Once upon a time in a rural community, lived a people known as the Inglo. With the passage of time the community of the Inglo began to grow and thrive as a result of strangers that were gradually migrating and settling there, leading to expansion in commerce which began to open up opportunities for wealth creation.

Among the new settlers that migrated to the community of the Inglo were a people known as the Ruba people. They were from the coastal parts but because of the inaccessibility by road to their settlements in the creeks, commerce there was at a low. Hence, many moved to the urban centers to do business in their search for and expansion of wealth. And the community of the Inglo happened to be one of such urban centers.

The Ruba people were quite enterprising and hardworking, and in no time they began to set up more businesses in the community of the Inglo, even employing the Inglos to work for them. Gradually, the fame of the Ruba people began to spread like wildfire as they were owners of the choicest of properties in the community of the Inglo. Their wealth attracted most of the Inglo women and in no time, the Ruba and the Inglo people began to intermarry.

But there were some among the Inglo people that became uncomfortable with the popularity of the Ruba people. This state of un-comfortability began to birth fear among the Inglo who thought that one day the Ruba people would take possessions of their lands, as they were gradually buying up more lands from the Inglo people and expanding all over their territory.

One morning, some of the set of Inglo people who were jealous of the Ruba people staged an attack against their own folks and then created rumours that it was the handiwork of the Ruba people. This caused an outcry among the unsuspecting Inglo people, and for days there was serious tension in the land. No sooner, some of the youths of Inglo extraction began to attack their Ruba neighbours, causing panic and fear and leading to a mass exodus of the Ruba people from the community of the Inglo.

The leadership of the Inglo people, having been influenced by those who were jealous of the Ruba people, called for a meeting to deliberate on the issue. Hours later, rising from the meeting, a declaration was made that anyone with a Ruba origin should vacate the community of the Inglo in 48 hours. After attempts by the leadership of the Ruba people to appease their neighbours became futile, they caved in and left the community of the Inglo with their properties behind them, some forcefully taken over by the Inglo people.

Days later became weeks and weeks later became months. Then, in the sixth month after the incident, the economy of the community of the Inglo began to dwindle. Commerce was no longer thriving as before. Most of the houses built by the Inglos which were largely rented out to the Ruba people were vacant, starving most of the landlords with funds. Also, market women began to complain that their revenues have sharply dropped because the population in the market has drastically reduced, creating a situation of scanty buyers. The Ruba people were known to have a reputation for heavy patronage because they were rich.

Later, it was also discovered that some of the other strangers in the community of the Inglo who had witnessed the ugly incident began to quietly sell off their properties and lands bought from the Inglo people. With their proceeds, they then relocated to another territory, being afraid that what happened to the Ruba people might one day befall them. Another issue that made matters worse is that most of the Inglo people lacked the enterprising skill that was needed to run most of the businesses abandoned by the Ruba people. Before the incident, the Inglo people have always been fond of accusing the Ruba people of taking away their opportunities for wealth, even stealing their women from them. But now that the resources were in their hands, they couldn't raise a pin.

As the situation began to tumble, the leadership of the Inglo people called for a crucial meeting. There, they regretted their actions and reached a conclusion that the ban placed on the Ruba people should be lifted for them to return back to the community of the Inglo. Emirates were sent to the territories of the Ruba people to pacify them to return to the community of the Inglo and publications were made to that effect. 

But the deed has already been done and most of the Ruba people had moved on with their lives, accepting their fate. Some vowed never to return to the community of the Inglo. The Inglos begged the Ruba people but to no avail. That was how the community of the Inglo that shot to limelight became a pale shadow of itself. And it continued to remain so till this day.

So, what is the morale of the story?

1] That no one is an island; that we all need one another to grow and succeed, just like links in a chain. And so, what affects others has an effect on you too.

2] That you own the land and other natural resources in them is not enough to make you successful; you need to be knowledgeable in ways that will lead to the utilisation of such resources for your benefits. When there are those in your midst who possess such kind of knowledge which you lack, never take such persons for granted.

3] That we don't need to fear strangers or neighbours in our midst, but we should instead encourage them to contribute more to the development of our territory. It is not easy for a stranger to leave his own territory and then resettle in yours to develop it. No local terrain can ever grow in the absence of strangers. 

4] Be careful of your actions and be aware that other people are watching you. You might end up losing friends and helpers.

5] Lastly, that Africans need to rise above nursing unfounded hatred against their fellow Africans and should stop being tribalistic or ethnocentric—the act of seeing one's ethnic group as being superior while others are inferior. Such mental disposition is one reason why the black continent is yet to experience positive transformations despite the abundance of natural resources at her disposal.

May God bless you for reading.

Image: dreamstime | Traditional tribal Kenyan village

#mystorydiscourse