The Oasis
The sun sets behind a green oasis,
Lazy hippos blow geysers at the surface
While crocodiles watch the banks, carefully.
The chattering troupe splashes in the shallows.
Zebra stripes are mirrored in the water’s edge,
Nervous impala approach, gathered into safety,
Giraffes stroll lazily to the next Acacia top.
Sable graze in the plane,
Shaping sun rays into patterns of beauty
and streaks of strength.
The pride, unheeded, dozes under nearby shade,
While Amman’s jackals trot about on mischief’s errand.
Sean van Staden SJ
AFRICA! OH, AFRICA!
Some of these, facts; Much of these, fictions; Some of these exaggerated!
But, somewhere and everywhere in AFRICA, a dirge was being sung!
The last 2,3,4 decades were unarguably the most turbulent of times for most African nations.
Blood like a pond filled our streets.
Terror like the rising sun; greeted our eyes.
Somewhere and Everywhere in AFRICA, People cried;
“When shall we be free?”
“When shall we, the sons and daughters of AFRICA, be free?”
Not anymore, my heart tells me! All I see is pain and anguish.
Man has become an enemy to man.
And we are left to the shackles of hopelessness and despair.
Our hearts resigned; Our dreams faded; Our hopes shattered.
We walk on in darkness; and so, shall the rest of our days be!
But History lied to Africa!
A wise man once said, History is not made by those who lived it, but by those who write it!
A long time ago, missionaries came to Africa, with a Bible; because that was all they had.
All we had was our land and our lives!
These missionaries came to us and said, “we have to pray”. And so we closed our eyes and prayed. By the time we finished praying and opened our eyes; We had the Bible and they had our lands.
This is History! Knowledge without wisdom is like a great nation without a wall around it!
Knowledge is power! Information is Liberation. History lied to Africa!
Our Screams were collected into bottles of schnapps to bellyful our chiefs into psychological distortion.
Our screams were collected into bottles of Amarula to bellyful our chiefs into psychological distortion.
Our screams were collected into bottles of heineken to bellyful our chiefs into psychological distortion.
Once there was a land unknown! A people unseen! A destiny unborn!
Trees were like hills towering the skies! Mountains like fountains welling to the heavens!
The sun, glowing like a river of gold across the horizon! And the fields?
Green, as green could ever be!
Africa was indeed a land of hope! A land of peace! A land of freedom! A land of gold!
A beautiful land! Yes, a beautiful land.
But then came the hovering clouds of darkness; the mist of sorrow and the fog of death!
Man became an enemy to man; and like scavenging beasts, we dug ourselves a grave!
A grave in which we buried our hope, our future, our esteem, our prestige; and even our very will to exist as a continent!
And then came democracy; Democracy rekindled faith; faith in our hearts and not in practice!
We say, there is better tomorrow! But we must not forget that today was yesterday’s tomorrow!
We cannot reap where we did not sow; For neither God nor the Spirits will grant us this favour.
We are the hope for tomorrow! We are the future! We are the stars in the darkened skies! We are the souls of Africa! The hope for Africa and the leaders for tomorrow!
Yes, we can! Barack Obama! But what can we?
Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation! Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah! But are we?
I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself; Nelson Mandela! But where is the peace?
I have a dream; Martin Luther King Jr! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every mountain brought low; The rough places will be made plain and the crooked places straight! And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together!
This is our faith! With this faith we will be able to hew out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope! With this faith, we shall be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood…. Where is the dream?
But yes! We have! Yes, we have!
Yes, we have seen slavery! Yes, we have seen civil wars! Yes, we have seen diseases!
Yes, we have seen poverty! Yes, that Africa depends on aid to survive!
Yes, that we fight among each other and kill each other!
Yes! But Somewhere and Everywhere in AFRICA, we have also seen the light.
Yes! Somewhere in AFRICA, we have seen the revival of education!
Yes, Somewhere in AFRICA, we have seen peace and democracy!
Yes, Somewhere in AFRICA, we have seen brotherliness!
Yes, Somewhere and Everywhere in AFRICA, we have hope!
Yes, Somewhere and Everywhere in AFRICA, I have a dream!
I have a dream that Africa will be the pride of the world; and people will come from all parts of the world to seek peace, to seek prosperity, to seek wealth, to seek freedom.
Yes! Somewhere and Everywhere in AFRICA, this will happen.
AFRICA! OH, AFRICA!
May God bless Africa and Make her Great and Strong!
Vincent Namdiog SJ
Tribute to Africa
Africa, Africa my sunshine.
My wakings, risings and fallings.
My glowing sunbeams through the day,
And my star-full darkness through the night.
Africa, Africa my learning.
My library like no other;
Endowed with legends of umuntu in diverse spaces,
And tales of love told in the collective.
Africa, Africa my culture.
My one and only untainted heritage from of old,
Incised on my heart and squelched earth below as a link to ancestors,
And manifested in ways and values like no other.
Africa, Africa my love.
My love from distant and faraway lands.
Only spoken of in the singular,
And singly appreciated like the lizard.
Africa, Africa my space unknown.
Not unknown to itself, but to others.
Perceived as other without exploration,
And named africa after peregrination.
Africa, Africa my sunset.
My wounded space in between sunrise and sunset.
Who shall save thee and whence?
But thou can save thyself, look no further and believe in thyself.
I love thee to the depth, my Africa.
Ikpodon Michael SJ