SHORT STORY
The year begun well,all the joy of getting to see a new year was in everyone's face. The rains weren't
enough this season leading to the drying up of the crops in the farms. This caused a lot of worries to
those who could figure out what was going to happen if the crops didn't produce. Unlike the other new
years were everywhere was covered with mud and stagnant waters, only dust and hot sun rays were
seen .
As the days accumulated forming months, the hotter the sun got and the dryer the crops got. With
time all the crops dried out leaving bare farms with only soil. Even the trees begun shedding their leaves
and the grasses on the fields dried up. The animals lacked feeds to graze on so did the humans as the
foods begun to run out. The water points and the rivers begun to dry as time passed by . This was the
beginning of a deadly drought.
By the end of April the wind was bowling the dusts on the ground like it does in the desert of
Sahara. Children no longer went to schools . People moved from early mornings to noon to search for
water. Men would move to other areas in search for food to feed their families. Some were gone for
more than two days only to come back with one kilogram of flour or even maize. Getting home they
would find their compounds full of neighbors who had the hope of getting at least a cup of flour to
prapare porridge for the kids. You can imagine sharing one kilo of flour to over five families!!!
Most of the elderly people and the young kids passed away due to lack of food and water. Animals
were gone too. Other people started migrating to other areas as they couldn't handle the pressure any
more. For us who couldn't move all in the name of these are our ancestral lands , we stayed. I remember
we had so many deaths to an extent that no one attended the burial. Pregnant women and young
children were in very dangerous conditions.
The situation got worse and worse every day to the point that people lost hope in life. Those who
thought the gods were offended offered sacrifices over and over again but still nothing changed. Others
said that our area was under curse and everyone was going to die. Everyone had their own story to tell
of these drought. We all the it was the end of the world.News had spread all over about this drought as
the drought also started spreading to other areas. Numerous diseases erupted all over. There were no
available medical personnel or even the medications. This lead to the increase of the diseased. I can
going for more than three days without food just some water to keep the body going.
News begun to spread that the government was going to give fee food to the people in the
affected areas. Yes , the food was given but how could two sucks of maize feed such a large crowd of
people? We ate for one day then we woke up the following day with no single grain. We all went back to
where we were before.