For this weeks Flash!Friday the themes were from the book Cry, the Beloved Country – I chose a pregnant girl and a decaying village as my themes. I tried to incorporate the photo prompt too this week:
View in Village of Adarranu near the Black Volta, 1890s. CC photo. National Archives UK, “Africa Through a Lens” project.
Silent screams
My back aches, the weight of my future hanging heavily in front of me. I stretch out, the clippers hanging limply by my side. It will be any day now. I wish I could protect him for longer, to keep him safe in his cocoon. Instead he’ll hang on my back, exposed to the harsh reality of this world.
There’s nothing for him out here. The ocean is as empty as our bellies, the giant ships dragged their nets until nothing was left. The forest is gone too, cleared for the palm oil plantation that earns billions in profits but pays me pennies a day for my labour. There’s no more water in the well, it was sucked dry by the irrigation. Children lay thirsty in their beds, throats as dry as the summer breeze, yet the trees are well nourished.
I feel no joy, just guilt. My baby will only know hunger, pain and suffering. I was not brave enough to end things before it was too late. Now he will pay the price for my cowardice.
I try to speak up, to right this injustice, but nobody listens. I have no voice, even when I scream.
