I AM AFRICA

I Am Africa 

This world…my world…it has two sides…just like a coin…The head and the tail. I am at the tail. I live there; at the tail…there I eat… I drink…I live. I don’t want to stay there forever. It’s too dark…down there at the tail. I look up and I see a light…at the head…the top…up, up…a bright light shining and beckoning.

I want to go to the light. I want to go to the top and be up there and live a good life and be a man Baba will be proud of. But these chains keep holding me back…keep tying me to the tail…the bottom…to the darkness…where our words don’t matter. But I must cut these chains lose…I must say my mind…I must be free.

{Image Source: themetaphorsicantcreate -daniel emeka }

You keep holding me back…you, who is stronger, you who is richer…you who rules Africa…you keep pulling me back and no matter how hard I try to get up, I keep going down, down into oblivion. I do the campaign and you have the Champagne. I do the working and you do the chopping. I build the roads but you drive the cars. I am the scavenger and you are my god. I worship you…I clap for you…your kids eat from theudala tree but when I ask for a piece, you tell me to dance first. I dance and dance but my dance steps never please you. I cannot dance any better because I have chains on my legs and hunger in my stomach. I am tired. I am so angry with the injustices of the world.

When I see you… your face…your hands…your hair…I see the man…the man who murdered my dreams. I want to murder you too. I want to strap an explosive on myself and blow myself up. I want to take a lot of people with me…in the church, in the mosque, in public places, I want to destroy everything that reeks of my sweat and reminds me of your opulence. But I will not do that. You know why? I am Africa. I am not like my brother Boko who has allowed himself to go down the alley way of self-destruction. I feel sorry for him though. He went away for too long. Disconnected from his own people. He lost the African spirit. When a man cut the string that binds him to his people, he floats; like a balloon…he floats…suspended in nothingness. It won’t be long until KABOOM! Debris. Tears. Death. Me, I am different. I am a real Nigerian with the African spirit. In Nigeria…in Africa, when we are hurt…when we are down…when we are at the tail…we don’t go about blowing ourselves or blowing up people, people who know nothing about our pain; we stand up again, dust ourselves and say, e go beta. Then we move on. That is what we do…we move on…towards the light…to the top…the African spirit. That is why we have survived so far…and that is why I am moving on. To the light…the chains must leave my hands and I must go to the light…up there…towards the light. I am moving to the head. I am tired of the tail. No matter what you do to me, I am not stopping. I won’t let you keep me down because I am not Boko. I am Africa. I will dust myself and I will move on. E go beta…

Today, I will break the chains. I will see the light. The battle field will be quiet. The war will be over. The casualties may be many but the flag of victory will be up at last. Freedom will finally come for Africa.

WRITTEN BY  KONNEKT AFRIKA

I PRAY, HOPE AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE FREEDOM!