Village boy Impressions

Mother Africa, beloved mother  How glorious in bloom you lie,  Beaming in the early morning dew.  Silent, peaceful, enduring, content.  Though some have named you dark,  Ever brightly your dark skin glows!  To others exotic, distant, remote.  Yet to us, there is no place more home  Many have called you wild and untamed.  Yet none is more accommodating.   Quietly you birthed and nurtured a humanity   That turns round to call you ‘discovered’.   Ever your charm, grandeur and enigma.   Are these the joys of your motherhood?  Have You Read:  Village Boy Impressions - Topsy-turvy? From the chalky desert of Egypt, so ancient,   To the frozen peak of Kilimanjaro, so majestic.   From the simmering Nyiragongo, so feisty,    To the Devil’s pool of stupendous Victoria  Rightly did the enchanted Livingstone speak;  You "must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight".  From the colourful salts of the Danakil,  To the Table mountains of Cape Good Hope.  The vast plains, moors and fer

What agony to listen to the news in Ghana  What torment to hear the uneducated literates babble!  Televised news turns food into ash in my mouth.  Prejudiced narratives that only show the north,  As a people most incomprehensible; Skeletal mothers with drooping dry breasts,  Babies strapped with tattered rags to aching backs,  The distended bellies of bony orphans,  The starved faces of scruffy toddlers,  Desperate youth trooping out to survive,  People slaughtered  in senseless wars,  Forests razed to the ground, Poverty, hunger, disease, death.  So has the West defined and cursed Africa: One country, one people, one story And so we do to ourselves now. Have you Read:  Village Boy Impressions - The Joys of Mother Africa   Ghana, are you so gullible? To be so bogged down With such naivety,   Such thoughtless generalizations , Such vulgar labelling, Such single stories; That the whole north is but a village, Is too hot and far away, That ‘northerner’ must be a tribe, Unable to speak for

If you like reading the dictionary, you'd love this aspect of our lesson, but I am sure that even those who don't would still find it useful. It is interesting to read the Buli words and look at the English equivalents. The words presented here are by no means exhaustive, they're only a small sample to whet your appetite. Some of the words are also quite stimulating to the imagination. As for the sound, it is so satisfying.  I am confident you would be entertained and sure that you can add to them and enlarge your Buli vocabulary way beyond what is presented here. Happy reading.  A reader has alerted me that I didn't indicate the vowels when I presented the Buli alphabet. So here they are:                                        a     e     i    o     u  Dr Franz Kröger, the renowned anthropologist and chronicler of all things Bulsa, who is apparently as excited about the Buli Language series as I am myself, sent me a very important document; a few rules of pronunciation

Buli is the language of the Bulsa ethnic group in the Upper East and North East regions of Ghana. The name Bulsa is also spelt in official documents and elsewhere as Builsa but this author and many others believe that spelling to be quite incorrect.    With regards to this series, let me say from the outset that I am not a language expert. This series is not a study of the origin of the language or its syntax or any of all those things that help people to learn a language in detail. In effect, therefore, considering my lack of training in language or linguistics, this endeavour may be described as a headstrong attempt (in the Buli Language;  zupagruk tuima) .    My  zupagruk , however, comes from the motivation that it can be the force that would propel the more qualified ones to come out with the best material that can help us read and write Buli well. This is, therefore, more of a kindergarten introduction to the language.   If you have no background in the language, it may n

COVID-19 tuomu [1] ! COVID-19 tuomu!  COVID 19 tuomu ka to-biok paa  Bu lorima a gaam ngam-buloata meena kama.  Bu wei a pagra ka nna yegayega.  Tuomu de bo ka dunia meena  Bu bo Feliteng, abo nurisobsa teng,  Bu bo sagi, abo mwazuk  Bu bo yening, abo kori  Bu bo guuta, abo viak.  Bu ka bain-ya.  Tuomu de kan chali ngoota, kan chali tuulimoa.  Bu a yig felisa, a yig nurisobsa  Bu ze pagroa alege ka nuwoboa.  Bu a yig ngankpagsa, a yig bisa  Ale buloata meena, bu kan kisi. Bu be ako ka dila me Poom ka nipok nisom ale nidoa nisom Ale bai ale ngaam ta tueta ti chaab la Ni te ti ti mwasi chali along corona virusiwa Ale bu ka tiimoa, bu ka garipen ya Tuomu de ka jambaleetieng! COVID-19 tuomu a leeli ka nna A se wonkarik bulim la. A nye ti fu a chesim, a koasi, fi zuk kasim adom Fi nying ka atoling nna yegyega. Alege bu yig nurba gela me kama Ate dila diidii kan nye ba Ba nying a kan nye 'fiin' me la. Ate badek poom ze ayen ba ta tuomu Ate ba yaa ta nyee

Stay calm and keep betting  Weekdays, weekends?  What are the odds?  Street soccer in Czechoslovakia, let’s bet  Jungle football in the Congo, let’s bet  Frigid futbol in Siberia, let’s bet!  Kunfu soccer in Shanghai, let’s bet!  Men’s sports, women’s sports  Children’s sports, adults’ sports  Anything sports, let’s bet!  Youth idleness?  No worries! No jobs? Pas de problème. Just bet and bet some more  Behold our doom!  Read:  Village Boy Impressions - Topsy Turvy The storm sweeps through our land Every block in every city Every street in every town Every shed in every village Betting, betting, betting! We are ravaged by day Haunted at night Beguiled in our leisure and Interrupted at our duty. Our flesh is unwilling, but worse Our very souls are infatuated Half-eaten by the cancerous worm Read:  Village Boy Impressions - Walking Backwards Bet this, bet that, bet here, bet there! Have we not obeyed your command? What more do you

Common Sense is Dead! Today we mourn the passing of an old friend and mother, Common Sense, who has been our teacher and caretaker for many years. For years we had heard of the deaths of her namesakes in Europe and North America but we did not realise that the end of our own beloved Common Sense was near. Like her namesakes who passed before her, no one knows for sure how old she was, since her birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. Affectionately known to many as Sound Thinking, Good Faith, Rational Thought,  and  Moral Fortitude,  she selflessly devoted herself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without fuss, fanfare, or drama. But alas! Never again will logic and good conscience grace our presence. She was a most loving mother, and will be remembered as having taught us such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain, The early bird gets the worm,  Life isn't always