Thursday, December 20, 2007

april fool: part 3

4/1/2003:
2 commissioners are angry. both flexing muscles. both going over each others’ heads. both refuse to speak to each other. and i’m somehow still involved. if Muhammadu didn’t own that bike. if they weren’t threatening to take this matter to court. i’d just pack my bags and leave. but my travel plans are already shot. so i call my Country Director (CD). he doesn’t answer. he’s not there. but he sends a message: “Your APCD will call.” (APCD = Associate Peace Corps Director). OK. fine. he does. we talk. he says “take this to the SDO.” the Senior Divisional Officer. take this over their heads? isn’t that what got us here in the first place? i’m not convinced. he’ll call the SDO. still not convinced. i ask my CD. he says trust me. i get confidence in my people. OK. fine. my APCD will call the SDO. i’ll get him his # tomorrow. Sufyan will pass by and leave it. he’s the acting SDO. the first assistant. the SDO meme (my APCD's country-man) is now the Governor of the South Province. but i’ll get his # too. he’s still, more-or-less, running the show here.

anywho... anywho. anywho. i pray that my APCD will finally put his money where his mouth is and pull some strings. i pray that this matter. will be small and forgotten by late tomorrow morning. insha’Allah. insha’Allah. insha’Allah.

regardless, this afforded me the opportunity to tell Muhammadu 2 things. 2 things i’ve been meaning to tell him for some time. not just him, but all his people. all his brothers, Ardu included. all his people.
  1. EDUCATION... without it you will never know your rights. you will always be ignorant. you will always be taken advantage of. you will always be intimidated. you’ll always end up bribing people. they’ll always ask for more. you’ll never go anywhere, get anywhere, be anything.
  2. RIGHT & WRONG... black and white. clear as day. big or small. if you do wrong, things will always go wrong. don’t believe otherwise. if you do right, things will always go right. always. don’t believe otherwise. again, if you do wrong you will always be taken advantage of. you will always be intimidated. you’ll always end up bribing people. they’ll always ask for more. you’ll never go anywhere, get anywhere, be anything.
...that’s it. i spoke my mind. took long enough, but i spoke my mind. i pray that i will continue to do so. in the meantime, i asked Muhammadu to keep the bike at home. not to use it. tomorrow morning he’ll come over. i hope to have called my APCD by then. and he, on his part, to have called the SDO. i hope to get a confirmation. from either/or, or both. then i hope to go down to Special Branch and get Muhammadu’s confiscated ID card. i hope they’ll forget this ever happened. i hope to forget this ever happened. i need to be at school by 10am. insha’Allah. insha’Allah. insha’Allah...

i want to get out of here by Thursday AM. i want to go to Douala. eat rice & fish at Ibrahim’s restaurant. drink a fruit smoothie or two. and yes, sweat. of course, sweat. then spend a few days at the Hilton. forget about Wum. insha’Allah.

they’re working on that rock. digging around it. we’ll see what they can do. that my rock. it’s been there since...

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