Tales by moonlight are the archives from which our history is passed down through generations. One story after another, the old and frail gather their young and feed their minds with events that they too will pass on to their children when the cycle of life has greyed their hairs and hunched their backs. The [...]
I know what it means to set a time-bomb. It is your mother kneeling for the births of going-to-die children. That is what it means to be an Abiku; a sun that shines during the day and gets clouded by the spirits of the night. I walk in the streets like a squirrel, taking every [...]
I’m standing on a Cliffside guarding this border, my diary in hand, looking unto yesterday - a time when I wanted nothing but death. O body! How have you grown! Away from negatives, all strengthened as I am in this momentous adulthood. I owe God today and the father that fostered me. * Yesterday, I [...]
The woman never looks at Nana. She is always bowing, her hands holding the hem of her black threadbare hijab and removing strands. Nana would ask if she slept well last night if the medication worked, and the woman would start shaking her head frantically. She would stand and pace about the room, muttering, littering [...]
The much-awaited day was finally here. On the 5th of December 2016, my father chauffeured me to the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport of Mauritius. Throughout the entire road journey that leads to the airport, I kept babbling about the iconic landmarks I intended to visit during my stay in Marrakesh. My father responded with occasional [...]
I can never forget how I made my life fall apart. How I watched it tear, with my eyes bulging with anger and my legs walking to a path I never knew, without hesitation. I was amazed at the journey beyond my family walls until I finally saw how dark the world was, felt the [...]
An Abiku was born when the hands of an alien clock joined palms. Her blind parents couldn’t decipher what the dancing cowries of the great diviner said when he rattled them over an old white piece of cloth. They shunned him when he came to appease the road for the arrival of the Spirit-Child. He [...]
Deola insists that the market route is faster. You hesitate, because you hate its rowdiness and— "...and those silly boys that will be holding your hands and clothes because they want you to buy from them,” after saying this, you deliberately cringe in an effort to convince your friend to change her mind. "Calm down, jare," [...]
The day you were born, You became a man. So, when you crawl and hurt your knees Do not move your lips nor make a sound. Hold on child, men don't cry. The day you take your first step, Is the day you become one with the struggles of life. Do not feign annoyance [...]
Mama and Papa eagerly await your return from school. Mama prepares your favorite dish of Ofe Onugbu and Fufu, with half a bottle of Fanta to wash it down. They both sit under the Mango tree watching as you wash and spread your uniform to dry. They chatter excitedly. It is the first time in [...]
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