Today I’m recapped
To when we were only seven
When in our small semi-circle groups,
We stood facing our leader,
Clapping, jumping and stamping our one foot forward
We jovially played Ampe in Ghana.
Today reminds me,
Of a special South African game
A game we used to play,
Where we shouted “Mbube! Mbube!”
Meaning “Lion! Lion!”,
Blindfolded, we spun round and round
Locating and capturing our southern African buck “Impala”.
We were still young;
very energetic and full of life!
How can I forget
My very own personal favourite game,
Inketo from Eswatini?
On the soil we sat in a circle,
Within a small hole dug in the ground
Filled with pebbles,
Tossing, catching and picking pebble after pebble
We giggled our childhood away.
Rain or not we danced, skipped, hopped,
Rolled in the mud filled with laughter and fun.
Fast forward to five years later came Tick Tok Tech,
It was all flashlights and trends,
We moved so fast.
Ampe was replaced by Dora the explorer,
We stopped running and chasing after each other
Rather we sat and watched Tom chase Jerry.
They said we were evolving, Transforming for the best,
Bumblebee after Megatron twisting and turning in the air
We settled for their commands.
The beeps, the dings, the clicks,
We all loved it,
Could not live without it,
At only four years with a phone in hand, typing away,
We only stood and watched a life wasted away.
The pain brought on by the new reality is unimaginable.
Having our African identity tarnished beyond repairs
Losing touch with our roots
To Technology has left us impaired.
With a glimpse of hope
We hope for the best,
Maybe we’ve got a chance to save what’s left,
Maybe we can still unearth our roots then, create our very own African Technology that will speak to us.
This Children’s Literature was published in the June 2022 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – The Tele-Doctor – A Children’s Story by Moses Tololo, Zambia
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That hit!