Time and again, we hear really shocking stories of events that take place in our neighbourhoods; we are sandwiched between rocks and hard stuff. We always have the choice of shutting our mouths and ears and assume that, nothing has happened and we let those that have fallen prey to “lick their own wounds”. As members of society, it is the duty of every one (you and I) to make sure that our society is a place worthliving in. As a villager, I will begin by giving you an analogy (normally a short story with a lesson to learn). One time, as the chickens were busy scratching the grass from left to the right and back, a huge rooster (jogoo) came face to face with a snake. Since there is not documented history of a snake having ever bitten a bird (chicken and all its relatives), the rooster ignored the reptile and went on its own business; true the snake did not pose any harm to it. Next in the queue was a huge “he goat” (ihene), I will not use its proper name as some people share that name and may feel offended. The goat just like the jogoo was not threatened and hence let it go. Next in the queue was a huge bull (ikimasa or is it imfizi) such as one may call a prize bull, this looked at the snake and its stare caused a cold chill in the spine of the snake. As a result, the snake ran away as fast as it could and the bull was satisfied with its antics of scaring the hell out of the snake.So far, so good! There was no harm done. Most probably, the hour when the sun sits in the sky as if it is the king of the universe, we can assume that, this only happens around midday and maybe an hour or two after. As the owner of the farm was inspecting his wealth, he happened to step on the snake. The snake reacted in self defence and struck at the human with all its effort and venom. The poor human, was immediately taken ill and succumbed to the reptile’s deadly venom and within an hour or so, he was “past tense” (nyakwigendera). Alarm was raised, people began congregating in the compound of the bereaved. As tradition has it, when the in-laws arrived, the he goat had to be slaughtered to feed them, at a funeral of a rich man, people eat well. By the way, the jogoo was also slaughtered for some special mourners. As the funeral was being concluded (gukura ikiriyo) the bull had to be slaughtered to feed the masses. Now, what is the moral story of this analogy? If each and every one of those poor animals had foreseen thecircumstances that awaited them, I suppose, the rooster could have raised an alarm, the goat could have alerted the owner and better still, the bull could have crashed the reptile into very tiny pieces such that its (the reptile’s) mother would not recognise it. There are people out there that are ready to take advantage of any one of us. Some time back, a house boy raped a girl of about sixteen, because two other children witnessed that, he murdered them in a bid to kill the evidence. There is talk of guys that lure their unsuspecting victims into sharing drinks together, such drinks are normally doped so that these ladies fall asleep and are raped. Such acts are carried out by very close and friendly neighbours that would be mistaken for relatives. In addition, some people give lifts to unsuspecting ladies only to end up in the lift givers’ dens and these also end up getting either raped or robbed. My final word is that, let everybody be aware, there are lots of dangers looming out there. If we all take a concerted effort, we could make a difference. There is a common saying that goes as, “lift itera inda (lift impregnates), but some ladies when told of that, simply say that, “niba ari iyawe ndayemera” (if it is your pregnancy, I accept it). Volentine non fit injuria (he or she that consents, seeks no remedy). Mfashumwana@fastmail.fm
