Aburi---SOS

Aburi was on all the lips
across the land.
Hope and excitement were in the air.
Adults talked about the meeting
The children picked up bits and pieces
Of the excited chatter and debate
Over the Aburi meeting in Ghana.

Ghana, a good neighbor, weighing in
to help restore sanity and peace and
provide a safe heaven for a meeting
where no life would be regarded as worthless
and maybe wasted as thousands had been.

Following months, weeks, and days of strife
And severe blood letting, one last chance
To get it right, and put things back together, and
Forget the past and just move on as a nation.

New outlook, new attitudes, no more bloodshed
Was the hope of all.
Aburi, Aburi, hung over the air waves,
those few days of the Aburi peace talks.
The young people echoed the adults.
Aburi, and there would be peace.
Life would go on,
Violence would be gone
Strife all gone
At last.

They came home, the peacemakers
The Aburi accord was out for all takers.
They had done a fine job.
That soothing voice over the airwaves
Giving the report to his people.

It was in the air
Quite nice and fair
From what the adults said.
With this accord in place
None will have to face
Such horror and terror again.

Such awful things had happened
Unlawful, but still in place.
Happened here and there
With no consequences to face
By the culprits,
In mob action.

Aburi was in the air
Really nice and fair
There was jubilation
And lots of congratulations
From the bit I remember.
We were in the streets chanting
"On my honor as an Easterner,
On Aburi we stand"

Throngs of people matching
With arms in the air, chanting.
Had no clue what was happening
But match and chant we did,
School children sweating in the sun
Having lots of fun
Declaring
" On Aburi we stand"
Stumping the ground.
Anything to get out of class
And run around town, raising dust
" On my honor----
On Aburi we stand"

On Aburi we stood for many days
And weeks.
We stood on Aburi around the clock
Singing it every chance we got
By the chapel, students would flock
To take off a stumping to town
Shouting with a frown
" On Aburi we stand"

Then one last flocking to chapel
Parents were arriving
Teachers were crying
Missionary teachers devastated
Things looked complicated.

"Go home
There is war."


Flurry of activities
Students leaving hurriedly
Goodbyes said so hurriedly
Quick waves, uncertainty.
Roads crowded with cars.
End of school, so abruptly.

Who would have known
What was in store.
Who would have known
Friends never seen again
Songs never heard again
Innocence stolen forever
From children.
Lives destroyed.
Hopes and dreams lost forever.
A good life for ever cast away
Never to return.

Even forty years after the fact
Life is far removed from track
For a nation, once so blessed,
Marching forward, full of hope
And promise. Marching boldly
Alongside the rest of the world.
Who would have believed.

Today
Hope is alive
Faith must thrive
As a nation arrives
At a crossroad.
Bursting at the seams
with people it seems,
The time is ripe
To shed the stripes
And do the right thing-

Stand on something
" On no corruption"
"On healthy competition"
With the rest of the world.

Stand on something
" On good health care"
"On quality education"
" On hard work-
Farm work, road work
Homework, schoolwork"
Whatever it takes
to have a job.

Stand on something
to bring the country back to life.
" Honesty and fairness"
Stand on something.
Yes, it is time to stand on something.

Updated,
Even Aburi will do.
Thank God!

Chinwe Enemchukwu
August 19 2011