Conflict: A Battered Life BY F.A. MOHAMMED
"Mawu! Run!"
monstrous Boko Haram soldiers a few weeks earlier.
"Run fast, Mawu!"
The memories forever imprinted in his mind, always
"Faster!"
fresh and recurring.
Ladan, Mawu's best friend, shouted impatiently
Boko Haram soldiers ambushed their village. They
while holding out his hand to pull Mawu onto the
pillaged, killed and razed it to the ground. Their
rickety old truck meant for transporting animals.
barbaric acts had been recounted by people from
This was their only chance to escape and leave this
other villages. Mawu's village was warned that the
godforsaken place. The scorching savannah sun
mercenaries were headed in their direction two days
blurred Mawu's vision as he ran. The land was as dry
before the raid. Many villagers filed out day and
as the hearts of its inhabitants. It was the height of
night carrying the few belongings they could with
the hot season and the rains were not expected for
them.
another two months. The hardy leaves of the Neem
Mawu's father had contemplated moving
tree that dotted the landscape hung limply, as
the family but was reluctant to leave everything he
though they were weeping.
had known and worked for all his life: his recently
Panting.
inherited livestock and the farm that he had toiled
Mawu's pace was getting slower. Subconsciously,
and tilled every day since he was a young man. The
he had given up. Ladan's extended hand was getting
farm was an integral part of his life, tilling the earth
further and further away. His face contorted with
gave him a sense of calm and solace he couldn't
emotions reminiscent of a person watching a friend
describe. It is all he did, season after season, year
dying before his very eyes. Mawu knew the feeling
after year, until his crooked, calloused hands
only too well, it was that same paralyzing
were no longer effective, and the soil grew less and
helplessness and pain he had felt while watching his
less fertile.
father and brothers mercilessly gunned down by the
He was an old man, growing poorer with every
TSSF JOURNAL
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