The metarmophosis

I grew up in a rustic and simple community which was surrounded with bushes.As a child,I lived in a hut built with thatches with my parents and siblings, and likewise every member of my community.I remembered when snakes and scorpion would enter our hut, but never bit anyone, those animals were common in my community as a result of the thick bushes and water that surrounded us.My siblings and I would see millipede inside our clothes, sometimes,we sought for grasshoppers in the bushes .There was no toy in my community but sticks was used in place of that and empty can was used as ball. children in my community played a game called hide and seek every night where the boys searched for the girls, the game was a form of entertainment to the elders.The professions in my community were farming, hunting and fishing and for the men only.My community believed that man and woman were different being.Men's duty was to provide for the family while the women's would bear children.The boys and girls duty in the family was also stated, the former will assist their father at work while the latter would cook. Each family had a canoe and a hook and line for fishing.During rainy seasons,my brothers and I would take my father's canoe with hook,line and many worms and go for fishing. Worm was the best bait for catching fish.My father was a good hunter who came home with antelope and my mom would roast it for everyone to eat.Mothers in my community gave birth to many children,the least was seven.There was no hospital neither nurse in my community,our mothers got pregnant without their knowledge and delivered successfully by

themselves.Whenever I fell sick as a child, my parents plucked and boiled leaves for me to chew and drink because there was no medicine by that time, parents gave herbs to their children based on what they were taught by their own parents.There was nothing like school in my community,our parents told us oral stories that had moral at the end.Our elders taught us about honesty and humility,they admonished to possess those qualities in order to be successful in life.Telling lies and pride was regarded as an abomination in my community, any defaulter of the above law would be punished and the obedient ones were commended.Trekking was the only means of transportation for humans and wheel barrow was used to convey goods from one place to another because there was no vehicle.Information was spread accross through the Town crier because there was no existence of electronic communication devices.Stream was the only source of water for all purpose including drinking.My forefathers died when they were old, no premature death was ever recorded in my community despite the kind of life we lived and the dead were buried under the sand because there was no coffin.My mother cook food by using firewood because there was no modern appliances for cooking.Every father practiced small scale farming with crude tools,our soil was very fertile as whatever we sowed would flourish and bring bountiful fruits. Charcoal was used for writing on walls.Tribal mark was used to identify my community from other community .Urinating and defecating was done in the bush because there was no flush toilets.Children took their bath outside while the adults erected a small place beside their hut with branches of coconut tree which was used as bathroom. .There was no rich nor poor in my community because we had everything in common.My ancestors and forefathers were idol worshippers and we took the baton,we took our religion very serious and we were happy with it. Whenever I saw something in the sky,I would call my friends to come and see a big bird in the sky.My community lived happily before the tremendous change.The change started with the construction of a company by a group of white men,my friends and I would sit and watch with fear as they operated machines that we had never seen before but we never came close to them because they were whites and we were blacks.The whitemen could not communicate with my community because of language barrier-we didn't understand their English while the whitemen never understood our local dialect and that challenge brought an interpreter between us.The whitemen promised to turn our old lifestyle to a sophisticated one which my community understood through the help of the interpreter.Our traditional houses was changed to modern houses where we had different rooms such as living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, dinning room toilet.Electriciry was provided,there were toys for our children to play with.The whitemen built schools for my community,for the very first time in my community, young adults wore uniform and school bags to school where we were taught how to read and write by the well trained teachers.Our parents were empowered with skills like hairdressing, tailoring,catering and so on and were also taught how to read and write.Hositals and family planning was introduced to my community,the men and women were oriented about famiily.Good and tarred road was built, vehicles were brought in.We were stopped from drinking stream water and a good and portable sachet water was provided.Our idols were destroyed and Christianity was introduced to us.Churches was built and we were admonished to serve our creator-God and not to serve a non- living thing.My community stopped using firewood to cook and stopped wearing palmfrond.We were introduced to sneakers,suits, shirts,trousers,hoodies and many more.Superstitious belief was erased from our heart and we embraced the complex and sophisticated culture of the whites.We were taught that man and woman are equal and whatever one gender can do,the other can do more better Women and men were told to work and provide for the sustenance of their families. Both men and women were taught how to make use of gas cooker.Every one was given a mobile phone and how to operate it. My community became a computer village and every one was a computer literate.Life became easier and faster with all those modernity and civilization that took place in my community.My community produced a generation of nurses, engineers,drivers and commercial farmers. I became a lecturer in the biggest University in my community and I taught history, but no day passed by that I would not tell my undergraduate about the history and metarmophosis of my community.