Ikela . . Day Nine. The Myth of the Underworld. Going by the speed at which Banda was driving, the nurses feared that Mida may not make it to the hospital. Mama ya Mida seeing what her daughter was undergoing even refused to eat whatever food was brought for her. This as the second day and the amount of weight Mida lost during these few hours was unbelievable. After Mida was taken to the hospital, some young men marched to Manjoni’s house where they man-handled him serve for the quick intervention by the village headman and some elders. “How can you come and disturb someone’s peace when there is no concrete evidence that this man is responsible for our daughter’s illness?” asked the headman? Someone in the crowd shouted back saying, “He has caused enough pain in people’s lives in this village and if we let him scot-free, he will finish everyone here. He needs to be taught a lesson.” “But who told you that beating someone and destroying his property is the best way to resolve issues? I cannot allow this village to be turned into a war zone where everyone thinks they can take the law into their own hands. That is why we have the Chota. Let’s all go and sit down and get to the bottom of this problem.” Manjoni looked shaken by the jostling and hustling that he was subjected to. His eyes were as though they would pop out of the sockets at any time. It was a sight only seen from a person who has survived a good chase by a lion. As the crowd dispersed, Manjoni was seen picking his tire sandals and entering the pit latrine behind his house. Manjoni’s wife could not believe how their own relatives could turn against them and accuse them for every illness and death in the village. She wondered whether such accusations were petty jealousy because of the way her husband provided for the family. When Manjoni came out of the latrine, he called his wife and said to her, “listen my wife; I am so annoyed with all these people in this village. How can they behave in such a way without respect for age and blood relationship? Someone will pay for this foolishness.” Manjoni’s wife knew that when her husband gets annoyed, he would do anything to protect his family. He decided to inspect whatever damage was done around his homestead. Soon thereafter, he walked to the village Chota to meet with the village headman so that he would officially launch a complaint for the humiliation he was subjected to. Although there was a heavy presence of the same crowd that came to his house, Manjoni gathered all the courage he could and marched straight into the Chota and sat down. Instantly everyone stopped talking and waited for Manjoni to say something. After a few minutes of total since except for the exchange of looks, the headman welcomed Manjoni to the Chota and asked him to tell the council of elders what brought him to the Chota. “Eeeeh . . . Welcome and please sit down. Hmmm . . . Feel to tell us what brings to the Chota.” “Do I really need to start explaining the reason when everyone gathered here knows what I have been through?” “We may have heard but, it is better to hear it from the horse’s mouth.” “Well, I believe we all by now know that I stand here accused as the one responsible for Mida’s illness. Mmmmmh . . . I feel it is unfair for us to start such behavior of pointing fingers at each other when our niece is in pain. I urge this council to put this fire down and wait for her to get well, and then only shall we find out who the culprit is.” “How can we be quite when we feel the same pain because of bad people like you,” answered Kazeneni. “Kazeneni, if I was bad would I have given you that niece piece of warthog meat yesterday?” “Giving me warthog meat has nothing to do to do with human life. I appreciated the gesture. Let me confess that the meat was very nice, yet we have to bring this shame of depleting the basket of hope for this village to an end. Harvesting where you did not sow is a problem because you may one day even harvest poison. I feel you owe your cousin Musenzi an apology for such behavior. I shall not allow anyone in this village to suffer just because you tried to bribe me with the meat. If you insist on the meat, I can vomit it and ask you to pick it up. “ “Kazeneni, Kazeneni, hahahaha!! . . . Don’t let me get choked with my own saliva. I love the way you talk. Look at you. Are you in any way clean as to point a finger at an innocent soul like me over this matter?” “What do you mean?” asked Kazeneni. “You see that is how guilty people think. They always come up with stories of dragging others in their problems.” “Hehehehehe! . . . Let’s wait and see. When the headman saw that what began as an amicable discussion was getting out of hand, he intervened and asked that the discussion should come to an end. The two men did not listen to the admonition of the headman and continued arguing and pointing fingers at each other until Chidiya strongly warned Manjoni to behave or he would teach him a lesson. The discussion lasted for a while until it was supper time. When Manjoni realised that he was not winning in anyway, he decided to excuse himself and walked to his house. The rest of the men did not move from the Chota as they waited for the food. Young boys soon began bringing large plates of food from various houses that formed part of the village. You could tell from the look on the faces of some men that they were looking forward to the food. Even the dogs sleeping by the court woke hoping to be partaker of the nice aroma that came from some dishes. Manjoni was disappointed and felt insulted by such accusations, more so by the accusation from a friend such as Kazeneni. He wondered how Nkaka could go around spreading such malicious accusations about him. That day did not end well for him. When he got to his house, he got news that ten of his goats had been slaughtered by an unknown people. This fueled his anger even more. “What is wrong with these people? If they cannot work hard and earn the fruits of their sweat, why in this world should they go around inflicting pain on innocent souls?” An idea came up in mind. He needed an alibi to escape this, so he came up with an idea that only he knew how it was going to be executed. Although Manjoni came up with an alibi, there was no way he going to escape this one. His past talk and behavior served at the basis upon which Nkaka made her judgement. It is said that the other reason for Nkaka’s suspicion was that after Manjoni came back from his vacation in Kitwe there were reports of his bad behavior while at Mida’s house. To add salt to the injury, Manjoni made a big mistake of keeping some goods that Mida sent for her parents insisting she had given them to him. When Mama ya Mida queried about the goods, he warned her that her joy of thinking that she was the only one who had a daughter in town will one day come to an abrupt end. Such talk was not taken lightly by Mama ya Mida. She went and informed her mother who advised her to let him keep the goods knowing that Mida would send other goods someday. But they never forgot the words he used saying, “Mama ya Mida’s joy coming to an abrupt end.” These were words that rang in Nkaka’s ears for many years. So when Mida got sick upon arrival, Nkaka had every reason to point a finger at Manjoni. It is said that Manjoni’s behavior while in Kitwe was not consistent with the normal behaviour of a man of his age. He made wild demands such as, wanting Walubita to buy him a Short gun, a bicycle, bullets, a suit and several items that only a child can do for a parent. While Walubita and Mida tried to do their best to please him, the man just proved almost impossible. Walubita went out of his way to give him two suits, bought him a bicycle and bullets but refused to buy him a gun. Walubita refusal to buy him a gun was not by design but the process of buying one was cumbersome. Mida even sent some clothes, Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion, Body Mist deodorant and glycerine to his wife. All this did little to please him. Finally, the Land Rover carrying Mida arrived at the hospital. The hospital medical officer was on hand to help admit her into the female ward and quickly hooked the intravenous fluids while other medical personnel took vital signs. It was a scene to behold. The relatives that had accompanied her were asked to leave the ward so that they could give the medical personnel enough space to carry out their work. Mama ya Mida and the rest of the group where taken to the rest house on instruction from Walubita so that they could refresh and have a meal. After speaking to Banda on the radio, Commander Isiteketo drove to Nkana East to deliver the message to Walubita, but he was told that he had just left for the Mine Mess. He quickly jumped in his police squad car and sped off with the siren blurring as he drove along the streets to the Mine Mess. Mida’s illness was too personal to him because not only was Walubita a tribes mate but they went to the same secondary school at Kambule and graduated the same year from Unza. Isiteketo joined the Office of the President but ended up working for the Police Service. Most of the drivers wondered whether there was an emergency or accident by the way he was driving. He drove through the gate as though he was driving a presidential advance sweep car. He did not even bother turning off the engine of the car when he got to the mess. He simply jumped out and walked in asking if anyone had seen Walubita. Most people thought Walubita was under arrest, but come to find out Isiteketo was known for his dramatic way of carrying out his police duties. May be he watched too many James Bond movies while he was at training school. One of Walubita’s workmates pointed to the corner of the mess. “Bo Isiteketo… Is everything okay?” asked Walubita. “Yes, everything if fine except for these Zaireans who continue giving me sleepless nights” “Can I get you a beer?” “No thank you . . . eeeeh . . . Can we talk outside the mess?” Walubita stood from where he was enjoying a beer with Inonge Masiye, who many people suspected he was having an affair with. He followed Isiteketo to the parking lot where his police squad car was parked. Walubita wondered why his friend looked worried and apprehensive. Isiteketo then broke the news to his friend. Walubita could not believe what he just heard. “What happened and how could this be true. She just left home not too long ago and today I get this news. What will I tell the children?” Isiteketo offered to drive him home but Walubita refused. He insisted on driving his own car. Without even going back into the mess, the two men drove straight to Nkana East. When they got home, he found his children eating supper. He decided not to disturb them until they were done. The two men sat in the living room discussing want action to take. Isiteketo suggested they contact their other former classmate Ililonga Musiyalela who worked for the Fly Doctor Service to arrange for an aircraft to go and pick Mida and bring her to better hospital in the city. As the two men continued to strategize, Walu Jr. walked into the living room and asked to offer the two men drinks but they both declined, much to his surprise.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 22:03:01 +0000
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