Page 11 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 13

Community

just brought their products to the
market, placed pebbles close to The atmosphere was tensed, each Once the stranger and thief among
what they were selling, to indicate villager present looking suspi- the people was removed, the
the amount of cowrie shells they ciously at other villagers. The villagers breathed a sigh of relief
expected from each item and then elders consulted the oracle and the that they could trust each other
they would go back home, or to the declaration was that, a stranger was once again just as they had done for
farm. Later in the evening, at the among them. “A stranger!” They all generations.
close of day, they would come back exclaimed. For they all knew each End of story.
to collect the money and also what- other so well that even a strange
ever was not sold. This was their fly would be identified instantly. For those who may have read the
custom which was passed down for But just as they deliberated on the original version of this story, I
generations. And so they lived in odd announcement, a man whom realize that I may not have shared it
peace and trust with one another. they had never seen before, casually exactly the way it was written then,
walked into the gathering. He defi- but I do hope I did a good job.
A fox in the midst nitely did not look like one of them
On one particular day, each seller and from the look on his face, he No one reading this needs a degree
brought their goods and wares seemed interested in whatever the in rocket science to figure out that
as usual, placed stone pebbles to gathering was about. this story as used by me, is about
indicate price and went home or to Afrika, the village of love.
their farms. The chief of the elders asked him
Later in the evening, as was their who he was. He narrated his story. Afrika the lost village of love
custom, the returned to collect their “I left my village in a far away land, The womb of Afrika, as the
sales for the day, but alas, some- beyond the rivers, walked for many Motherland for all of mankind, has
thing had happened. A stranger had months looking for a new place to birthed much for the world and her
entered their midst. settle. When I got to this village, back has carried many weights of
I went first to the market to buy humiliation while doing so. Gang-
One of the sellers went to her myself some food to eat, but on raped over and over again by those
space but found no cowrie shells getting to the market, I found no who sneaked in through the broken
and that her basket of bananas was one there. Just the goods that were fences that we have allowed for
also empty. She could not believe meant for sale and some money. So many decades, Afrika, as a people,
her eyes, nor could she understand I thought to myself that, the people now need to re-think what it means
what she was seeing. In her surprise, of this village must either be very truly putting a stop to the things
she went to tell her neighbor of the foolish to leave both their goods that undermine her.
strange thing that had happened, and their money with no watch-
but met her along the way coming ing them or they are probably all They keep raping Afrika
to her to do the same! dead. So I took some fruits to eat, According to an article written by
In no time, there was uproar and some extra food to eat later, and Father Anselm Adodo, published
confusion in the market, for this also went through all the shops to in an earlier issue of this magazine,
had never happened before. But collect every bit of money I could “As we speak, hundreds of thousands
worse still, a dirty seed of doubt find.” He ended his tale with no of Congolese children work themselves to
and suspicion was already working remorse or guilt for what he did. death in Congolese mines where they mine
its way among the people. cobalt, earning one dollar a day. Cobalt is
The villagers where so shocked used in making the lithium batteries that
Just in time, a quick witted elder that a person could do that, and power your mobile phones and cameras.
who was at the market, noted the the elders where silent for a while,
evil of distrust that was already deliberating on what to do. After The Democratic Republic of Congo is the
creeping in among the people. He their deliberations, the chief of the world’s largest producer of Coltan. Coltan
quickly called for the council of elders ordered the young warriors is essential in the production of mobile
elders. They needed to consult the of the village to bind hand and foot phones and tantalum capacitors that are
oracle to find out what was happen- the stranger, take him far away from used in almost every kind of electronic de-
ing, before things got out of hand. the village borders and throw him vice. Approximately 80% of the world’s
The council of elders gathered in out with a warning for him to never supply of Coltan is found in the Demo-
the presence of all the villagers. return. cratic Republic of Congo. For the world to

WWW.MSINGIAFRIKAMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 13 | JULY 2021 11