bitter

Blog, Creative Essays, Essays, Writers

Bitter-Sweet Pie by Solomon Ekoja

There was a boy named Wazobia from the Nzaga-nyanga hills, about four thousand miles away from the capital city of Jos. The community was so hostile to the point that visitors who sought to introduce Western education were slaughtered once the news broke out. Many a foreigner tried to have access to this hostile group of people but all efforts proved abortive. Some who succeeded in visiting the community were killed to appease the gods of the hill. It was in this type of community that Wazobia was born but he chose to be different. The whole community was deprived of Western education because they held to some erroneous ritual beliefs that education was meant for those with mental illness. The low level of illiteracy took its toll on the members of the society, as they preferred wearing fig leaves to putting on clothes made from cotton or wool. Many a youth met premature deaths when they insisted on associating with modern trends. In spite of all the community was practicing, Wazobia was a very dogged and subtle boy. This made him come up with the idea of taking charcoal and slate each time he was about to go for his hunting adventure. While others were in the heat of hunting, he would privately retire to the top of a raphia palm and write down the names of some tree species commonly found in the forest. Among the numerous tree species, he saw in the forest, he took a keen interest in Anceistoclads korupensis and Prunus Africana because of the manner in which the fluid from these species killed pests on contact. After each hunting session, each youth was to take his kill to the village square for evaluation by the king. Most of his peers returned with large antelopes but Wazobia on several occasions returned with nothing. This made the villagers suspect he was involving himself in some illegal activities against their norms but no one had a piece of concrete evidence to lay the charge against him. His colleagues in society were entrusted with the task of monitoring his movements and the activities he engaged in during hunting sessions. He was nearly caught by a neighbour of his while he practiced his writing skills but he luckily escaped. Meanwhile, many a member of his community were exposed to deadly diseases as a result of multiple sex partners, dirty surroundings and drug abuse. This was a great source of concern for the young boy who saw scores die yearly from different ailments. One fateful day, while the rest of the villagers were conducting a festival, he sneaked out for his study. On his way, he discovered that a helicopter carrying some European researchers developed a fault mid-air and crashed near his village hill. The incident made him scared but he summoned courage to visit the site to see if he could render assistance to the victims. On arrival, the helicopter was on fire with all the passengers trapped. He forced his way through the window using his local hunting gun and succeeded in rescuing the crash victims. Being a member of a community that was hostile to foreigners, he quickly resolved to hide them from his fellow villagers. He fed them with green apples and lodged them at a cave, rarely visited by members of the public. The researchers agreed on taking Wazobia along with them but he resisted the offer at first. After a series of pressure, he succumbed to the offer. Two days later, the researchers recovered and established contact with a rescue team. The rescue team on arrival whisked the crash victims and Wazobia away without the knowledge of the villagers who were engrossed in a weeklong ritual to appease their gods. On arrival in the United Kingdom, Wazobia was flabbergasted at the site of his new environment. He even had to change his clothing from leaves to cotton to be able to cope with the harsh weather condition of Europe. While there, he enrolled at a foundation school where he was able to perfect his reading and writing skills. His seriousness earned him a scholarship exam, which was to be written a month later. He burnt his midnight candle to be able to meet up with the syllables for the examination. On the date of the exam, he was terrified by the number of students that expressed interest to partake in the exam, but that never dissuaded him from the “I can do spirit of a Nigerian”. In the course of the examination, the invigilators informed the students that only ten students out of the thousands sitting for the examination would eventually be selected. A few weeks after the examination, the scholarship results were released by the concerned agency and to the surprise of everyone, Wazobia was among the lucky students that gained a scholarship to study any course of their choice at Harvard University. He opted for pharmacy because of the interest he developed in some African tree species in the course of his hunting sessions in Nigeria. At Harvard University, everything from lectures to practical classes looked very strange to him but he was able to adapt with the help of a colleague of his named Kaitlyn. She was from a British ancestry that earned their wealth from the transatlantic slave trade. In spite of the efforts of her family to dissuade her from learning about the history of slave trade, she resolved to embark upon a secrete research at the national library to unearth these hidden history and understand the ordeal faced by her African brothers during that era. Her efforts to dig into history for instance led her to the story of Konta Kinte, a young boy from Sene-Gambia who was kidnapped from his village when he went to fetch some wood to make a drum for his brother. The pitiable condition in the castles where slaves were temporarily housed for months coupled with the devastating conditions faced by the

Blog, Essays, Writers

A Bitter Taste In My Mouth by Peace Habila.

  Some years back, a tipsy man down the road transitioned his wife to glory. The  neighbors reported that the pounding, yelling, and  screaming were  almost ‘normal’ routine. Love for husband and children were the justification the now late wife gave for staying put in that toxic situation.  ‘She makes me feel less of a man because I lost my job‘, was the man’s excuse. He was hardly sober; it was just impossible for anyone to validate his  claim.   He was a railway worker who got retrenched. He was top on the list because he was hardly sober at work. Colleagues, occasionally, accosted him for using vodka instead of perfume. So, when his name was scrapped off the pay roll, he found abundant succour  in the bitter taste of his new found liquid friends in bottles. The excess time he had made him a  voracious pain. His compulsive drinking habit was further  amplified. To service his insatiable thirst, his fingers became extra light; his wife’s savings were not spared. Sooner than expected, he became a public spectacle in the neighborhood; he was tagged   the famous ‘tipsy man’. She was used to picking him from beer parlours,  gutters, and all sort of places in a sorry state. Oh! She loved him, notwithstanding.   On the day this woman paid the ultimate price, he came back ‘tipsy’ as usual. Just in time  to kick start the ‘routine’. This time it was different. The light yet strategic punches were hard on her tired body. Obviously, the day’s job left its finger prints on her body. She didn’t have  any significant or even insignificant strength left in her to fight him, to defend herself  or  even yell  out loud. Her voice  just wasn’t  loud enough to wake the sleeping neighbors. Well, maybe she was just a living corpse walking around. Maybe, the toxicity of her ‘love life’ had choked every glimpse of hope left in her. Maybe, peace left her home long ago. Maybe, something else had feasted on her flesh until she was dead yet, alive. Just maybe, the stench of his vodka perfume  had exhausted her soul. So I guess, the ripple effects and influence of the bottles in form of  punches were the perfect nails on the casket. He must have felt an egoistic gratification for finally subjecting her and his problems  to submission. But she was just quiet, cold, and dead. She died whispering ‘please’, hoping that his drunk conscience would open up, just one more time. But no, he was far gone to be sober.  The children watched as he crushed their mother’s soul. The pounding of course triggered their tears. They naively begged and begged but according to him, ‘ temper  don hot and eye don red.’ They helplessly watched her beg for her life yet the ‘love’ of  her life denied her the right to live because he was far gone to be sober.  How do we now explain to his daughter that there are still some sober and self controlled men out there. How do we explain to her that her mother wasn’t to blame? How do we tell this young girl that the alcohol was to blame?  How do we tell his sons that true strength is not found in their fists or in the bottle of alcohol? How do we tell them that he was always out of control and couldn’t even help himself? How do we tell them that lack is not a license for irresponsibly and recklessness?  What exactly do we tell these kids? The man, whose addiction to bottles opened the prison gates for, left a bitter taste in their mouths. Unless God shows them mercy, this bitter taste would continue to slip into their souls until they are inwardly filled with darkness.  Just before you make an excuse for that negative addiction, think again. It might cost someone’s life. Just before you bury your conscience in those bottles (at the expense of your relationships) think again. Just before you take that deadly path where you would no longer have control over your actions, think again.   True strength is not in the overwhelming influence of any substance. True strength is in your ability to stay put and be pragmatic even when the chips are down. True strength is not in remaining silent in addiction. True strength is in speaking up and seeking help. True strength is in effectively communicating  our problems.   Just before you spill that  bitter taste you have got in your mouth into mine or ours, THINK AGAIN.  Addiction always  leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Say no to addiction!     About the writer  Peace Habila wrote in via peacehaila2017@gmail.com

Join our essay competition.

This will close in 13 seconds

Solverwp- WordPress Theme and Plugin

Scroll to Top