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LOOK AT A MAP
Kajubi
Look at a
map;
You will
perceive a beautiful country
with
rivers of fishes,
many
valleys suitable for grain,
lakes
overflowing with milk and honey,
mountains
of good black soil
a few
minerals,
yearning
for full utilization:
Seventeen
million people....
You look
at the map;
You will
not see the splendour of my country,
seventeen
million souls
on this
vast area of land,
the world
calling them wretched.
And I
here,
a chosen
son of the land,
a son my
people chose to confide in,
and give
the last handful of grain,
from the
barn,
so that
strength may be given me
and I be
able to undertake
the long,
cumbersome safari
to fetch
food for my people,
I am here
being
loaded
with food
that is inedible
to my
people.
And my
people
wait for
me with high anxiety,
giving me
an appealing stare,
but I,
heavy
volumes intoxicating my head,
I
learning
bourgeois economics,
learning
the geography of alien lands
without
being taught
how I can
use it
in the
reality of my people and country,
learning
history,
craming
dates and events without analysis,
learning
political education
so that I
may not follow any ideologies
begot not
at Arusha
Learning
science
on the
basis of pure theory,
and they,
my people,
those
wretched who made the sacred contribution,
wait for
me
in the
blindness of their ignorance,
and I
here
wait for
certificates and degrees
so that I
may go
to sign
vouchers,
to sign
heaps of papers,
or to
stand on stages
and
encourage my people
to
continuously send their children to school.
INTRODUCTION
This is a poem by Kajubi that is based principally
upon Nyererian philosophy of education “Education for Self Reliance”. Nyerere
believed that those who receive the privilege of being educated have the duty
to pay the sacrifice which others have made. They are like a man who has been
given all the food in a starving village in order that he might have the
strength to bring back the supplies from a distant place. If he takes his food
and does not bring back help to his brothers, he is a traitor.
Similarly, if any of the young men and women who
are given education by the people of the Republic of Tanzania adopt attitudes
of superiority or fail to use their knowledge to help development of this
country then they have betrayed our union. The persona is not a traitor but the
food he brought is inedible (irrelevant education) to his people.
THEMATIC
ANALYSIS
IRRELEVANCE
OF WESTERN EDUCATION.
Education is believed to be the key for success and
development. But if that education does not help to solve the problems in the
society of its recipients then it becomes a lock of life. Immediately after
independence, the nation organised the few resources we had to finance the
education of few people who would later help the country to bring about
development for the benefit of the majority. That is not what it turned out to
be. Western education did not match to the immediate problems of our nation
since it was irrelevant as it was based on mere theories, history and geography
of the white people. Western Education trained people for white-collar jobs.
The persona says
I am
here/ being loaded/ with food that is inedible/ to my people.
He then shows that the kind of education he
received was western-based; studying bourgeois economics, learning the
geography of alien lands, learning history, cramming dates and events without
analysis, learning political education that could not be translated into the
context of Tanzanian needs. He says:
without being taught
how I can use it
in the
reality of my people and country
DISAPPOINTMENT/DISILLUSION
Many citizens after the attainment of independence
had great hopes and expectations from the educated elites who used the national
resources to get education that would later help them to get development. The
fact is the country that was once beautiful with hopes for success, blessed
with natural resources like rivers of fishes, valleys suitable for grain, lakes
overflowing with milk and honey, mountains of good black soil and minerals is
no longer beautiful as it was thought to be.
The persona is disappointed because as he says in
stanza 2 if you look at a map you will not see the splendour (beauty) of my
country. People waited with anxiety for the educated ones to come back and
liberate them in all walks of life. Unfortunately enough the educated ones were
trained for white collar jobs like, signing vouchers, papers, and standing on
stage to encourage people to send their children to school. This is
disappointment.
PRIDE AND
PATRIOTISM
The persona is proud of his country as it is
blessed with all sorts of opportunities that promise for a brighter future. He
asks people to look at a map and they will be able to identify one beautiful
country. He is proud to be a citizen of this country that is blessed with
rivers and lakes for fishing, valleys and mountains for agriculture, and
minerals for economic development. He says:
Look at a map;
You will perceive a beautiful country
with rivers of fishes,
many valleys suitable for grain,
lakes overflowing with milk and honey,
mountains of good black soil
a few minerals,
yearning for full utilization:
BUILDING
THE FUTURE
There were some efforts taken by the newly
independent nation to build a better future for the people. Struggles were made
to send few people to school who would later make policies and implement them
to improve the nation’s living condition in all walks of life. The persona
says;
And I here,
a chosen son of the land,
a son my people chose to confide in,
and give the last handful of grain,
*********
To fetch food for my people.
However the plan did not succeed as expected
because the kind of education given to these chosen few was irrelevant to
Tanzanian context. Educated people with certificates and degrees were given the
kind of education that prepared them for working in the office doing paper
works instead of solving problems in the rural communities. This was education
for alienation and not education for liberation.
AWARENESS
The persona is aware of the fact that western
education is irrelevant to Tanzanian problems. He is also aware that the
recipients of western education were given the education that alienated them
from their communities and went to work in offices most of which are located in
towns. What they ended up doing was just paying lip service to their
communities encouraging them to send their children to school to learn the same
irrelevant education.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
1. Comment
on the language use.
The language used is simple straightforward and easy to understand. The
choice of vocabularies like rivers of fishes, valleys, minerals and lakes show
the natural resources; words like bourgeois economics, geography, history,
political education show the irrelevance of western education.
There is also the use of figures of speeches like;
a) Metaphor
Ø Blindness
of their ignorance (ignorance
is compared to blindness)
b) Personification
Ø A
few minerals yearning for full utilization (minerals cannot yearn)
Ø The
world calling them wretched (the
world cannot call)
c) Hyperbole
Ø Lakes
overflowing with milk and honey. (lakes cannot flow with milk and honey)
d) Synecdoche
Ø Seventeen
million souls
(souls here represent
people)
e) Symbolism
Ø Food-
knowledge
Ø Milk
and honey-opportunities for success
Ø Suitable
for grain –agriculture.
f) Parallelism
to sign vouchers,
to sign heaps of papers,
or to stand on stages
and encourage my people
g) Allusion
Ø Lakes
overflowing with milk and honey (from a biblical story of the land of Canaan)
h) Alliteration
Ø to
fetch food for my people
Ø or
to stand on stages
i) Barbarism
Ø the
long, cumbersome safari (a Swahili word which means journey)
j) anaphora
to sign vouchers,
to sign heaps of papers,
learning bourgeois economics,
learning the geography of alien lands
2. Who
is the persona in this poem? How do you know?
The persona is an educated person who is aware of the irrelevance of
western education. This is proved in stanza three where he says “and I here/wait for certificates and degrees
so that i may go to sign vouchers”
3. What
is the tone and mood of the poem?
The tone of the poem is happy at the beginning but later it changes into
a disappointed tone. The persona is disappointed and this creates a
disappointed mood to the readers.
4. What
kind of the poem is this?
It is a modern/free verse poem but specifically it is a Descriptive
poem as it describes the beauty of the country and the nature of
Western Education.
5. Comment
on the structure of the poem.
The poem is made up of three stanzas of unequal number and uneven length
of lines.
Stanza one has 9 verses, stanza two has 18 verses and stanza three has
30 verses.
6.
In
stanza one the poet says “look at a map you will perceive a beautiful
country” later in stanza two he says “you look at a map you will not
see the splendour (beauty) of my country” why is there this immediate
change of opinion?
The resources of the country mentioned in the first stanza made the
persona happy and optimistic for a better future. But those resources have not
been able to solve the problems of the masses so they are benefiting only the few
chosen one who acquired western education and the masses have nothing for which
to be proud of. As a result they no longer see the beauty of their country.
MESSAGES
Ø
There
should be proper utilization of natural resources for the benefit of all
citizens.
Ø
We
should adopt education system that is relevant to our context/ environment
Ø
Educated
people should use their education for the benefit of the society at large.
Ø
Leaders
ought to create hopes to those they lead.
RELEVANCE
The poem is relevant in a number of ways;
Ø
Western
education is in most cases irrelevant to our societal problems.
Ø
National
resources are exploited by the minority while the majority have nothing to
share.
Ø
People
are disappointed by the promises of independence.
Ø
There
are educated people who don’t go back to their rural communities to solve the
problems, but they remain in their offices signing papers
EmoticonEmoticon