Aight...so when I woke up from my daydream I looked around and noticed that I was no longer walking up familiarity...the row houses of Philadelphia were gone...the small blocks of Philly were gone...the cars blasting that summertime anthem signifying that the hot season has arrived...gone...the electrical poles that we used to hang crates on to play basketball were gone...instead the scene was replaced with black boys playing soccer on a patchy dirt and grass field...the goalposts were constructed with three big tree branches without a net...so every time a team would score or the ball went out of bounds...you would see someone run into the bushes to retrieve the ball and throw it back...the row houses I was use to seeing were replaced with small mud huts with roofs made from tree branches and straw...instead of walking down paved blocks...I found myself walking up dirt paths...
As I was walking in the middle of the path I almost tripped over something running past my feet...in one complete motion I stopped put my hands on my sides lend back a little bit with a confused look on my face and slowly said to myself shaking my head "wut tha fuc..." as I looked down I noticed a rooster chasing a hen...after a quick few seconds, the rooster eventually caught the hen from behind...planted its seed...if you know what I mean... and went on about its business...so I shrugged my shoulders confused about the whole situation and went on about my business...I laughed a little bit and thought to myself "damn, is that what you gotta do?" but before I could process that whole encounter...I was interrupted by little black boy...as I was looking at him I seen a reflection of myself from when I was 10...but he was doing something I never would've been doing at 10 years old...he had a switch in his hand whipping a herd cattle attached to a wooden cart carrying bundles of something...but before I could process that...two dirty little pigs with their dirty little piglets scrolled nonchalantly across the path sniffing the ground searching for food...but before I could process that...I saw a mama goat tied up by one leg to a tree while the baby goat roamed freely eating from the same patch of grass its mother was eating from...I also show a duck with its squad cooly waddle pass me and shit on its way to drink from the small puddles of muddy waters...but before I could process all that...I saw a man in the distance who kinda resembled my father pushing a bike...the first thing I noticed was that he didn't have on any socks or shoes...with a perplexed look on my face I looked back at the soccer field and saw that the boys playing football weren't wearing any socks or shoes either...and than I also realized that the kid maneuvering the cart didn't have on any socks or shoes...anyway...the man pushing the bike was wearing a brown baseball hat...he had on a pair of blue trousers, a long collared shirt with stripes that hung out below the sky blue jacket he was wearing...as he walked pass me struggling to keep the bike balanced with large bags of potatoes and baskets of greens...I saw two chickens tied together by the legs to each handlebar...and I thought to myself again "what tha fuc, why does he have two chickens tied to his bike?"
So with that thought...I kept moving up the path as the sun was beginning to clock out and call it a day...I saw in the horizon the most calming and relaxing picture...in this picture was the perfect sunset... creeping beyond the mountains in the near distant was a mixture of blue clouds mixed with golden sun rays that blended in with a pinch of darkness turning the sky orange that sat like a fire in your eyes...as that scene engulfed me for a second I was smacked in the face by a cool breeze that sent a chill throughout my whole body...I was even more surprised that I was beginning to feel cold and that I was shivering...for those of you who don't think it gets cold in Africa...you are sadly mistaken...luckily I had my one green hoodie in my backpack...I took it out threw it on and felt a little relief from the African wind...
As I continued moving up the path feeling tired and hungry...I took a drink of water from the bottle attached to my book bag and looked at my watch which read 5 o'clock...as the sun was closing the door to its house, it was beginning to get dark...but not too dark...with the help of the blue moon hiding behind the silver clouds I could just barely read the sign up ahead, which read "WELCOME TO MALAWI" on the top...and underneath that it spelled out "TAKULANDIRANI" which means we welcome you...
Until next time...stay blessed...
h.k. beverly
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