ESCAPE FROM ODUDUWA
Copyright © 2008 Kojo Enoch
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ISBN: 978-9988-1-1650-7
I
Oduduwa is an island only few can tell precisely about it. No one
knows exactly where it is. Those who have happened to find
themselves upon it and were lucky enough to get out alive tremble to
speak of it, and those who go there in dreams are glad when they
wake up to find out it was just a nightmare. There are several tall
tales given about it - some true and some untrue.
My name is Obi Abeiku. I come from Keta - a small village near
Kpandu, on the Volta River. When my father died, worn out by age,
he only left me a few hundred pounds. Though meager the
inheritance was, I decided to make the very best out of it, for being
old and poor was a great misery I did not ever want to experience. I
had heard of a wealthy merchant from Kpandu who owned a fleet of
canoes, and had recently built himself a gigantic ship. It was at that
time the biggest man had ever seen as it measured a hundred and
fifty chains long, a hundred yards wide and weighed over five
hundred tons. Captain Olu was his name. He hired out his numerous
canoes to traveling traders, whom he frequently accompanied on
their various journeys. Now, there was this voyage Captain Olu was
set to make with his biggest ship called The Voyager. He was set to go
into the open sea to trade with many lands. To voyage into the
unknown lands. His major target was the Isle of Dena sometimes
called The Mine because of the gold that was said to be in abundance
in the land. It was located deep within the heart of the North Sea.
Any merchant fortunate enough to get to that land could change his
little merchandise for a lot of gold. It was said to be the voyage of a
lifetime. He who joined this voyage would return home a wealthy
man. It was called the voyage of dreams. It made headline news
everywhere, especially in my village. Everyone was talking about it.
Everybody was eager to go on board it - only if they had the money.
Every young man dreamed of going on that voyage to better his lot.
Traders and merchants from far and wide heard about this
extraordinary voyage and came for tickets to board The Voyager. I
was determined to get on board that ship with the hope of changing
my lots forever. So I invested all my meager money in procuring
goods from my village that were said to be rear in the foreign lands
Captain Olu intended visiting. Among these goods were palm fruits,
potatoes, lobsters, camphor, olives and green vegetables, which were
said to be extremely rare and costly in those far away lands. Then
after great difficulties which I guess are not suitable to bother my
readers with I finally got myself a ticket and embarked in The Voyager
with Captain Olu himself on board overseeing his ship and gigantic
merchandise. There were a lot of top notch merchants on board; each
with their personal servant or servants attending to their every need
and watching over their very expensive merchandise. These were
very important and affluential figures I could only dream of meeting.
Of course there were also first time traders like myself with their tiny
merchandise, hoping to better their lots in the voyage. Together we
were over ten dozen on board The Voyager, including boatmen,
steersmen, servants and potters. This was indeed the voyage of a
lifetime. People from all walks of life came just to catch a glimpse of
The Voyager before it departed. Captain Olu was set to make history.
The atmosphere was one of great excitement. People embraced
heartily in tearful farewells. People shouted words of voyage wishes
to their friends and relatives on board. The euphoria there was
indeed indescribable. At long last the canvas of every sail of The
Voyager was stretched taut. A cheer went up from the crowd gathered
below as Captain Olu pulled the Voyager away from the quay and
into the open sea. The excellent crew members on board scurried
about with their tasks, pulling lines and trimming sails. They were
indeed an excellent team of sailors. "This, my friends is history in
making!" Captain Olu cried from the helms and we all responded
with a deafening cheer.
We set sail and took our course towards Yeji - an island in the straits
of Elena where we involved in a brisk trade with the people.
Thereafter we ventured into the North Sea, meeting with several
uncharted islands, trading with them and making much profit.
From time to time we moored at various lands, where we sold some
of our goods or bought theirs to add to our stocks.
After a long and laborious journey lasting almost two months, we
finally reached Dena, and were awed by its astonishing beauty -
magnificent buildings, glamorous towns and uncountable streets. To
the left to the right there were so many magnificent and breathtaking
sceneries, which we could not help but stare agape at. There was also
the precious metal - gold, which could be sighted everywhere. Here,
gold wasn't a precious metal, it seemed to be nothing to these people,
for just as copper is common to us so was gold common to them. So
abundant was this precious metal that one of the porters came
running to us, crying that he had spotted one on the shackles of a
prisoner. There was indeed so much to feed the eye on in this land,
but we had little time on our side, for Captain Olu was in a hurry to
outsmart an impending storm that was expected by weather
forecasters to blow across the North Sea.
So we sold all our stocks, which were very rare to these people. For
instance a very common commodity like olive oil was something
very rare to the people of Dena, and only the extreme rich could
purchase and use it. Just as gold is uncommon to us so were most of
the commodities we sent there uncommon to them. After a brisk
trade with these people, most of which was in the form of barter we
loaded The Voyager again with new stocks of goods to take back
home. The majority of these stocks as could be guessed being gold
dust. Our voyage back home went fairly well. For six perfect days
both wind and weather were in our favour. However, on the seventh
day misfortune struck. The day had begun with a clouded sky which
showed signs of an approaching thunderstorm. Captain Olu
surveyed the sky and said, "There'd be a mighty downpour,
probably after a storm." Scarcely were these words out of his mouth
than gusts of wind began to blow. The threatening clouds
everywhere above us became as dark as coal. Then before we could
know it lightning and thunder began flashing and booming
respectively again and again. Our eyes widened from anxiety as the
winds became even stronger. Then with a big flash of lightning and a
terrific thunderclap the skies opened and the rain came. It poured
down heavily on us, growing heavier with every drop.
The storm soon grew so vicious that Captain Olu and his experienced
team had difficulty controlling the ship. Some of us moved onto the
deck to help. The winds and waves tossed The Voyager to and fro.
Our hearts thumped furiously and we shivered from both fear and
cold as The Voyager bounced helplessly on the troubled water, hurling
our goods into the water. "Do not panic, everything shall be alright,
everything is under control." Captain Olu cautioned us. His words
meant to calm us, but they rather heightened our fears, for they had
nothing but extreme panic in them. Then suddenly from the helms
we heard the steersmen shouting, "Iceberg! Iceberg right ahead!!"
Moments later we all saw it; a massive iceberg lay right in our path,
some three hundred yards out. In spite of all the captain and his crew
could do to get the ship out of the deadly course it was going they
couldn't. The ship would not go any other way except towards the
danger. And before we knew it the ship had smashed right into the
iceberg. The iceberg bumped and scraped along the side of the ship
and beneath it, splitting the wooden hull plates and letting the sea
water gush in. The impact coupled with the gushing in of the sea
water swept us off our feet. The water gushed in such a way that The
Voyager began to fall apart. Captain Olu and his crew had to abandon
the ship there was no way they could save it. We all knew The
Voyager was going to sink. There was no time to waste. Our only
hope of survival lay in the life boats. And these we made great haste
for. We reached for the life boats in no time and lowered them down
and got ourselves on board them with such haste three of the crew
members fell into the raging water and were swallowed by it. If I'm
thinking aright there were precisely eight of the boats. Each
containing at least fifteen men. We battled the fierce water, moving
on as fast as we could away from the disintegrating ship whose
falling fragments posed a great danger to us. Our frantic efforts paid
off as we gradually distanced our boats from the mighty Voyager as it
crumbled away into the sea. But the troubled waters of the sea posed
even a greater danger as the waves did not want our boats floating
upon them but rather beneath the sea. And they raged so fiercely
tossing our frail boats up and down this finally happened. All eight
boats except the one I was in and another just behind us were
swamped by the raging sea, and their luckless crews drowned or
washed away. We stared at this in horror unable to do anything to
help them. We were even helpless to help ourselves how much more
them. But we were unnerved.
We summoned courage and rowed forward with all our might. But
alas, in spite of all we did the two boats were blown completely out
of their course to an unknown destination, whereupon both wind
and rain suddenly seized, as though controlled by some magic. None
of us knew where we were or where we were heading to. We just
paddled on with no sign of land in sight. All we saw was water and
the cleared sky. It was morning and the weather was extremely cold.
After many hours upon the sea and in the extreme cold, lots of us,
including myself, caught some strange sickness and began vomiting.
There was one young trader in my boat who was seriously ill and
vomiting so furiously that he died. His body, as there was no where
to keep it was dropped into the sea. Two others from the other boat
died from the strange sickness.
I reckon two whole days we were at sea, with no sign of land in sight,
sick and with nothing to eat or drink. But yet we had to move on.
With shivering bodies, aching backs and sore hands we paddled on
towards the horizon, hoping and praying to meet with land. But in
vain. Instead of the much desired land we met with a very thick mass
of fog, which shrouded us like a blanket and almost completely stole
our sights. We did not let this to unnerve us. We gradually rowed on,
and after some while we were out of it. Barely had we gone a meter
or so forward than another terrible storm began - more severe than
the previous one. It was so vicious it literally rocked our boats up and
down the water for several hours, so that if we had not abandoned
the paddles to hold on tight to the sides of the boats we would have
been surely hurled into the water as well as our goods. Our hearts
thumped fast. We had not the slightest idea as to what to do. We just
held on tight to the boats as they bounced desperately on the wild
water. The ocean was determined to take us beneath it as it kept
opening up; swallowing our boats and spitting them back out again
over and over again. And then one time as a big wave came and
covered the boats and as we resurfaced I looked behind me only to
see that the other boat behind us had disappeared. To this day I don't
know what happened to the occupants of the boat.
Our boat kept moving on perilously on the troubled water. Every
moment I thought this was it we were surely going to die. Everyone
was screaming wildly as the boat bounced up and down, water
pouring into the boat from everywhere. We worked hard frantically
bailing out the water and trying to control the boat at the same time.
Then suddenly our eyes flung wide open with horror. They had to,
for right in front of us - a few meters away was a huge rock
protruding out of the water and our boat was heading rapidly
towards it. "We have to get the boat away from this rock otherwise
we're doomed!" Captain Olu cried, with I believe all the power of his
lungs. Instantly with our oars we tried frantically changing the