and the Mbalumbalu, our neighbours. Today if we decide to ignore our Kuchi language in favour of the Mbalu language, at the end of the day, we would more or less become economic and political slaves of the Mbalumbalu clan. Most advertisements and public notices in our country would then start appearing in Mbalu language, only promoting the Mbalumbalu interests. Won’t this wipe out the market for the Kuchikuchi goods and services while it promotes the market for the Mbalumbalu goods and services?”
“How?” asked Rafa.
“I will tell you how. People use languages to introduce their ideas to the public. And as you know, we only read books written in a language we like and that we can understand well. Same with television and the radio – we only watch and listen to those programs presented in a language we like and we understand well. From such books, television and radio programs, we learn new ideas. If we only read books, or watch and listen to programs expressing ideas in a language other than ours, to a certain extent we are being lured into a new way of doing things - in other words a different culture. If we find the new ideas appealing and undertake to put them into practice, then most probably we are copying someone else’s culture – thus shifting our view on certain matters with a possibility of changing our tastes too. This is both good and bad. Do you understand what I am saying?”
“Do you mean we should only be reading those books written in Kuchi language and only listen to programs presented in our mother tongue?” asked Tara.
“Far from it!” replied the old man. “That is not what I mean. Today your mother tongue alone will not take you beyond your village. But it will give you an identity and a bargaining power that will make others respect you and your way of life. Therefore, the books we read, the TV and radio programs we watch and listen, the songs we listen to, whatever language they are presented to us in, are all supposed to be sources of good and bad ideas disguised as entertainment. It should also not escape our notice that these books, songs, radio and TV programs, the names we see in our metropolitan areas, are also language promoters. From the entire range of good and bad ideas presented to us, we should only take in what is friendly to our useful cultural practices and ignore what would be harmful. Do you understand now?”
Both children nodded confidently.
“You also mentioned politics,” said Tara, “how does our language influence our political beliefs?”
“Good question, Tara. Say you are a talented leader and you want a vote from our Kuchikuchi community despite the fact that you are not able to express yourself in Kuchi language – do you think our community will readily give you their vote?”
“No, they will be reluctant to do that,” answered Tara.
“Good,” granted their grandpa. “This is because somehow the people would feel that you are not quite one of them. As a result, they may end up denying you their vote and perhaps give it to a less talented person who would probably be incapable of promoting the community’s agenda nationally. This will in turn give the Mbalumbalus an upper hand over the Kuchikuchi community in national matters. Isn’t that true?”
“It is true, grandpa,” replied the two children in unison.
“But that is not all. Now the story I want to tell you depicts some of the problems individual people are likely to find themselves in because of their failure to learn their mother tongues.”
The children just nodded.
“Right, now that it is getting late, you should go and do your homework. Then starting from tomorrow, I will tell you my story. Of course, it will take more than a day to finish the story depending on how much time we have each day. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes, grandpa,” both replied with disappointment written on their faces.
“Okay, you may go now.”
“Thank you grappa,” they yelped in glee, stood up, picked their stools and returned to their father’s house to do their homework.
And the following is the story that their grandfather told them.
CHAPTER 2: DAY TWO
Their grandfather began: There once was a country called Puzikoland that was all but completely surrounded by water. The landscape of Puzikoland was adorned with green rolling hills, wooded valleys and lofty forested mountains. In the southern end, it bordered Chatuland, another country inhabited by different clans of Snakes. Most noticeable among these clans were the Pythons, the Rattlesnakes, the Cobras and the Boas.
Puzikoland itself was the home of four major clans of animals, namely the Donkeys, the Pigs, the Cows and the Sheep. While the Donkeys lived in the north, the Pigs inhabited the south, the Cows the west, and the Sheep the east. The animals spoke Bray, Grunt, Moo and Baa, in that order. The four clans not only had different languages, but also had diverse customs that they were all proud of.
The animals of Puzikoland did not know how to read and write their native languages. But they all took pleasure in making the languages more interesting by lacing them up with proverbs. Further to this, during their leisure time, they entertained themselves with beautiful traditional songs and dances. All the animals of Puzikoland not only lived in harmony, but also worked hard in their own farms and therefore food was plenty.
Besides the localized activities, the four clans traded among themselves. To facilitate their trade, they had invented a common language called Shcopido. The Shcopido language was coined from each of the four major local languages. But although most of the animals of Puzikoland spoke this language, inter-clan marriages were never practiced in the land. Every clan had its binding customs that the animals were all keen to observe. Moreover, each of the clans was under a chief whose main duties were to unite the animals and make sure all the rules and customs of his clan were complied with.
Unknown to the animals of Puzikoland, the Horses lived in another distant country to the North called Ikwesiland. Ikwesiland was separated from Puzikoland by a big water mass that no animal could swim across. Very clever animals these Horses were, for they had invented different ways of making their work easier. Unlike the animals of Puzikoland, the Horses had also learnt how to read and write their language. Their way of life had also transformed considerably, getting rid of what they saw as useless customs and coming up with new ideas. Evidently, they were set to see their country grow in all ways. To facilitate this growth, they built schools where their young ones learnt to not only read and write, but also how to develop new ideas and use them for the benefit of their country.
Then out of mere curiosity and ambition, two Horses decided to make a big strong boat to explore the big water mass that bordered their country. As soon as their vessel was finally ready for use, they packed it with all sorts of essentials and other assorted items and set sail southwards in the big water mass. By chance, they had set off towards Puzikoland, a land they had no idea it existed. It took them forty days and nights to reach the shores of Puzikoland where they entered the country from the northern side.But the Donkeys, who lived in the north, had never met this kind of animals before. Yes, they had met the Pigs, the Sheep, the Cows and some Snakes from Chatuland, but not these two. They had no idea where the strange looking animals had come from.
When the report of the unfamiliar visitors reached the chief of the Donkeys, he at once summoned them to his home. But the two animals spoke in an alien language neither the chief nor his animals understood. This language was called Neigh, which was the actual language of the Horses. Because the two visitors were also unfamiliar with the bray language spoken by the Donkeys, they entirely communicated in gestures.
With the intention of winning over the chief of the Donkeys, the Horses enticed him with fabulous gifts from the other side. Among these gifts were clothes and exotic alcoholic drinks, all which were unknown in Puzikoland. Yet, in spite of the seemingly friendly nature of these two strange aliens, the Donkeys received them with great suspicion. All the same, the chief with his animals tried to give them a satisfactory degree of cooperation. Into the bargain, though unenthusiastically, the chief with some clan elders offered to accompany the two foreigners to the other districts of Puzikoland. He introduced the visitors to the chiefs of the other clans and more gifts were dished out to the delight of those present. Even so, the clans received the visitors with a great deal of unease.
Despite the fact that the animals of Puzikoland were suspicious of the Horses’ intentions, they finally welcomed them in their land. Seeing this, the Horses sent the pleasing report back home. The encouraging news sparked off the migration of more and more Horses from their country to Puzikoland. The new visitors too came carrying more gifts for the chiefs and the elders of the new land.
At the end of the day, the chiefs of Puzikoland with their animals agreed to give these visitors some land to settle. But then, using wit and guile, the Horses gradually took control of practically everything in the country, grabbed the most fertile areas of Puzikoland, settled there and started introducing their lifestyles to the animals of the new land.
Then everything started changing steadily. Building schools in every region of Puzikoland to teach the animals how to read and write the Neigh language became the Horses’ first priority. With time, many of the young animals became literate in Neigh language and in their native languages too. But it was the Neigh language that became the formal language of instruction. So, although learners were allowed to learn how to read and write their local languages, the Horses did not permit the use of these languages in their schools. Incidentally, those learners caught communicating in their native languages were severely punished. Soon all the animals of Puzikoland accepted the view that the Neigh language was superior to all their local languages. Therefore, the animals who successfully learnt the alien language were held in high esteem.