Shakles

Kadiri, Kadiri, Kadiri. I heard mama call out. The sun was still hidden by the clouds and at such times, when mama called, I was sure she wanted me to go fetch water from the river. I ignored Mama's call, pretending I was still asleep. Kofan ruwa, the river from where we went to fetch water was was quite a long walk from our home in Kurna. It was very early, and exactly around the time mama would want me to go there. According to her, around this time, the water was still clean. For me, it was better to go to the river at sunrise at least. More so, because i could go with Yaya and Tale. Yaya and Tale were my best friends. We could go to Kofan Ruwa a hundred times together and would not realize it. We would spend time talking about which mango tree we would visit for the day, where we would go hunting and how we would try to impress our girls when we made a big catch. I had always had my eyes on Talatu, and everything I did, I did to impress her. Talatu was tall, slim, and was very curvy. she was a typical Kurna girl, beautiful in every aspect. I liked her, although she had never said so to me, I could tell she liked me too.

Kadiri, Kadiri, Kadiri, Mama continued to call, and suddenly, her voice began to fade as she called. Ah! At last she gave up, I thought. But as her voice faded away, I heard other voices screaming. There were random voices and I almost did not recognize any of them until I heard Talatu's. In the midst of a million voice, I could always recognize her voice when I heard it. Kadiri, Kadiri, she called as she ran into my hut. The white people, the white people, she panted, they came in a big boat and they are taking people away. I saw them take my papa, my mama and my brother. I also saw them take your friend, Tale but they did not see me where I hid,she added in fear.

Hurriedly, I stood up and went with Talatu outside my hut. The white men seemed to have been coming from every direction except one, so we took that direction and began to run as fast as we could. But as we ran, Talatu fell down and hurt her toe. This made running difficult for her. Talatu was a strong girl, she managed to continue. But she slowed down our pace. It did not take long until the white men caught up with us. As soon as they did, they put me and Talatu in Chains. Our hands were chained to our front, before being chained on the neck and making sure the chains were connected to the next person's neck. This was to make sure that it was impossible for any one to escape.

We were treated like animals. We did not treat animals the way they treated us. While chained , they flogged us as we walked far away from home. We were being taken to a sea shore, I supposed, they wanted to journey with us to the white man's land to work as slaves.

God forbid, I can never be slave to any man born of a woman. The people of Tudun wada are slaves to no one. We were known as great worriors. We can not be taken into slavery. I would rather die than be a slave to the white man, these words I heard. As I turned to see who could be so brave to speak out, I was not surprised at all. It was Haji. Haji was one of the strongest and well respected worriors in Tudun Wada. As he spoke in bravery, we all began to cheer and sing war songs. That was a great mistake, but we all learned it the hard way. The white men singled out Haji, and put a knife into his right eye. As he screamed in pains, they used the white man's charm on him. We had never seen such a charm before. It was so loud and could kill a man quickly. They all had the charm with them but we never knew those were powerful charms. The charms were long and had a rope tied to it with which they could hang the charm on their shoulders, they had short ones too, and they called the charms 'gun'. Seeing what had been done to the worrior, Haji, and the powers of the white man charm, we were scared. They threatened to do thessame to anyone who spoke another word.

As we got to shore, there were many more white men who had also come in their own boat. We were being bought by the white men who we met at the shore. For young and strong men, the buyers paid more . For young and pretty women, they also paid more.

One man had seen how beautiful Talatu was and was willing to pay twice her price to have her, but our captain would not sell her. I was glad he did not sell her as nobody bought me.

We got into the boat and set sail. Talatu was scared, I could easily tell. I sat next to her. I am scared Kadiri, she whispered. I am scared too Talatu but we would be fine, I assured her.

Hey! The Captain wishes to have you buy his side, one white man said as he dragged Talatu. I looked on helplessly without altering a word as he took Talatu. Moments later, she returned crying and bleeding from her private part. The white man had defiled her. But there was nothing we could do.

As we sailed, we heard a baby cry. It would not stop crying. This made the captain angry. As he came out to ask why the baby would not stop crying, the mama of the baby tried to explain to him that she had not had any food in days and as a result, the baby could not get milk from her breast. The captain went in and came back with a white man's food. He tried to make the baby eat, but the baby cried even more. In anger, he began to flog the baby to eat but the baby cried harder. You have to eat or I'll kill you, he yelled at the little baby, but it still would not stop crying until it slept off. Not long after the baby had slept, it woke up again and began to cry. The baby's leg was swollen from the beating it got from the white man. This time, the baby cried harder than it had cried. Again, the Captain came out and was shown the baby's swollen leg. He ordered that water be boild. As the water was boiled, he made a white woman in his company put the baby's swollen leg in the hot water. But the woman touched the water and found it too hot. She complained the water was too hot for the baby but the captain wouldn't listen. Instead, he put the baby's leg in the very hot water. The baby's skin went into the water and in days, the leg was infected. Shortly after the baby got infected, it died. The baby's mama began to cry. I would not have anyone disturb my ship, neither would I have a corpse in it. The Captain warned. He called the dead baby's mama to come with it. When she had come, he asked her to throw the dead baby into the sea. Poor woman. She would not listen, but he threatened to throw them both. Then she threw the baby into the sea as she looked the other way.

The woman continued to cry. No one could stop her, not even the captain. You want to disturb my ship, eh? he began to flog the woman. One man in the boat, I did not know him, he was not from Kurna. He got angry and spoke out to the captain but no one understood his language, he just continued to yell at the captain angrily. Shut the fuck up, the captain said to the man as he flogged him with a chain. But the man would continue to speak out in anger. You wanna die? the captain asked, I'll kill you ape, he added in fury as he continued to flog the man with the chain in his hand. This time, the man must have had enough, then he muttered 'fight me'. Oh! you wanna fucking fight me? alright then. Oi! calling out one of his crews. Unchain this ape, he thinks he's got balls. As the man was unchained, the captain ordered that some weapons be brought to the man to choose from. When the weapons were brought the man chose a machete, the biggest of them actually. I suppose his intentions were to cut the captain into pieces. As he attacked in anger, the white man, without breaking a sweat used his charm on the man. You don't bring a knife to a gun fight, you ape, The Captain boasted as he dusted his cha..., I mean gun. throw him off my ship, he ordered. Seeing this, we were very terrified. Even the woman who would not stop crying was not reminded to stop crying anymore, she immediately stopped crying on her own....... to be continued