The Land of My Birth

Book excerpt: Mboha as a people desired change to escape the drudgery that characterised their village lifestyle. The Land of My Birth followed how Ozurumba and his family pursued their dream of modernity. Acquiring basic education and migrating to the cities gave them the opportunity to channel and hasten civilisation to their rural community. New technologies made available to the rural folks were readily assimilated. Each experience reaffirmed their growing belief that science and technology held a better promise. In the face of worsening unemployment, a growing number of city dwellers did whatever they could to survive or devised the quickest means of amassing wealth. Moneymaking by all means and at all cost became an obsession for those who wanted whatever was in vogue cars, houses, chieftaincy titles, etc. The ever recurrent conflicts in different parts of the country remained a difficult challenge. It led to a civil war in which millions of lives and properties were lost. Memory of the hunger that tortured their people and the gruesome kwashiorkor it afflicted on them continued to traumatise them. Unfortunately, the killings that led to the war continued, making them wonder if the end to their misery was still far from sight.