Dr Fixit (381 - 390)

 381

hitting a bent rod straight with the hammer,

gripping a rod with the vice and then with a marker

showing the point to be cut or bent, in metre,

centimetre, inch or foot - I was quite eager

to learn all the tricks in the trade of welding 

but I was convinced my leg I would not be bending 

in taking it as a profession because of the light 

from the welding machine for they never got it right 

with all the protective covering around the eyes.

Rather, the soundbox across the hedge got me enticed.

382

Shortly after we started the new session 

in school, the adult Ehkpo masquerade season 

rolled in. In the serenity of the night,

their hoots and drumming with the breeze took flight 

from the village square into homes in and around 

our clan. The grip of the masquerade in the town 

wasn't so tight as in the outskirts. The welders

and other artisans from there moved to shelters

of their kith or kin tentatively in the heart 

of the town as the initiates something bad

383

could inflict on the non-initiates. In the past,

the non-initiates and females wouldn't on the paths

or outside their homes dared put their feet.

They were bound inside their homes every week 

throughout the stipulated days for the masked men,

which could amount to three. Who ignored this, mayhem 

would reap. But 'uhkara mbakara' altered this.

The orange army ants enacted multiple edicts 

which curtailed the excesses of native traditions 

through the powerful organs of their administration.

384

And they were so successful because they hobnobbed 

with those the old system had maligned and robbed

of their dignity. What the natives had rubbed,

the expatriates picked and thoroughly scrubbed

such of all the murk and with their education 

and enlightenment, there was a magical transformation 

where the outcast and untouchable became monarchs

who lorded over the clans. There were chilling morals

from fabulous tales like the one about a servant 

whose master had wanted to sell to a merchant 

385

as slave but he ended up selling his master.

In the not-too-distant past, every mother

who bore twins was instantly banished

to a part of the clan they'd stay and perish

on their own or preyed on by wild beasts.

'Heso ndwonhor' was the forest for those who'd meet

an evil fate for going against the norm,

accidentally or deliberately. Why would a worm

slither like a snake? Such abnormality 

received instant kick from the brutality 

386

inherent in our traditions. Most of our folks

were silently angry with this and so they did bolt 

to accept the new ways which openly embraced 

their uniqueness. The killing of twins was erased

from the book and their mothers still lived

their normal lives though the chiefs

wouldn't have them in their places of abode.

On the backs of the converts, the expatriates rode

deeper into the clans. The sole magic 

of their thriving wasn't because they were too sleek

387

or cunning. They triumphed for the mere fact

that where local customs put dread in the hearts

and minds of the black army ants, they erased it;

where fear had a monument, they defaced it.

The local tradition said twins and their mothers 

were evil so they were dragged from their shelters 

and banished to the bush. The mission workers

went into the bush and became helpers

to these unfortunate souls. They fed and

and housed them while folks of the clans

388

watched from afar to see the bad things 

that would happen to all those who dared to bring 

into their circles those the clans had cast out.

Day turned to night and night again rolled out 

to day, the singing and clapping in every house

owned by the foreign missions seemed to rouse 

our folks from their slumber over imagined bugbears 

they had feared from their birth years 

to death. The locals were mesmerized that

the same illness that would put you on your mat

389

for long weeks or months while bales of leaves

that could feed a litter of goats for weeks

were squeezed or ground as concoctions 

for bath, drinking or enema - with all applications 

you' d complied and yet would not recover

and so for an investigation, your folks did usher

in the 'ahbeah hediong' to ascertain 

if there were spiritual tentacles clinging 

to your malady. In the health centres

run by the missions, with a thermometer 

390

and stethoscope, a doctor would assess

your state of health and then address 

the situation by administering pills

or injection or in extreme cases, the deal

could involve cutting up. The mission seemed

to simplify the path to good health. The clans feigned

not to see all their good sides and thought

they were flukes and their representatives they brought 

(when they asked for spots to build permanent places 

of worship, health and education) to the edges