KAMINA AND THE DOG
‘Once in ages there is always a wonder, mother nature doesn’t stop to amaze us’, said Kubwalo clearing his throat with Thobwa. Nambe kneeling down waiting for her husband to finish drinking a cup of Thobwa so she can take and clean it together with other dishes replied, ‘And a wonder is a wonder until it’s done’, smiling with her lovely wide eyes open. ‘You are right my dear’, said Kubwalo taking a last sip of Thobwa as the sun was gently going down the grassy hills.
Kubwalo and Nambe were the amazing parents of Kamina, their only child and probably the tallest child in the village. The parents were very dedicated Roman Catholics who wanted their son, Kamina to emulate them and go a step further by becoming an ordained catholic priest. Their house walls were full of sacred images, rosaries and even different sizes of cross. It was a mini church and they truly believed no witch would step into their house. Every day they asked for intercession of different catholic saints for them to walk in countless blessings. They always followed church calendar of the saints and also made an effort to befriend every church priest coming at their local parish. So many priests had served at their local parish, Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church, and the priests always loved the discipline, the prayerfulness and courage of the local people just like their patron saint. Most of the priests that had served at the church were white until the new Bishop of the diocese decided to change the pattern and sent a young black priest, Antonio Michizo and he received a cold welcome. Father Michizo was so depressed but he directed his depression to the cross calvary and patron saint of the church, Teresa of Avila for help.
A week after his first mass at the church he decided to find something to do relieve his stress apart from praying. He decided to be a local man, waking up early in the morning after personal devotion to go to a football ground to play soccer with a local team there. At first the coach was surprised but after seeing his seriousness he allowed him to be part of the team. He was playing football very well and was scoring beautiful goals and the coach loved him so much. On a Saturday afternoon when he was not busy, he could take young people up the mountain and began teaching them the word of God and called it the Sermon of the Mount Thunga. After the sermon he would cake pancakes and a few drinks he had brought for them from home. Young adults always enjoyed the sermon at Thunga Mountain.
Thunga mountain was an oval shaped mountain with a netball ground size area at the top where people could sit. The mountain was covered by tea plants at the bottom then blue gum trees on the middle and near the top super green pine trees whistling at each other as the cold fresh air was moving down the mountain. The top was covered by tall green grass that had been bent down by young church people. Father Michizo used to be there only on Saturdays and there never a day he went there alone. But one day, Father Michizo decided to abandon the tradition of going to the mountain with the young people, he wore his black hat, white t-shirt and a khakhi trouser and started his way to Thunga Mountain. Little did he knew what to expect and what to do when he reaches the top of the mountain. Along the way, he cupped a bee which was about to sting him on the cheek and cupped out it several times along the small trail up the mountain. Walking towards the highest point of the mountain, he noticed someone praying behind rosary but he couldn’t deduce who the person was from that far. He tip-toed towards the place where a young man was praying and hid himself behind the big stone just behind the young man. As Father Michizo was about to sit down, the young man had finished praying the rosary and he uttered some words that made Father Michizo to get out of his hiding place. The young man black in complexion, about 1.5m height, slim said to Jesus, ‘I know you are always watching me and you know my good and bad days very well. I would like to ask you for a favor, teach me how to play a guitar and also give me a friend, a dog to be my companion’. Father Michizo was intrigued by the prayer, how can someone ask God to give him a dog, he thought for a while. ‘Young man, may God grant you all your wishes in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’, said Father Michizo. The young dropped dead as he was not expecting anyone at that moment. He grabbed him by the hand and lifted him up. He sat down with him and asked, ‘What is your name?’ he asked. ‘Kamina, thus my name’, said the young man.
‘Why would you ask God to give you a dog?’, asked the priest.
‘Oh I notice you are a priest. One day I had a dream, I was taken in a field full of rose flowers. Then a certain old man in a white garment told me a secret for my success. Once I get a certain particular dog my life will change. I will kiss goodbye to my poverty’, said Kamina.
‘Am not sure if God was really talking to you’, said Father Michizo. They sang together two hymns then started their way down the mountain. Father Michizo explained to him the will of God upon the lives of people and the teaching of incarnation, how God humbled himself and became man in order to save humanity. They agreed to discuss further about incarnation another day.
Half way down the mountain, the rain started falling. They had nowhere to hide only their hands to cover their faces from the rain tap. They could not use their bibles as a mini umbrella as some people for they valued their bibles more than their bodies. The rain fell within a short period of time but it was heavy. A few minutes later, the muddy water full of debris from high in the mountain was running between their feet reaching knee high. All small stones could be heard knocking on each other as they moved down to unknown destination. The trees and grass were forced to dance to the tune of the wind accompanying an old friend rain. No more words could be uttered from their mouth only hoping to fly to where the car of Father Michizo was. The birds were all hiding except African pied wagtail which is fond of playing in the rain though the result has been bad sometimes on them but they never learn. Of course, they learned something, one thing only, to change their course when a stone is projected in the direction of flying. Father Michizo and his friend, Kamina they got heavily wet that all the clothes were sticking on their bodies like glue. They continued their way down the mountain being relieved by the beautiful sight of pine forest a far surrounding the Tea Estate dam which was the only source of drinking water around. Near the dam was the car of Father Michizo facing the bridge.
‘We pray the water don’t get too high to blow your car away Father’, said Kamina.
‘Why didn’t you we pray for the rain to stop’, said Father Michizo.
‘I prayed for the rain to start. I planted some cabbage at my farm so I didn’t want to go there to water them today’, said Kamina.
‘I guess you missed the timing for the rain to start then. Hurry up let’s catch some fish sweeping away with the rains at the dam’, said Father Michizo.
‘I heard catching fish at the dam is prohibited. Is a priest trying to steal fish?’, asked Kamina.
Father Michizo looked at him from the head to the toes as if to intimidate him then he smiled. He started walking faster down the mountain and Kamina ran towards him.
When they got at the car, they forgot about catching fish as they were feeling too cold. They put off their shirts and trousers remaining with the boxers only. They squeezed water out their clothes before putting them on again and got into the car and drove away. The road back home was more or the less following the river down. Driving along the river banks crossing the river again and again. As they were about to cross the last bridge along that route, where another small river joined this river from the mountain, Kamina looking closely to the water moving downwards with so much power, he saw a piece of wood moving down. As it was moving towards them, he realized it was a guitar being swept from someone’s house or concert far up the river.
‘Please stop car!’, said Kamina in haste.
‘What has happened? You know a car can’t just stop like that it’s risky. Besides it very slippery on the ground’, Replied the Priest.
‘I saw something looking like a baby in the river’, Kamina lied.
Father Michizo stepped on the brake at once and the car stopped forcing their bodies to move forward then backwards as it was an emergency brake. Kamina quickly opened the door of the car and stepped out simultaneously with Father Michizo. Kamina ran in the direction of the guitar with Father Michizo following behind. He took a stick and hooked it on the guitar lifting it out on the ground. They knelt down to clean all the dirty before taking it into the car.
‘Stinky liar’, said Father Michizo helping Kamina to remove mud on the guitar.
‘I don’t mind as long as I get what I want am okay’, said Kamina cupping the water on the guitar with his palm to remove the last remaining dirt on the guitar. Father Michizo got up walking towards the car. Kamina lifted up his guitar and let it laid on his right shoulder walking Father Michizo to get into the car. They drove away home. Kamina was very excited to have a free guitar though he had no knowledge of playing it.
‘With this guitar, I will win all the girls in this township’, said Kamina. The priest looked at him into his eyes at once then away at where to park his car.
‘What kind of lukewarm Christian are you? Get out of my car!’, said Father Michizo as he turned the car off. Kamina walked home happily on that day.
Two weeks later, Mr Kubwalo sat with his wife under a mango tree malimbe drinking juice his wife had bought for him from the market using the little change from Okra she had bought from her old school friend, Martha. Martha was new into this business as she was known for selling egg plants but her new husband who enjoyed meals with okra planted excess so she had to sell some in the local market. She met Mrs Kubwalo and gave her discount and she used the change to buy some bitter malambe juice, blended with artificial juice, from the shops. It was very hot mid-day near Christmas as it was summertime in the southern hemisphere. Mr Kubwalo sitting on a round chair made from blue gum logs facing the direction of the market to see his wife from a far to her a hand signal to walk faster for he was hungry and thirsty. His phone rang for a second then he heard another ringtone for a new text on the phone. He told Kamina to bring it to him without delay and he gave it to him. He started reading the text but it was like the font was too small for him to read yet he could see all the words clearly only that he could not believe what he was reading. He thought for a minute like it was a scam. His wife put the plastic containing the relish from the market down looking at him signaling him to receive a bottle of malambe juice and asked,’ what kind of message have you received on the phone?’
‘Finally I got a job from this company I applied 2 years ago’, said Kubwalo.
‘Congratulations, thus good news’, said the wife.
‘During the interview the boss said he didn’t like. So, I wonder what the past two years has done to him to change his mind’, said Kubwalo.
‘Dad teach me how to drive when get the car. I believe you will be parking it here’, said Kamina.
‘Oh no too early for favors. As for the parking space..’, replied the wife.
‘I will park it behind the house near the window for security purposes’, interrupted Kubwalo.
‘I will buy a dog to guard the car during the night. I will cause to smoke marijuana so whoever touches the car it should bite’, replied Kamina.
They laugh then Kubwalo feeling so excited jumping up and down his wife calms him down urging him to take a sip of malambe juice she had bought for him and Kamina runs into the house and brought an empty cup and his father pours some juice into the cup.
‘I will start working tomorrow thursday then on Saturday I will be at home. Remind me Saturday afternoon we should have our first trip as a family to the horse farm. Are you ready?’, said Kubwalo.
‘Oh yeah why not! I can’t wait to take pictures with the beautiful racing horse’, said the wife.
‘I will outrun the horse’, said Kamina.
‘We will see. The meeting is over! Let’s get back to work’, said Kubwalo. The wife signals with her hand to Kamina to take the plastic bag inside the house she could start cooking.
Two years passed, three months passed but Kamina was still staying with his parents though everyone in the village had said he was a lucky person and expected him to go far in life, extreme success. The problem with life is very few people can connect the dots to know the trail God has passed so they can follow that path to find Him at the final destination of their lives. This happened to Kamina also. He reached a point where he forgot the prayers he had prayed to God believing the miracle next day. While he aware of the solid juicy answers he got from some of his prayers, there were still some key answers he was waiting God to do something. One day he was sitting on the black leathered sofa watching TV with his cousin Kataliya and he said,
‘Soon I will surprise you with a car’, he paused looking at her trying to read her mind.
‘I think your time is up for you to have a car. Wait for me to finish school then I will buy one for you’, she said, picking up a remote control to change the channel.
‘Seriously you don’t see a miracle coming in my way’, asked Kamina, pulling his back away from the sofa then back again to sit calmly.
‘The odds are almost zero for you right now’, said Kataliya signaling him to pour water in the glass that was in her hand.
‘Am glad you have said this’, he paused to pour water in the glass up to three quarter then he continued, ‘Finally I have found the first person to be ashamed of not believing in this genius’.
She didn’t respond to him but instead she yelled at a small cat scratching on the plasma screen trying to cat some bees which were flying in a video that was been shown on the screen. Kamina walked away to his room and sat down feeling sorry for himself. He pondered for a few minutes on what to do before a final thought came to his mind like a revelation that he should go and pray to a nearby mountain. He stood up and put on a black jacket and his black boots walked out of the house without telling anyone. He boarded a minibus which dropped him close to the entrance of the forest leading to the top of the mountain. He did not delay but to start praying in tongues the moment he jumped out of the bus, walking slowly up the mountain. As he was at the middle of the forest, he got a revelation soon he was to get a dog he prayed for a few years ago. He wanted to go back home but still he encouraged himself to go on and pray for more twelve hours before thinking about going back home.
The top of the mountain was a busy place, it was like a mini non-denominational church building where everyone would go and pray. There he met a elderly man in his seventies who had come to pray alone. His name was Sombito and he narrated his sad story of how floods that came during the night of the day before had swept away his family, house and property and he was the only survivor. He climbed up the mountain just to worship God as he had nothing else to say to God for what happened. He told Kamina the only thing that was left for him a one hectare of cassava he had planted with his family and how he was planning to pay for school fees for the second child from the sales of cassava tubers. Kamina cried hearing the story and he comforted him. They agreed to visit his place where he helped him building a small shade to sleep in. Kamina and Sombito stayed together for two months while helping him taking care of the cassava and eventually selling them. One day they decided to go back to mountain to pray but while there, Kamina received a phone call from Kataliya that his parents had died in an accident while on the way from the horse race stadium and only her had survived. Kamina was so depressed to the point he wanted to throw him down the mountain to die but Sombito reminded him of his story and how he had encouraged him to alive to see the goodness of God. He stayed calm for a while then started sobbing. Sombito helped him to pack all their belongings, lifted him by hand and started their way to Kamina’s house. After all the funeral ceremony was over, Sombito gave about eighty percent of the money from the sales to Kamina to go to town to look for a job and take care of her cousin Kataliya. Then Sombito went back to the mountain then home. Kamina took Kataliya to town and they never communicated with Sombito again as he had no phone.
Two years later Kamina found a job at a local baker as an assistant baker. He was a hard worker and fast learner so that within three months of working he had learned all the baking skills and slightly better than his master. His boss loved him so much. He found a house very close to the shop to cut off transportation costs as the salary he was receiving was very little. He was renting at a two bedroom house with no fence and was bordering with the graveyard in the township. The main door was directly facing some tombs nearby while some people were afraid to stay in that house and felt sorry for him yet he continued to stay there as it was very affordable though his friends used to say it was a ghost house. During the night he could hear screaming voices of people being robbed then sound of the thieves running to hide in the graveyard. This was normal life to him and he could even see the thieves sharing the spoil in the morning around 4 am he when was going to toilet to urinate. Sometimes the thieves themselves would fight on who gets a better item. The thieves terrorizing the city who used to hide in the graveyard knew him but there was no day that they attacked him or Kataliya. He was their neighbor. One day about five thieves went out of the graveyard to steal some items away from the township but due to tight security they could not break the house so instead they just took a small dog from the fence as they were being chased by the security personnels. When they reached the graveyard they sat down discussing to kill the dog or sell it but selling it the price would be very cheap. So the chief thief decided to give the small dog to Kamina who received it with fear in case the owner discovers it but he assured him that they took it very far away. Kamina gave took care of it and it grew into a fierce dog was feared around the area.
A year and half later the same thieves went to a far township where they stole money from one of the houses of three rich people and they expected to find ten million kwacha but instead they found ten million USA dollars and decided to bury it in the graveyard and use it until the matter was forgotten in the media. But as they were burying the money, Kamina’s dog was watching kept in his memory. About 6 months passed after the incident and the thieves set a day that would share the money that it would be the weekend of the following. They decided to go and steal a car which they would remove some spare parts to replace some of the damaged ones in their car. They wanted to go far and spoil themselves but they didn’t want to use the car they had stollen to avoid being caught easily. Three days before the day of sharing money, there was a disagreement among themselves on how the money would be shared. They went to a bar where they started drinking then fighting broke up among them and two of them were shot. The remaining three, two of them were fighting and each one of them pierced a knife in his friend’s chest and fell down and some people took them to the hospital where they died three days later. The remaining thief died on spot after the motorbike, he was riding collided with a truck whose driver was heavily drunk, as he was going to collect the money while his friends were fighting for percentages.
After all the thieves had died and no one even Kamina knew the thieves had buried money in the graveyard about eight months passed. One Tuesday morning, Kamina got dressed to work as usual only to find a letter on the table addressed to him by his manager that the company was not making enough money to pay for all the staff so they decided to retrench some and he was one of them. He felt sorry for himself thinking how he would survive without a job. He walked slowly home thinking what he would do without any money in his pocket. When he got home he sat on the veranda before falling asleep. In the dream he saw himself opening a bakery right in the middle of the township before the dog came and woke him up. He went inside and broke the sad news to Kataliya who cried but Kamina comforted her. Kamina shared the dream to Kataliya who told him not count so much on it as it was just a mere dream. They all slept. In the morning around 4 am, Kamina woke up to go to the outside toilet as usual. When he opened the door, he was the dog coming out of the graveyard dragging a bag towards him. He quickly ran towards the dog and took the bag inside the house. He opened the bag and he was surprised to see money and he woke up Kataliya and both counted the money. It was ten million USA dollars! Kamina took some money to buy food enough for about a week. He didn’t tell anyone about the money except Kataliya. After a week had passed without anyone or media talking about any stolen money, Kamina rented a shop and bought some equipment for bakery. Him and Kataliya opened the bakery and within a month all the money they had spent on buying bakery equipment had been recovered as they were receiving so many orders. They bought some land and built a nice house and a small house for the dog. One day as the dog was playing with a cat on the grass he remembered the prayer he had prayed at the mountain for God to give him a dog and he laughed at himself ‘God knows how to plot destiny.’ Three months later he bought a Jeep and took Kataliya and the dog to visit his friend Sombito to tell him what God had done to him only to hear that Sombito had died of cancer the month before and was shown his tomb. He went on the tomb knelt down, prayed then he narrated the story to the tomb as if the dead Sombito was hearing what he was saying. Afterwards they laid some rose flowers on the tomb and drove away home.
