A poem that my new Country Director posted in our newsletter

Rite of Passage

- by Maladoma Some

I had a date in the bush with all the gods; so I went.

I had a date in the bush with all the trees, so I went.

I had a date in the mountain with the Kontombe.

I went because I had to go.

I had to go away to learn how to know.

I had to go away to learn how to grow.

I had to go away to learn how to stay here.

So I went and knocked on doors locked to me.

I craved to enter.

Oh, little did I know.

The doors did not lead outside. It was all in me.

I was the room and the door.

It was all in me.

I just had to remember.

And I learned that I lived always and everywhere. I learned that I know everything, only I had

forgotten.

I learned that I grew. Only I overlooked things.

Now I am back remembering.

I want to be what I know I am, and take the road we always forgot to take.

Because I heard the smell of the things forgotten and my belly was touched.

That’s why I had a date with the bush.

That’s why I had a date with the hill.

That’s why I had a date with the world under.

Now, father, I’ll take you home.

I am back