Father's Death
Matatizo was living with his uncle in a village city where he received shocking news that his father was hospitalised. Matatizo had to ask the whole story on the cause of the father's sickness but to utter surprise, he was told that the father was beaten by his relatives after fire caught up the nearest sugarcane plantation. The father was hospitalised to nurse the severe injuries on his body.
The uncle didn't allow Matatizo to go back home and see his father because he knew Matatizo as a person who could cause problems due to short temper. During this time, Matatizo was a primary school in standard six and the schools where still in session. Villagers had hope on Matatizo to raise the standards of his family through education because his father was at a point a drunked. Alcohol could be one of the reasons that made Matatizo to stay with his uncle in village city rather than his parents. The parents were nobody in the society because of high poverty levels. Misunderstanding in the family hierarchy was a big problem. poligamy in the clan caused rangles and conflicts each and every time.
The fight was majorly on land ownership and inheritance which made Matatizo's father to be accused falsely of going against the society norms by the closest family members of a poligamous family. Matatizo's father could not stay long in the hospital but rather died after a week of suffering due to severe beating. Matatizo being the first born in the family was to remain as the head of the family despite him being young.
Matatizo received this painful news while at school doing his end term examination. This was now a problem added on other problems. The presence of a father is very important in different aspects in life. A father is the caretaker for children and provides guidance, security and advice. When one cuts the roots of a tree then he/she expects the tree to die completely.
Matatizo didn't finish his exams. He was taken back to the village for the burial of his father. He cried but that couldn't help at all. The murders of his father were busy preparing for burial. They were not even concerned with the family left behind despite the young children crying beside the dead body of their father.
Matatizo tried to cause trouble as usual but the people he was dealing with were too big for him to handle alone.
Part of the land was sold by other family members in planning for the burial. The remaining family members left behind had nothing to start on but only a small piece of land where houses were built. From a far distance, you could see Matatizo standing as he stared at the graveyard with tears running down his cheeks helplessly. Three days after burial, a ceremony was done to apease the dead. The killers took advantage of this rituals and didn't other traditional forms of withcraft rituals to prevent the dead from haunting them. The killers came early in the morning at the graveyard with a sheep to carry out their cleansing ceremony. As the mourners wake up early in the morning, they could see wool at the graveyard.
Old men in the village knew that something had been done. This was a clear indication that Matatizo's father was murdered in cold blood. Shaving ceremony was done and people departed to their homes. Any person who talked about this death was treathened to be killed. This remained to be a secret. Matatizo remained to be the next target after his father. This is because he was the only child who had knowledge to know all that happened to his father. This forced relatives of good will to think of tactics for the survival of Matatizo. Life without father began for Matatizo with his three siblings. He was now in judge of the family.
In the society, a woman is seen as inferior hence Matatizo's mother could not represent them in the society. Life without a father becomes difficult because a father provides security, protection, guidance and direction. Majorly in the whole world men are the heads who have all powers in the society to lead. Matatizo remained fixed up with new roles at an early age.
Life becomes more tough since there is no provider in the family. To add on, their lives were in danger. Matatizo decided to begin charcoal burning and selling to get basic needs. He tropped out of school as a result of financial disasters. Their health detoriated due to lack of balanced diet. The new economic activity for the family ran for only one month before the government barned charcoal burning in claims of environmental protection. Now from the frying ban into direct fire. Matatizo couldn't stop his economic activity since it was the only way for survival. Charcoal burning now changed its normal way from daytime to night times.
Trees were being cut down during daytime and burned when the sun goes down. A bee hive of activities could be done at night to make sure that police officers do not get access to evidence of charcoal burning. This was a sure way of doing things but heavy-hearted neighbors could not allow this to go for a long time. They made a set up with the environmental officers to ensure that the boy was under police custody.
In an evil society there is always that one good hearted person who can stand out for truth. In the same village there was a woman who had heard of the same story about the arrest. The woman comes quickly in the rescue of the boy. The evidence was cleared and the records made clear for the boy to be at the safe side. The charcoal burning grounds were cultivated and some vegetables planted and the charcoal in the house sold all at once. When the police came to arrest the boy they found out that the boy was innocent since there was no evidence.
About one week of suffering now that there was no any source of income, the boy went back to illegal charcoal burning since life was unbearable and only the strongest could survive. He successfully went on with the process. All of a certain, the the president of the state issued out an order to arrest all children under the age of eighteen who dropped out of schools. Since the family was poor and could not afford a radio or a television, they could not hear this news. It was on one chilly morning when the boy wake up to head to the market with the bag of charcoal on the head . It was on a Monday since this was the market day when prices were very fair. As the wiseman states "early bird catches the worm", the boy went to the market with a lot of expectations. The boy could always do budgeting before he even got the money.
On the arrival, the first person he encountered was a D.C.I who interviewed him since it was a school day and the boy was not at school. The boy gave genuine response to the questions since he knew the person was just a customer. The D.C.I accepted to buy the charcoal but told the boy to do delivery to the house. The boy walked majestically to the given direction and the final destination he found was the police station. The boy was successfully arrested. The boy being young, he was not taken to prison but rather taken to discpline units for children.
After thorough interviews, the boy explained himself well and police set him free and took him back to school to continue with his education as usual.The school headteacher was called and the fees was to be paid in full including accomodations and food.The boy became relactant with this offer. In his mind he knew he was going back to his enemies. He requested the police officers to take him to other school far away from his home. After interpretation and evaluation of the statements, one of the officers decided to take the boy as his own. The boy was then taken to a county far from home. A new environment which needed a lot of perseverance and adaption. From the Western side to the Northern sides, twenty four hours journey in a fast moving vehicle, the boy was set to travel. From cool and warm environment to a hot environment, from populated sides to rarely populated sides and from place with plants to place without green plants . The boy tried to think of what he learned in theories now to become a reality and practical.
The boy finally accepted the offer to move from the Western side to Northern sides to stay at officer's home and continue with education. He is taken home to take his clothes and books. He is carried in the vehicle for the first time since he escaped from the womb. According to him, he could narrate that trees were running while he was traveling home. He arrived at his home, took his three rags of clothes ( clothes with patches and in poorest condition) and packed in disposed polythene bag. He took his 32 pages book which he used to write in 8 subjects. He set the journey back to the police station in the four wheel drive police land cruiser. He was received by the police officer who had accepted to adopt him. They majestically moved towards the bus station to board a vehicle towards the Northern sides.