eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781481710732 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 02/19/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| File size: | 176 KB |
Read an Excerpt
Muffled Voices
By Declan Chukwuma Umege
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2013 Declan Chukwuma UmegeAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4817-1075-6
Chapter One
He had been standing there for more than thirty minutes now. He could have been standing for much longer because he did not care whether time passed. The only thing that bothered him now was the monstrous sight before him. The surface of the creek—the entire surface of the creek—was covered with a thick layer of glistering brown crude.A sickening smell of crude oil hung about the entire place, a smell that offended his olfactory sense. His father's fishing nets lay in a tattered heap beside him. As his gaze fell on the heap, a tear rose from his eye and ran down his cheek. He looked in the direction of the fish pond, which now looked like a graveyard. The once robust and beautiful species of fish were floating on the surface with no iota of life in them.
"Tamuna!" his father called.
"Yes, father," he answered.
"Come, let's go home."
Tamuna gathered the battered fishing nets and put them in the big basket, the one meant for carrying home fish. His father took one last glance at his devastated fish pond, shook his head, and set out for the return journey home. They walked slowly in silence.
The surrounding block of mangrove forest look vacant, deathly, and scotched. Tamuna stumbled on a protruding root of a dying tree of mangrove origin (another victim of many years of oil pollution) and almost lost his balance.
"Tamuna!" his father called.
"Yes, father," he answered.
"Be careful or you'll injure yourself."
"Yes, father," Tamuna answered.
When they got home, Tamuna set out for the stream, which was about four kilometers away. The stream water is itchy on the skin, even after a bath, due to the oil pollution and gases from the oil flares. For the average inhabitant of Tembeli Kingdom, there was no choice. Oilgate, the major multinational oil company in them, had donated a pipe-borne water scheme to Tembeli, but it had broken down long ago. No genuine effort had been made to resuscitate it.
Tamuna hurriedly made two trips to the stream, took his bath, and prepared for school. Other domestic chores were left for the younger ones.
After breakfast, Tamuna got into his school uniform and left for school. The bush path, the shortest route to school, seemed lonelier than ever. Tamuna, however, was not bothered that he would have to trek to school without company. Instead, he looked forward to his academic activities at school.
Tamuna attended Tembeli International School, a school originally built for the wards of the expatriate community in Tembeli Kingdom. Also in attendance were the wards of privileged citizens of Tembeli. By virtue of their association with the government or the white community or their financial locus standi, they could afford to foot the bills for the school.
Tamuna is a peasant boy—no more or less than all other peasant boys born in his generation in the oil-rich Kingdom of Tembeli. When he was a kid, a mere toddler, an event took place in his town. He was nearly fourteen but could still remember vividly the event that marked a turning point in his life.
His father, Ledum, was a farmer. Ledum cultivated a few crops to meet the needs of his immediate family, but his area of specialization was fish farming. As the saying goes in Tembeli, he carved a niche for himself in fish farming. He loved fishing so much that, sometimes, when he went to bed, he would murmur new strategies that he intended to employ in his fishing practice. He claimed he received inspiration from dreams in terms of how and where to go fishing.
Ledum owned many fishing boats and nets. Fishermen from far and near came to him to borrow his boats and fishing nets. In return, such fishermen paid with a portion of their catches. It has always been said that if one wants to be more successful than one's peers, one should do what others have not done. Such was the case with Ledum: he was the first fish farmer in Tembeli (and beyond) to own a fish pond. His popularity grew throughout Tembeli Kingdom and other areas. A mere mention of his name could fetch one a great favor.
Besides being a wealthy man, Ledum was a man noted for his love for truth. This singular quality endeared him to all men, women, and children. He was fearless; he would always speak the truth—to the amazement and disappointment of some of his kinsmen. Ledum became a man who could be trusted, one who could be given the mandate to steer others to clear waters without any sign of fear. Ledum became the custodian of the people's dreams, hopes, and aspirations. He was elected to one office after another. He became a vital human force in Tembeli Kingdom, and he could easily get people to support whatever noble view he had.
Oilgate saw him as a threat to their continued exploitation of the natural oil wealth in the bosom of Tembeli Kingdom. They monitored him very closely.
A time came when Oilgate awarded a contract to one of its indigenous contractors to lay oil pipelines through Tembeli Kingdom in order to transport crude oil from their crude oil flow stations to their terminal for export. Farm lands were destroyed, and newly planted crops were bulldozed in the process. The site was a disaster. Ben Sare, the leader of the Tembeli Liberation Movement, supported men of Ledum's caliber. He mobilized support for adequate compensation for the affected farmers. In the end, however, no compensation was distributed.
Oilgate's pipe-laying contractor was forced to stop his pipe-laying job amid protest from the host communities. Consequently, the military government of Muzanga moved in and mobilized mobile policemen. They stormed the protest ground, beating and arresting key players in the game.
Ben Sare escaped. Ledum also escaped, and so did other notable leaders of the liberation movement. The military government of Muzanga was disappointed.
Ledum was trailed and arrested in his house after several weeks of fruitless search. He was bound in handcuffs and beaten into a coma. His entire household was in tears. Tamuna wept his soul out. Ledum was later bundled into a police jeep and driven to the state capitol. He was locked up and charged for taking the law into his own hands.
The sight of his father—his beloved and cherished father—being treated like a criminal shattered Tamuna's childhood dreams. His dreams of growing up under the care of his all-powerful father were dashed.
If the police can mistreat my father the way they did, no soul in Tembeli Kingdom is safe, Tamuna thought. Some days afterward, when his father came out of the police cell (looking thin and sickly), it dawned on Tamuna that something had to be done to protect his father. Something had to be done to protect the Tembeli Kingdom. The goose that lays the golden egg must not be allowed to die, Tamuna thought.
His father told his immature mind how Oilgate, in a deadly romance with the military government of Muzanga, was gradually carting away the oil wealth of Tembeli Kingdom.
After nearly ten years, his father's words still echoed in Tamuna's subconscious mind.
"My son, these people want all of us dead. They have sucked our oil—our God-given oil—leaving behind cries of agony. How can you smack a child and tell him not cry?"
"See, my son. Go to the sites where they flare their gases—the palm trees there can no longer bear fruit. Tilapia caught at some of the flare sites have lost the ability to change color; they become rubbery when cooked. Some staple foods of Tembeli Kingdom can no longer germinate and grow in our soil. Why? They have debased our soil and made it sterile. The red and white varieties of cocoyam and mammy yam have become extinct. Even the local varieties of rice and oil palm have been recording lower yields over the years."
Ledum continued, "As a boy, my father used to buy me and my brothers Christmas clothes from proceeds from his catches. He made these catches not in the river, but just at the waterfronts where boys would gather leisurely to catch fish. But today, fishermen in Tembeli Kingdom spend about eight hours or more in the river (at long distances) only to return with no catch at all.
"Oil pollution has killed nearly all our fish and driven the surviving ones to the very high seas.
"The swamp of the mangrove forest, home to what used to be countless periwinkles (a traditional delicacy of Tembeli Kingdom), is equally threatened. The periwinkles are gradually becoming extinct. Pollution has gradually driven off the monkeys and antelopes, which used to inhabit the forest.
"Top of the heap of endangered animals are the inhabitants of Tembeli kingdom. Traditionally, the people depend on rain water to drink and do their domestic chores (because the creeks and most rivers are salty). Decade of gas flaring has made the rain water acidic and full of salt.
"My son, we don't bury the dead and go to remove the bodies. That is not our custom. Nevertheless, Oilgate has forcefully removed the graves of our ancestors to the oceans to get access routes to their well heads. We must fight them. Only men like Ben Sare can fight them adequately. We need more of such men in this great kingdom to win the fight.
"They have guns and bullets, but we will not fight back with guns and bullets. We need just one weapon: education.
"You must go to school, my son, and acquire as much learning as you can. You must read like Ben Sare so you can fight them with your pen and wisdom."
As fate would have it, Tamuna was instantly successful when he started primary school. He was the pupil everybody wanted to beat academically. He finished primary school with flying colors, and he won a scholarship, the Ben Sare Academic Award for Excellence, to attend the prestigious Tembeli International School (TIS).
At school, Tamuna was determined to excel. He read his books. He was neither going to disappoint his father nor his kingdom. He was not going to disappoint Ben Sare, the liberator, whose scholarship earned him a place at TIS. Tamuna longed to meet him, but he knew he had to be like him first. He must gain knowledge—plenty of knowledge—and then he could join in the struggle to save his beloved kingdom.
Chapter Two
At school, Tamuna continued to shine like a million stars. As the year passed by (and he graduated from one class to the next), his academic brilliance dazzled all who came in contact with him—students and teachers alike. His superior mental abilities were always displayed whenever the need arose. One such occasion was during his speech, on Speech Day.Speech Day is an annual event in Tembeli International School that brings together parents, guardians, resource persons, and all the crème de la crème of society. Such events provide an excellent opportunity for students to present topics of interest with a view to mirroring the school's academic standards.
* * *
Today is Speech Day, and Tembeli International School is looking the part. Grass has been trimmed throughout the school's compound. The main road leading to the school has been adorned with white painted stones. When observed from a distance, they are impressive to behold. Here and there, one can see red and white patches on tree trunks. Flowers have been planted in designated areas of the school's compound.
The school's auditorium, the venue of the speech, looked magnificent. The seats shone, and the stage waited in yawning anticipation. The microphone was adorned with aluminum decorations that glittered and danced with grace as the gentle breeze from the standing fan blew from side to side.
The staff at Tembeli International School did an excellent job at making the school ready to host the august visitors. The students also worked tirelessly to keep the compound neat. Tamuna was not a part of the tidying up process, however, because he had been chosen to deliver a speech on this great occasion.
Tamuna was seated under the foot of an umbrella tree, sending his thoughts on errands in preparation for the speech.
He heard the sound of approaching footsteps. His chain of thought was immediately broken. He knew instinctively that the footsteps were headed toward him. He glanced sideways and saw Anita walking toward him, a smile of innocence written on her face. Anita's approaching form made Tamuna's brain flash back in time to his mind-blowing presentation during a history lesson. His presentation was titled The Scramble for Africa.
Most of Tamuna's classmates had been of the opinion that colonialism was the best thing to happen to Africa. They had based their arguments on the gains of colonialism, such as Western education. Tamuna had a different view entirely, having read wildly and widely.
Tamuna told his classmates the following: "The white man came to our beloved continent, Africa. For 500 years, the white man carted away our young men into slavery. Our entire workforce was destroyed. The youth, upon whose shoulders the future of Africa rested, were forcefully removed to Europe during the transatlantic slave trade. There, they were made to tame plantations of the white men. They were subjected to conditions below the crudeness of nature, below the lives of the lower species.
"When Europe entered the era of the industrial revolution, machines took the place of human beings in production. Slaves were no longer needed; thus, the slave trade was abolished. When they recognized that their fast-growing industries in Europe needed raw materials, they turned to Africa and used colonialism as the tool to perpetrate their selfish motives.
"For another one hundred years, Africa lived in bondage under the tutelage of colonialism. They came with their schools. The primary aim of these schools was to train Africans to help them administer their colonies (instead of training them to be self-reliant). Colonial schooling was education for subordination and exploitation. It created mental confusion and developed underdevelopment.
"They made our economy totally dependent on theirs. They used economic jargon to support their dubious intentions. They made us believe in international trade, that we should produce goods for export. We were told that our cocoa, palm produce, groundnuts, etc. should be exported to Europe because we had a comparative advantage over Europe in those crops. They dubbed them cash crops. What they failed to explain to us, however, was that local industries could be set up to use the goods rather than exporting them to the West."
Tamuna received a standing ovation from his class when he finished his presentation. It was clear that he had exhibited an impeccable mental prowess. Tamuna became the cynosure of all eyes. Everybody wanted to be identified with him.
After school that day, Anita walked up to him and said flatly, "Your presentation blew my mind away."
Tamuna was extremely pleased that such a frank remark came from Anita because she was one of the few students who exuded confidence in his class. Not only was she brilliant, but she was also one of the few privileged students who were chauffeur-driven to and from school.
All the trappings of the upper echelon didn't matter to Tamuna, though, because he was determined to prove to all that superiority came from how sound one was upstairs rather than how much one had in his or her pocket.
"I have looked for you everywhere," Anita said.
Tamuna was brought back to the present. "How are you doing, Anita?" he asked.
"I am fine. Thank you," she replied. She sat down beside him and observed him calmly.
"I broke away from the confusion of the moment to see whether I could put finishing touches on my speech," Tamuna said.
"That is all right. You know, a lot of people out there believe in your ability to add bite to the occasion."
"Bite? But I haven't got the teeth of an Alsatian—how can I add bite to the occasion?"
Anita chuckled and said, "Look, I came to tell you one thing: you must not let me down with your presentation."
Before Tamuna could respond to the statement, Anita got to her feet and walked toward the school's auditorium, the venue of the speech.
* * *
At precisely 10.00 am, it was clear that a sizable number of guests had arrived for Speech Day at Tembeli International School. The school's alarm was sounded a couple of times to announce to all that the event was about to commence.
Students started to detach themselves from the groups they had formed, and they started to head in the direction of the school's auditorium.
As usual, the auditorium was beautiful. The only difference was that tables and chairs had been arranged on either side of the stage for the guests.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Muffled Voices by Declan Chukwuma Umege Copyright © 2013 by Declan Chukwuma Umege. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.