When The River Speaks

By Dr. Michael Dassama

The overzealousness of man to push beyond destiny in an attempt to achieve success in life had always been the regrettable aftermath that tends to hunt starving innocent souls to damnation. The issue of compromise between failure to achieve the golden flees of life creates an inner war, within which a dec

• Language: English
• Publisher: Smart Ribbon Press LLC
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781959261087

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INTRODUCTION

The over-zealousness of ‘Man’ to push beyond destiny, in an attempt to achieve success in life had always being, the regrettable aftermath that tend to hunt the starving innocent souls to damnation. The issue of compromise between failure to achieve the golden flees of life, creates an inner war within which a decision, has to be made.

Marginalised by social economic circumstances, a step in the wrong direction of life, could be inevitable unless otherwise, carefully diagnosed within the context of where does it all end? It is highly unlikely that, majority of people could be incapable of asking this question especially where poverty and social exclusion, could be preponderant on their shoulders.

If the cardinal principles of life, is to exist as inheritors of what had been, designated for mankind by the creators, shouldn’t it be the duty of ‘man’ to do what ought to be, in order to posses possession? Or could it be in conformity with what the Lord Jesus said: out of thy perspiration shall thou eat bread.

The wretchedness of man’s situation, in the midst of protracted multiple problems compounded with social barriers on the way, of every deterministic effort for a breakthrough, undermined efficacy of constructivism of rationality of action. Although this may not be true for all and sundry yet, the fact of the issue remain a contested one in which, it could be argued that, only a handful of people could be exempted in the phase of grave situational circumstances.

‘When the river speaks’: tend to examined the question of; ‘what to be and what not to be’ within the context of individualism in the bid of, extracting oneself from the upheavals of life; which is the most gruesome enemy of human existence. If it is said that, evil generate itself along the path of splendour then it could be, a deplorable engagement irrespective of it’s gloriousness to be part of.

This ‘sacred river’ for many centuries, is believed to have strange mystical powers which could, transformed human existence from virtually pennilessness to a more vibrant and global celebrity of opulence of social distinctions, power and the financial machinery of the world.

The gods and goddesses of river Yuru is very symbolic to the people of Yangagar whose prosperity are said to have, derived from it. It is also felt that, those who hailed from Tsungu Land like the Yangagar people have, the leverage of successes in all aspects of life and are very dynamic and, prudent above all others in the country of Bazunga.

The dust of life that settles in our existence, has a compelling ways of, creating splits personalities in us which, makes degrading apparitions (even though, disappointing) remain unrecognised due to it’s subjugation, to the negativity of human frailty and despondency. It couldn’t therefore be, any surprise whatsoever if, irrational decisions are hurriedly made, beyond the frame of rationality that culminate to a perilous end.

‘When the river speaks’: establishes an episode of a systematically and carefully examined nature of man’s egoism confronted with, the desire to achieve the ‘golden crown of life’ even if it means, going beyond the forbidden, to mingle with rottenness of evil. All that matters in this present generation is, survival within a self created jungle of life that had crippled, countless of souls in their pursuit to seeking ‘freedom’ at all cost which is being stifled, by handful of wicked and obnoxious blood sucking human monsters, that constantly bestride the narrow path of life like, a gigantic edifice with no alternative passage, for the rest of society to go through except, its degrading pillars of humiliation.

The justification for a successful life and that of, failures are all interwoven in the bud of time which, navigate itself in lure of periodical interpretations deemed fit within, space and exposition catapulted with scientific innovations, knowledge and power which cut across mysticism, black magic and voodoo thus establishing a rational efficacy along which, objectivism for the pursuit of life could be based and modelled at best.

Deterministic spirits in the arena of, abject poverty to maintain reverence within the parameter of, economic hardship, social inequality and injustices, political intrigues and family disorientation tend to abort, every desire to follow patterns of dexterity in which, resignation to destiny is situated.

Thus in the pursuit of ‘freedom’ from lack of want, social distinctions, political and economic leverage of life, extra axiomatic have always been sought by man to substitute destiny in which, matters are placed within the domain of manipulation as deemed fit. In conjunction to this, the seeking of invincible hands to fulfil such desire by man, had explosive consequences, commencing with opulence and gradually ends in gruesome fatality.

It is against this backdrop that, one man was able to stand in open defiant against an old-aged traditional belief system, on the basis of his new found life in Christendom which not only made him a stranger in his land of birth (Tsungu) but also, an overall enemy of the Yangagar people who placed a bounty on his head and family as, betrayal of the spirits of the gods and the goddesses of the river Yuru. Irrespective of the anti social treatments given to the Joseph’s family yet, vibrancy of unquestionable faith in the God which they worshipped and bow to couldn’t be, of any comparison in terms of might, powers with unlimited dimensions of creativity of existence, and that of the cosmos which the gods and the goddesses of the Tsungu land hadn’t.

It couldn’t be surprising to realise at the end that, despites all the unpleasant and horrific sufferings inflicted on the Josephs,’ a new down of victory and transformation, was ushered for the Yangagar people when the scale finally fell off their spiritual eyes, to the visualisation of reality of the omnipotent God through the very family, that had been victimised and dispirited.

Thus as the chapter closes on the Yangagar people, it became obvious that, probability and reality, has a way of shifting around issues which had a protraction of mysticism from the depth of ignorance to the transparency of ‘truth’, which this book attempt to reveal.

DEDICATION

In lure of the relentless and altruistic supports which, Melrose Mator Ngobeh former employee (cashier) of the National Insurance Company (N I C) Makeni branch, Northern Province of Sierra Leone identified with this project, it is my amiable desire to, dedicate this book to her especially, for her philanthropic service as a former nurse caring for the elderly and the disabled, within the Community of the Borough of Lewisham, London and her undivided attention to her family and mankind in general.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my wish to, acknowledge a gentleman and family with calm personality whose integrity and professional brilliance and royalty of birth from a reputable traditional ruling house, in Sierra Leone, never over shadowed his sincerity, meekness, diligence, perseverance, prudence and above all; the ability of prognostication which gingered, the acceleration of the completion of this book. Reflecting on his character one finds in him, an approachable flexibility with which daily activities are conducted. He had the impetus of protracting the leverage of, tolerance in job related assignment as was indicated, in the United Kingdom where he was; as a student reading Insurance under the umbrage and philanthropy of, Hartley Cooper & Co Limited scholarship, in the epoch of the 1950s. As a result of this, he willingly and with dedication accepted to doing odd jobs within mixed category and finally to a white collar job with Monterforie & Co London, as Reinsurance Policy Drafter& Checker at Lloyds, Norman Frazer & Co Limited, Chandler, and finally Hargrave & Co Limited to name but few. Since there is no place like home, his returned to Sierra Leone and family in the 1970s, was indeed a welcoming expectation which enabled him the golden opportunity, to secure a full term employment with the National Insurance Company (N I C), starting from grass to grace through an indomitable work that finally accelerated him, to the post of Deputy Managing Director. Mr Lamin B. Ngobeh was not only, one of the senior administrators of N I C, but also, a professional contributor to education and learning whose tutorage, assisted young executive employees in Insurance Policy of which, one of them is/was His Excellency, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma and many other prominence. Thus, a befitting recognition of such prudent phlegmatic character, inundated by his exemplification of good nature, unquestionably deserves a gentleman’s acknowledgement.

CHAPTER ONE

The time of planting is different from, the time of harvesting said old man Fadu Badu. If it pleases the gods to allow mistakes of any kind, what shall become of this old guided tradition of ours, which had stood the test of time irrespective of, upheavals put upon us, by our enemies who had wanted to destroy everything that had constituted our greatness amongst others in this country? As you can see, what I am hearing concerning new ideology perpetrated by some recalcitrant devils amongst us, is not only heart breaking but, an abomination to the very core of our gods and goddesses whose anger, are at this very moment as I speak, is been gradually and fatally circumvented around us and families. Therefore, until and on less we as elders of this land of Tsungu realises that our ancestors, the Yangagars, were warriors who fought relentlessly and victoriously, through the powers of the gods and goddesses of river Yuru, and stand in defence of open rebellion, against these creatures of pestilence and savages, doomsday for us will be inevitable.

As the high priest of the gods and goddesses of river Yuru, stretches his closed fisted hands in the directions of where, some of the Christian families were, one of the elders raised his hands for permission to speak which was immediately granted. In addressing the rest of the elders, Vambu a Christian convert and assimilate, was concern about his family and thus said: what sort of action do you think could be appropriated to avert this pending danger Fadu Badu? After few minutes of silence, the high priest shook his head and said: it is not for me to decide that but, the deities whose orders have been fragrantly violated even by those of her own".

If it pleases the deities, to avert anger against us, it will be discretional of which, I doubted very much. Being your high priest, it is my responsibility, to see that no harm is done to us due to the misgivings, of certain elements of deceits in our midst.

What I have been instructed to do, is to bring to your attention the gross insult and total disregard, which some core members of the council of deities have perpetrated against, the very background from which they hailed. Nothing is more annoying than, to see your own revolting against you. The symptoms of ingratitude and absolute disregard for our ways of life had, systematically provided a leeway for the enemies, to have an in-road with vengeance for the demised of our cultural and traditional values.

To allow these ‘creatures’ which unfortunately, have two legs; to submerged our protracted values without positive response, is to surrender to foolishness and thereby, denying our deities the humanistic support and loyalties expected of us. Even if it, it means, going to war with ourselves, for the protection of our heritage, it should be incumbent to do so. As he said these words, Pa Vambu looked at him sadly and bowed his head for few seconds and then, stood up to ask another question which unfortunately, was not accepted by the high priest who knew in advance, the sort of outcome such acceptance could have caused. In this respect, the priest warned against open rebellion because, the gods will be viciously mad and brutal to the core against, all those who attempts to flout their authority in the land.

Warning such as this, from the high priest, is very rare and thus, couldn’t be underestimated or devalued because, it carries fatality of grave economic hardships of poor agricultural output, draughts, and pestilence which culminates into, a national crisis of mass death of an unimaginable scale.

Contemplating whether to exit the meeting or, continued with the rest of the others in servile fearfulness, Pa Vambu pushed aside protocol of approaching the request to speak and then, lashes across with a scathing vehemence at the high priest who was directly referring to his family as, ‘the prime enemy of the gods and destroyer of the traditional values and hegemony of his people, to the white strangers from the land of the unknown’.

It is now well established that, the purpose of this gathering as initiated by the high priest, is to personally attack and insult myself and family which I will not, I repeat will not, tolerate not even from the so called gods and goddesses of whatever river they could hailed from let alone from this evil breeder of our society.

Responding, the priest said: you indeed have not yet grown Vambu because if it is so, you wouldn’t have invoked the anger of our ancestors let alone, the deities whose action could be so perilous for mortal eyes to see let alone to withstand

What you have declared which is, an act of war against the traditional values of our people, will be responded with an immediate effect, of which, you will have yourself to blame for the woeful consequences yet to come, added the priest.

I can assure you said Pa Vambu that; nothing will happen to me and family because, as you can see, the God that I serve is the living waters of salvation, which is stronger than all the nonsense you could, designed and put together falsely. In fact, if all of you who still believe in this rubbish you call tradition, did not surrender your allegiance to the only true God, your souls will be rotten in the conflagration, of hell fire. In a state of furry, he walked across the floor of the little open building, where they were all assembled and stood nose to nose with the priest in a bombastic brew of, uncontrollable nasty exchanges.

Within a flash of seconds, a general stamped broke out and people began to flee in different directions especially, when flashes of lightening and thunder lashes across, the building which clearly indicated, the timely intervention of the gods and goddesses of river Yuru in absolute defence of their high priest who, was almost pined to the ground, by Pa Vambu. Staggering across the field in the bid to escape from the scene of fiasco, Pa Vambu finally got home where he was accorded with, ruthless hostile reception by his wife who is a devotee of the gods and goddesses of the river Yuru.

I will not accept you in this house, said his wife Mama Yamuu Tadabar. She went on to say that, her husband had being nothing but, trouble to the peace and tranquillity of the family since his Christian ordination and assimilation. She therefore, openly and aggressively ordered him to leave her presence at once or else, have the police to chuck him out faster than he came in.

The heavy terrifying thunder which blasted across, the skyline was indeed, a traumatised experience ever first, of it kind in the entire history of the land to which, even the bravest tend to be extremely cautious and panicking. Under such uncompromising and vitriolic conditions, it couldn’t have been possible for pride to overcome fatality of uncertainty and thus, wasn’t a surprise for the head of the family, whose authority that once, unquestionable and irrefutable, to have succumbed to nothing but, pleading for mercy from a woman he had dominated all along since their twenty years of marriage.

Although Pa Vambu was finally accepted by his family yet, the anger of the gods and goddesses was only put to rest, by his sudden death the following morning. On the day of his burial a resumption of thunder and lightening, flashing through the naked sky, spontaneously changed the atmosphere to a dreadful and distasteful one which, was followed by a heavy torrential rain resulting to flooding that swept the Church and many other properties away into the near by tributaries.

If it had not being, for extra vigilantes who immediately sprang into action by rescuing the casket that was afloat on the nasty dirty muddy waters, it would have being swallowed by the flash flood which was at this time, pouring from all inconceivable directions. The pastors and mourners including other Church members were colourfully afloat, with their singing instruments while desperately, putting efforts to extricate themselves, from the incongruous situation that was both a spectacle of sympathy, and hilarious laughter.

This predicament was to last for several days as, it took everyone by surprise. The Vambu family became the centre of gossip and other slack talks. In fact, it was difficult for interaction with the family because for fear of reprisal. Those who had related well with them simply found themselves, melting away. In the market places segregation and isolation was never, remote from the Vambu family who were, now considered to be, a mere pestilence to the very core of existence which must at all times be, sidelined and if possible, exterminated for the total appeasement of the deities.

The miseries which circumvented the Vambus’, could not be deduced to a simple mathematical explanations as it transcends, the extra ordinary which is, deeply embedded. The verification of issue which,