One of the numerous verbal games we used to play in my village as young children went like this: after one had finished eating a nice ear of corn, be it boiled or baked in fire, one would hold up the corncob in one’s hand and chant:
“Maburoo a mewee yi,
Se mene wo n’ewee a,
Atafumfuor ntwa wo ti
Nkotwene sei aaa
PO-O-H!”
TRANSLATION:
“This corn that I’ve eaten,
If you joined me in eating it,
May our enemies
Cut off your head
And hurl it away like this:
P-O-O-H!”
Now, I don’t, of course, know who composed this ditty, nor how it came about that all of us children knew it, and frightened one another with it, after indulging in one of the most pleasurable acts of childhood in the deep forest areas of Ghana – eating corn that has been newly harvested from our own farm.
Why was eating nice corn associated with the decapitation of one’s head?
Was it a subtle way of teaching us that life was not all about eating corn or plantains or cocoyam or yam, but also about some very unpleasant or gory things, such as the “decapitation” of our heads by an “enemy”?
That I still remember the ditty which I learnt when I was at most five years old shows how important it is to teach children important lessons about life when they are still very young.
What the ditty told us (indirectly, by what one might call psychological induction or sub-conscious tutelage) was that war was a very bad thing. Bad because it somehow came in the way of enjoying corn. And not only that – it was linked to the decapitation of heads.
I wonder whether the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, has ever enjoyed corn that has been boiled, with a little bit of salt sprinkled on it. He certainly must have often enjoyed a Russian dish called borsch [a soup cooked with beef shank, cabbage, tomato sauce, gold potatoes and chicken broth] which, eaten with seeded bread, is one of the fastest “kill-hunger” meals you can order in a Russian restaurant.
I implore Mr. Putin to consider how hard it would have been, for both Russians and Ukrainians together, to be deprived of their borsch and other favourite meals, for so many days on end! (Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to be exact.)
Really, as he surveys (if he does) the destruction that has been wrought upon Ukraine since the invasion, is President Vladimir Putin satisfied that he’s done the right thing by either the Russians or the Ukrainians?
Is the flattening of buildings by bombs and shells; is the uprooting of millions of families from their cities, home-towns and villages; is the closure of hospitals, schools and playgrounds for fear that they would be bombed by jets and shelled by tanks; Mr. Putin, has all that been really necessary?
The world had hoped that after the Second World War and the horrors it unleashed on Germany, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Holland and other European countries, as well as Asia and even upon us in “remote” African villages, that man’s inhumanity to man would never be unchained again. But alas – not even the spectre of triggering another Hiroshima or Nagasaki massacre seems frightening enough to you and your generals, Mr. Putin.
Yes, yes, yes: you will argue that your war [you call it “special operation”] against Ukraine was undertaken to prevent Ukraine from bringing war to your doorsteps. But hasn’t “war-to-prevent-war” been consigned to the dustbins of history? Who has ever been able to justify hostilities carried out in fulfilment of such a primitive urge?
Did Germany’s attacks on Europe, after the assassination of an Archduke in 1914, prevent the First World War? Did Hitler’s suspicion of what Great Britain and its allies might be up to prevent the Second World War?
Since the end of the Second World War, there have been wars in Asia; the Middle East; Africa; Latin America and almost every region on Planet Earth you can bring up. But in none of those campaigns was it ever proved that the launching of one war truly prevented the outbreak of another.
So, Mr. Putin, you are killing Russians and Ukrainians in pursuit of a mere illusion. And you should stop it.
Yes, a great deal of damage has already been done. And it will inevitably lead to a “peace conference,” at which an “armistice” or “ceasefire” or whatever it’s called, will be called. And pledges will be signed about future “peaceful relations” between “the warring parties”. As usual,
As happened during the hostilities in Palestine; Vietnam; Afghanistan; Iraq; Iran. Et cetera, et cetera.
WE ARE TIRED OF IT ALL!
Isn’t it a shame that the world is being made to witness again, a horror film that seems to be in a permanent loop – ending with a conference at which well-dressed diplomats shake hands warmly; only to utter unmeant assurances; with the result that the horror film re-spools to the beginning again, awaiting a re-convocation of conferences by new, well-costumed diplomats with warm hand-shakes.
My God! Are we equipped with brains or are our heads filled with pebbles?
The world must end war. Period!
We in Africa, in particular, are tired of war! Wars that make our imports expensive or unavailable. Right now, wheat produced in Ukraine and Russia is becoming scarce, which means that the flour we need to bake bread, is becoming scarce. Even when wheat is grown in abundance, some of our people are exposed to starvation. What about when it is scarce or unavailable?
War is insane. It must be abolished-abolished-abolished!
Period!
By Cameron Duodu