Mto - The river
Somehow the river has become important, at least for me. There I could let off steam, give free rein to my thoughts. Because in the loneliness, as where everyone is turned back on himself, there it shows what he has in himself: there the drip in the purple sighs under the irremovable burden of his miserable individuality; while the highly gifted populates and animates the most desolate environment with his thoughts. In the plant are children, they become attentive, would like to know where I go. It is already noticeable, I go away every day, in the morning, then come back at noon. "Where are you going?" they ask me. "I go to the river," I answer. It didn't take long, just a few days, on weekends, they all went. The mothers are happy, finally they can relax a little. Only I have a problem, I have to watch out and it's not easy, who can watch out for some wild creatures, direct them? And me without experience! Off we go. Five children, two boys and three girls. One girl belongs to the Divine, the other girl is her granddaughter. We go the way we already know. Past the first church. The children see me again, leave everything, run out of the church, surround me, greet me. I shake hands with them all. We continue walking. A child finds a dead snake, that causes excitement! Of course, what else. The children don't walk along the path, they climb up the slope, jump down. It is a wild clamor. Some run ahead, others sneak behind. The big girl soon has enough. "How much farther is it?" she asks. "Not far." I've completely forgotten that I'm a mzungu, used to walking. After a few steps, she asks the same question. "We'll be there soon," I reply. And ask a stupid question, "Why?" "I can't go on," she answers with a sour face. "I am out of blood!" I laughed then. "So young and already out of blood!" The boys laugh at her. Finally, she moves on. The little girl is tired, I have to carry her. Smiling or even grinning, she sits on my shoulders. We reach the river, everyone is thrilled! I can say what I want, no one listens to me. The big girl gives the orders, the children follow her. With me they have absorbent cotton in their ears. They romp around, I can only try to avoid the worst, but that is not tolerated by the big girl. "We can take care of ourselves, we don't need you" She is upset and yells at me. I have to be careful that nothing happens. The river, or stream, is not deep, but the current is strong. If a child falls in there, it looks bad. Everyone stomps around in the water. I can only say : "Don't go there, it's slippery.... There's mud all over the place..." Whatever I say, nobody listens to me. They are all wet, their feet full of mud. They have to clean themselves first. "We're going home now," the tall one orders. We start walking home. "You guys are tired?," I ask. Of course, everyone is ko. "I know a shortcut, it's a shorter walk. Shall we go that one?" All are in favor. It's a slightly different path, we go a different way. A boy starts to cry. "What's wrong?" I ask him. He tells me something, don't understand it,need an interpreter, the big one has to help, she is in charge. "He says he wants to go home." "We are going home." "This is not the way!" How right he is. "Trust me, this way leads back, it's just shorter, we'll get back faster." Finally he stops crying. We keep walking. Nobody believes me that this way really leads back. But they do go, pants full, not daring to turn around to go the long way. I have to carry the little one, she is heavy and I am weak! I sweat, I run out of air, but she doesn't go, I can do what I want.
I wonder what the children learn at school. Somehow it seems strange to me. When I look at the children, at what is happening, I can only say that something is not quite as it should be. For a long time now, in the eyes of the parents and the children, the school has been nothing more than a machine for producing certificates, that is, positions. Maybe that's the problem. I also learned that the schools in Kenya seem to be run by a wide variety of churches. If that is true, then the church has suzerainty over education. Is that desirable? I can't imagine it is. The education of the young was more of a headache for him (Napoleon). Although he wanted to give religion a place, he did not think of leaving schooling to the churches, it was essential to form not believers but subjects, not theologians but people of the time. (Napoleon)
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