-
Evening
- LANGAA RPCIG
- Chapter
- Additional Information
179 E Evening hat evening, Jugus, Amani and Joe sat in different corners of the big living room, each occupied by their own work. Jugus was reading an anthology of Afrikan Short Stories. Joe was sketching the wheelbarrow and the boy they had seen. He was also working out figure patterns in Math. He drew many symmetrical patterns. Amani joined him working with figures and patterns. Amani went on to read once again the long letter their three cousins had written to them before they left for Mauritius. After that he read an article titled I am Joy’s heart. It was about the human heart. He was so happy to read and learn about how the heart worked. Kabi was toying with her pen as she looked over the balcony that gave way to a neat garden. She was thinking and writing The Lord of the Slums. It was a book describing the rich soul of the slum dweller in contrast with the poor souls of the richest who exploit the poor. She thought that this is what she was going to write about, but when her pen met paper, the story took a life of its own. ‘I see butterflies make their way past the tips of the blooming jacaranda tree. Their golden color contrasts with the lilac of the flowering tree. All around, there are beautiful flowers of every hue. There are bushes and grasses. One jacaranda tree wears a purple hat of soft blobs of lilac trumpets blowing to the skies. The tree is almost completely covered by bougainvillea making it even more brightly colored in a coat of red through which dark green leaves shoot here and there, as if just sprayed with a coat of watery green paint. It is as if the tree dressed in red dances a revolutionary dance. There are eucalyptuses, pines, and wattles scattered in a happy and easy asymmetry. The wind blows lightly, spreading out tufts of white clouds across the sky, like umbrellas that shelter us from the heat of the sun. But how long can we take shelter under the clouds? It is cool, lovely and bright on this side where we live. All is well on this side of the city T 180 where the money we count almost always ends in three zeros. My imagination is steeped in wonder.’ Jugus run to out to the balcony. “Mum, how come Afrika is called the dark continent?” he asked, interrupting Kabi. “Well, they called it dark because it was underdeveloped by their standards.” “But what does the word Afrika really mean Mum?” he persisted. “People differ about the origin of many names. Afrika’s is not exception but I believe it means the land. Cefereka, or Thefereka the Amazigh say in their language in the North of Afrika, Algeria. It is a continent of the wealth of the black people as it was named by….” She said as he interrupted her again. “Who are the Amazigh?” “They are a people whom the world called Berbers for a long time. Berber comes from barbarian, people who do strange things which are not good for humans. But these people know their name. They call themselves the “free people” Amazigh. We must try not to give people labels but let them just be and call themselves what they want. Your father used to be teased a lot by people who called him ‘the tribe deprived’, mkosa kabila! That was because his origin was in another country. It was unfair. “Did those who call Afrika dark do that because perhaps they did not know how to get to into the interior?” “No one knew how to go into the interior of any place or where that is anywhere until you go there. It was the same with every land. But you are right. However, the idea of light and darkness is strange.” “Since there are paths on the land, ways in the sky and on the sea, and one can come to Afrika easily, is Afrika still a dark continent? Is it not bathing in light?” “Humans. We get to know things slowly. And we avoid the knowledge we have for other reasons. People know. I can bet you even in many years to come someone will still be saying Afrika is known as the dark continent!” Said Kabi. [44.200.82.195] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:18 GMT) 181 “Mum, may I say something?” asked Jugus. “Yes, of...