Bourik Chage Pa Ka Kampe A loaded Donkey Cannot Stand Still

By Fenold Alexis

This book is fictional, and it is based on a special area of Haiti called St Louis du Nord before the new age of development. The town is way different than the period that this book is about. The book is a prelude to my next book, Born too soon. This book explains why Haiti got its

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
• Release date: Mar 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781960675002

Book preview

Mr. Anoues Hannibal and his responsibilities

This story took place in the island of Haiti. However, the exact location is in the outskirt of a provincial of town called St Louis du Nord. This story entails many characters, and the main characters are Mr. Anoues and Bourik Chage. As Leonardo da Vinci once said It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things. Mr. Anoues did not wait for thing to happen; he was constantly moving from one farm to the other. In addition, he had many livestock’s to take care of.

Mr. Anoues was a stocky man; he was five feet and seven inches tall. He had a light complexion skin tone. As Mr. Anoues said himself, "A man with many responsibilities has to work harder than most in order to meet his demands or obligations. In addition, to his own family, Mr. Anoues had to take care of his elderly parents as well as his wife’s parents. Therefore, he has to wake up early in the morning, and he does not go back home until dawn. He has to visit and take care of three farms; in addition, he has many livestock’s to taking care of also.

Mr. Anoues never had times to rest because he had so many people who counted on him. In addition to his family, his parents, and his wife’s parents, he also helped some members of his church with whatever he can provide to them. Mr. Anoues always made sure whatever he had left over do not go to waste. Although Mr. Anoues is a very respectful man, he had a secret that he kept away from his wife, his children, and some members of his church.

Anoues has a mistress who lives in a different part of town. In addition, he has three children with his mistress. On weekends, Mr. Anoues always told his wife that he had to go see his friend Joe who lives in another part of town. However, his mistress lives in that part of town also. In an essence, Mr. Anoues lied to his wife because he does not really go see his friend Joe instead, he went to see his mistress. Instead of one family, he has two families to take care of. Therefore, he had to work very, very, very hard to meet all these responsibilities. Although Mr. Anoues was not poor by any means of the imagination, nevertheless, for a man with high morals he had too many responsibilities.

The name of the mistress is Mathilda. Beautiful, yes indeed, she is a very attractive woman who captures Mr. Anoues’ heart; even though, he is a married man. Nevertheless, Mathilda did not pursue Mr. Anoues because she knew that he was a married man. However, Joe hooks up the two together. At first, Mathilda was very reluctant because she did not want to be with a married man. Joe persuaded her to accept his good friend proposal. The courtship lasted almost a month because Mathilda did not really want to be involved with a married man.

However, Joe convinced her to accept Mr. Anoues; even though, she knows that he will not leave his wife to be with her. Mathilda is also aware that she only be Mr. Anoues’ mistress because he will not leave his wife. Perhaps, he did not want the church to know about his secret. If everyone in the church knows about the affair, it will be a scandal of great proportion. As a result, Mr. Anoues makes sure that he takes care of Joe, his mistress, and her children nicely. Even though Joe is Mr. Anoues’ friend, he is not looking for him but himself.

Mother and father

As the old saying says, the apple does not fall too far from the tree. This phrase really applied to Mr. Anoues because he repeated the same mistakes that his father made if you can call it mistakes. Many people in his community consider his conduct immoral, but he and his father do not think that having extra marital affair is immoral. They think that is nothing for a married man to have a mistress as long he is able to provide for both of them. However, both of these men grew up in the church, and they even serve in the church while they are living a double life.

Mr. Anoues does not only have to take care of his wife and her family; he also has to provide for his aging parents as well. His mother’s name is Talisa; she was a tailor and a homemaker when she was young. She is a very pious woman who likes to go to church. In addition, she sings in the choir, and she helped the church whenever she could. She put up with her husband Sadous; even though, he used to cheat on her. She believes that she had to do her duty as a wife, and she was not going to let Sadous’ cheating ways prevented her from serving the lord.

However, her sister Odessa was not going to have any of that. She always said to Sadous My sister is a church people; she cannot put you on your place but I will. You need to stop cheating on my sister because she is a good woman, and I mean a very good woman. I don’t know why she is putting up with you and you’re no good self. God knows if I were my sister, I would beat the Be Jesus out of you. It is time for you to change your ways. I do not know why you go to church because you are nothing but the devil himself. Dawn it, I ought to go to that church and tell the pastor how your no good for nothing self is treating my sister.

On the other hand, you have Sadous’ brother Tom who did not particular care about any religion. Tom was not very stable because he could never hold a job for too long. He always does odd jobs just to get enough money to eat, smoke cigarettes, and drink beers. However, he is always badmouthing religion. He supported his brother in-law’s habits; even though, Sadous was cheating on his sister, he did not care. Tom believes a man should always have more than one woman anyway a man does know when a woman he is going to leave him, he said. He believes that his sister is wrong for given money to the church because she is enriching the pastor and his family.

In addition, Tom thinks his brother-in-law should be applauded for not listening to his woman talking because a man should do whatever he wants without a woman telling him what to do. Mr. Sadous likes him because he supports his behavior; every now and then, he will give Tom money to buy alcohol and tobacco. He thinks his brother in-law is a good man because he approved what he is doing.

There is a contrast between the sister’s in-law and the brother-in-law in the ways they approached Mr. Sadous’ behavior. Odessa does not approve of the way that Sadous treats her sister because she does not think he should be cheating on her sister. She is bold enough to confront him because she does not think her sister is tough enough with him. However, Tom is the total opposite; he thinks a man should have more than one woman anyway because you do not know if they are going to leave said. In that case, you always have a backup.

However, of this era usually gathered after work or on a Friday. As many of them did not believe about weekend except most of them called themselves religious men. They did not believe what men’s of today do; they wake early in the morning to attend their farms than they come eat and rest for a few hours and go to the farms until late evening before dark. Occasionally, gathered in order to cut each other’s hair and sometimes they even shaved one and another. This type of gathering was very important them because it brings some kind of closeness to them. Many of them can expand many days or even months without each, but they know where and when to go in order to see each other.

Mother and father-in-laws

Beside Mr. Anoues’ mother and father, he also has to provide for his aging mother and father in-laws. Joahanna’s mother Alida has always been very protective of her. She is always meddling in Joahanna’s marriage with Anoues. She has been very inquisitive and skeptical of Mr. Anoues. Even though, he supposed to be a Christian man. In other word, she has the motherly instinct or intuition in her. As she said, "I have bad feeling about Anoues that only a mother can feel." However, Joahanna was madly in love with him, she told her mother that she was only afraid of losing her. She thought that Mr. Anoues was one of the best men that she ever met.

The question remained, how could this woman have bad feeling about Mr. Anoues? Is it intuition? Perhaps, it is just a motherly instinct, but she might turn out to be right after all. Mr. Anoues is a nice man, but he has something him about that makes you love him and at the same time, you ask yourself; is this man really that easy going? Alternatively, is he just a smooth talker? Anyway, Alida had an uneasy feeling about Mr. Anoues; even though, he would be able to provide for her daughter financially, she thought there was something hideous about Mr. Anoues.

Joakim is Joahanna’s father. He is a very well respected member of his community. As a young man, Joakim worked as a schoolteacher. People always come to him for advice because they believe he was a Wiseman. Most people in the community referred to him as teacher. His students respected him; he was also a Sunday school teacher for the local church where Mr. Anoues attended. Even though Joakim suspected that Mr. Anoues was not faithful to Joahanna, he was not quick to judge him. He tends to give Mr. Anoues advice on Marriage according to what the bible said.

Since both sides of the older families are retired now, their children must provide for them. In this case, it is Mr. Anoues’ responsibility to provide for them because he is capable of doing so. As it is the custom, people do not get a pension or retirement check unless they worked for L’etat or the government. Joakim used to work for the local school that was sponsored by foreign missionaries. For the most part, people from that generation usually say that their children are their retirement benefits. They will do everything that they could to send them school or teach them what they know. Therefore, they expect the children to take care of them when they get older. As the saying goes, Children are the fortune of poor people. Many people in Anoues’ generation used to rely on their children, as they become old.

Bourik Chage’s Responsibility

Donkeys are domesticated animal and they are used as the primary mode of transportation for most people in the town where the Anoues’ live. Donkeys are strong and sturdy; therefore, they become the ideal animals to transport goods back and forth though some rugged terrain. Even though horses are bigger, they are not able to transport goods as donkeys can. In addition, donkeys cost less, and they are cheaper to maintain. Donkeys can eat most plants that many other animals would not be able to eat. Some villagers even carried branches with them for their Donkeys to eat after they get to their destination.

Therefore, Mr. Anoues decided to get a donkey that he names Bourik Chage. Bourik Chage had many responsibilities because she was the family’s main transportation. She has to transport products from Mr. Anoues’ three farms to his house so his wife Joahanna and his children can prepare the goods for the market. Even though, they sometimes sold some of the goods to the local villagers, they mainly sold their product to the local market where they get more money for what bring to the market. Some days, Bourik Chage has to make up to five trips back and forth from different farm to the house. That is the reason that the former American Ambassador to Haiti coined this phrase when he first got to Haiti. He said "Bourik Chage Pa kanpe meaning he could not waist time because he had too many things to do.

However, donkeys have been serving people for a long time ever since the time donkeys were some of the most loyal and durable animals. Donkeys were used in ancient Egypt; however, they not as prominent as the other animals such as cats and birds. There were some accounts of kings using donkeys to cross the Egyptian desert (Jensen, 1984). Donkeys also were used for other reasons in Ancient Egypt; Egyptians also hunt and eat donkeys as well as using them for agricultural uses. In addition, the animal was used for transportation; as (Wells, 2007) explains, donkeys were found inside the Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamen. These animals were domesticated and used for transportation and shows.

In addition to Egypt, donkeys were also used in other areas in the Ancient World. However, they were more prominent in the bible. Even though, donkeys are very sturdy and tenacious, they are very peaceful. In the middle countries in the ancient time, kings used to horse when they go wars, but they want to make with their enemies they ride donkeys (Zecharia,