“MY FUTURE; Altered by poor fate.” (Poem)

“I love folktales; all children do.”
“I love days we sit around Grandmothers cozy stool awaiting folktales like employees awaiting wages.”
“We love to listen, chatter get amused and at times cry at tragedies….

“I recall days we aimlessly ran the streets.”
‘..And those moments we spent in the rain, Oh…how memorable!”
“We would trek long distances to school in both seasons. Dry or wet.”
“Attending school, assisting at home, learning how to cook and listening to Grandmother respectively every night….was the ritual.”

“But now, everything has changed…we barely keep track of time and it seems our ritual is fading.”
“We have less fun and there’s always a problem.”
“Someone yelling”
Another cursing”
“The other crying”

“Mother talks less; Cries a lot.”
“Father is always upset; He complains a lot.”

“I hear the people in the village say it’s a meltdown session…they say it has something to do with the economy.”
“I don’t understand any of’ this’ ….The beautiful future I imagined is becoming impossible.”

“I now do menial jobs like carrying farm products for money”
“I stopped attending school.”
“I have become thinner.”
“My clothes are all worn out.”
“We eat but at noon only.”
“We barely see Father.”

“What is this ‘Meltdown’?”
“How does the Economy work?”
“How cruel it is. It has ruined my home, and is ruining the entire village.”
“It is ruining my dreams and expectations.”
“The harmony in my home is gone.”
“So I went to father and said ‘Can you fix the meltdown’?
“He looked at me with disbelief and replied ‘Go to your Mothers hut and rest.”
“So I went inside, lay beside Mother and kept thinking on ways to fix the meltdown.”
“I wish I could see it. Tighten it’s loosen grips, and smoothen its surfaces.”
……”But I don’t know ‘this’ meltdown or what it looks like.”
“I am fifteen and I long for a normal life.”


“The next morning, I overheard Father discussing my Marriage arrangements with mother.”
“I felt shattered, disappointed and weak.”
“The following week I was sent off to Alhaji Baja’s house as a newly wedded bride.”
“No one asked for my opinion...I felt as if I was betrayed by my family and the bitterness in Grandmothers eyes makes my heart weary.”
“So I left home, to step into the unknown.”
“My disappointments and heart ache remains locked up inside me.”

….Sooner, “I found out that my bride price was used to obtain a new farm land, pay for Grandmothers medication and perhaps settle the debts father took.
“Well, I guess I have fixed the meltdown…my family’s Economic Meltdown….but my dreams flown away for a sacrifice I find not-worthy.”
By Saduwo Banyawa