Once Upon a Time in Beautiful Meritah

Meritah Wisdom greets you all and welcomes you to its first story. Herein, Meritah Wisdom captures its first story, which has been best stated in a poem, in the words of Nana Musamaali Nangoli, in a book he published in 2001, titled; “No more Lies about Africa.” Through this poem, we invite you, our readers, to give yourselves a chance to know our mother Land, from the perspective of her Indigenous ways of being and of knowing. Below, the poem reads:

 

Once Upon a Time in Africa

We paid no taxes;

There was no crime;

There was no police;

There was no inflation;

There was no unemployment;

There was no AIDS; There was no poverty;

There was no famine;

There was no corruption;

There was no debt crisis,

There was no prostitution;

Men didn’t beat or divorce their wives;

Then the white man came to improve things!

 

With this poem, introducing us to our first story for Meritah Wisdom, we will prefer to let you our readers sit with this thought, reflect on it, and allow yourselves ask honest questions. For these questions will lead us on the path of our journey. We will have the opportunities to address these questions and more as we proceed on this path. To you all, we say Duau - Obekha - thank you.

---