4. Mounting bitterness.

And as life went on; so we the people were also growing up naturally; from being young innocent and stupid-looking beings to a bit learned and experienced creatures with dreams and wishes to try our lives on.

At least we could understand a little about this and that even though some questions about life and the contemporary situation went unanswered; let alone arouse arguments and stereotyped inferences among ourselves as a group of little boys searching for more advanced knowledge and understanding about life; while living in those dusty and uncivilized villages.

Now, beside those mounting military brutalities effected by the relentless soldiers acting under orders of the state; given the volatility and adversity of the situation; there was another problem that had just taken the sprawling villages and surrounding mountains by a great sway.

As Christianity was slowly winning the hearts of some other people; tradition was already having its full grip on the majority of the existing contemporary human identities; naturally so. 

It was a norm then that each household had to have its own traditional healer to help protect it against any operating evil force in the form of witchcraft and sorcery. Circumcision schools were all over the place; and western education given a second priority by many hardliners of traditional practices; so much so that being an initiation graduate seemed to be the ultimate life achievement, and Christianity was seen as an abomination; it really felt like we were in the thick of things so to speak.

It was so tough, let me say so; really tough!!  

Rebelling against such ideologies and philosophical practices was not an easy task back then; it was almost an impossibility given the scarcity of support for any act of objection or rebellion against such so called traditional and cultural practices; rather too much of support for them.

And therefore; choosing to stand against them would obviously have meant opting for ostracism; and the eventual consequences of the ostracism itself would become quite historical for one, if not unforgettable.

Victimization; if not forced compliance; was the best tool to be used by such hardliners; with many victims being taken by force to those initiation schools while some households were getting cursed with magical and tricky tactical spells of witchcraft and sorcery; only for their failure to comply with the compulsions of tradition.

And then there was the dying moment of the '80s;and as that decade was slowly passing away for another one to come, it also seemed as if it was giving way for the worst; at least from my own perspective without having to generalize or being inclusive. 

Voodooism had become a new trending headline back then; at least to some of us as little and inexperienced youths who had never heard about such miracles before in our lives; and as political stories and uprisings alongside Christianity were making inroads to contemporary villages; so was witchcraft and voodooism.

A day could hardly go by without hearing about a voodoo-related story involving the hills and mountains over there or villages down below; it really seemed as if something was brewing; at least to some of us as inexperienced little beings.

Most of us as little youths wondered what was coming to pass ;we were frightened most of us because of all these.  

Eventually, a certain west African national was roped in to help save the surrounding villages from the grip of cultural terrorism; he was known as an expert in such issues involving witchcraft. 

This after there was a certain relative of mine; among others. An old woman, though not that old; whose female child who had just died; or killed in a witchcraft-related practice; was reportedly visiting them every night to help breastfeed her several months old baby she had just left behind when killed in that witchcraft ritual.

It was said by this old woman that; at night they would see a certain shadow entering the house; and then the next morning wake up to find the bed which the so-called deceased used to sleep on when still alive showing signs of a certain previous activity; with the baby having been snatched from the old woman's bed to the bed of miracles.

Well; it was quite amazing and unbelievable; indeed, especially to us as little youths back then; and we wondered how something like that was actually possible; a fake story, maybe.

But the story ended making headlines afterward; so much so that even the media was also roped in to come and record this unbelievable incident in whatever way possible; alongside the expert of magic and witchcraft from across the country.

And as the media personnel was being led by the traditional expert to a hiding place; or the so-called new home of the captive of witchcraft or otherwise a voodoo; it was said that the captive itself came out and miraculously outran everybody; including the expert himself; and the next thing we as young scholars knew about was nothing besides stories of the incident featured all over existing media publications.

It was said that a hefty price was demanded by the expert to help the family catch the captive and bring her back to normal life; but unfortunately, the family was poor.

Fast-forward into current times; with I myself having become an experienced adult though not that much; I would find myself sitting there and revising all these things of the past though in the absence of any recorded material except my mind alone.

Applying the entirety of my mind to them in an attempt to get to the bottom of this problem while making comparisons between these two closely related and intertwined cults; the cultural African traditional healing and witchcraft.

As I speak; my friends together with whom I used to have a close association and integration back then are no longer with me; at least my young uncle who is of my age; and sometimes as we are sitting together I and him; we would stoke a certain strong argument around such similar topics of voodooism and traditional healing, while also recalling our childhood experiences about these two troublesome African issues. 

Well; my uncle is one such person with too much of belief in these things.  However, I am not in denial of the existence of these two African issues in the form of witchcraft and traditional healing; no; not at all. I do really know that they are realistic in terms of their activeness; for truly speaking, I personally witnessed victims of such practices in my life.

Even I myself had a taste of how it feels like having to be cursed with such magical practices of wickedness; and by the mercy preserved for me by this good life I survived. 

As I speak by now; I won't find myself worrying about Sundays that church time is coming and as such will have to prepare myself for the church service; not at all. 

Sunday is just another usual day to me except for that some people does not go to work and school children are off; I can even find enough quality time to be with my family; if I am not far away from home; thus enjoying each other's company while the children keep wishing that the following school day is not coming. 

What is important to me as a human being is to respect life and treat everyone the way I may find it acceptable should they try or feel like returning similar treatment to me; I even don't worry or bother myself having to go and see a particular witch doctor over there to seek protection against any evil force of witchcraft; not at all; the witch doctor is a witch himself and can therefore bewitch someone else/

Why should I bother myself, then?? The mercy that this life gave me in the first place; by willingly bring me into existence for a particular purpose; will see me through it at all and nothing besides!!

And when life had decided that what should happen must come to pass, no one can do anything.

WELCOME!!