The tale of Achol and her insatiable gullibility to please others
By Kuach Loch Garang, Calgary, Canada
March 24, 2018 (SSB) — When I was young ,we always sat around the campfire at evening hours to warm up before we head to the bed! Campfire was not just for a physical warm up only but was a very important time where elders pass down life stories to their children and grandchildren. These stories were and meant a lot to kids like myself because most of them carry a lot of educational and principles in real life. One of the stories that I kept in my mind up to date was about an artistic woman named Achol.
Achol was a very hard working young lady and has a handy thumps in building huts! As many young women of her time, she built a very beautiful hut and her house was at the roadside! Her hut was beautiful, eye catching and so it was admired by many travelers.
To admiration of many passers by,lots of people would stop by and compliment her for building such a magnificent hut!
Unfortunately, Achol was distracted from her plan of building just a nice shelter for her family and so she went on to make unthinkable idea in order to get more praises from strangers. Because of too many compliments she received, she thought she should make a little bit of decoration to make her hut looks more beautiful than its.Therefore, she went on and light a torch with very glowing flames and tried to decorate the hut.However, the hut caught the fire and burnt it down to the ash.
As many of you know that building such a huge and beautiful hut takes a lot of labor and hard work to make it stand tall.Unfortunately, Achol was deceived and so she lost the contact with reality and thought these strangers were better than her people who contributed in making this beautiful building-hut stands tall.She doubt her experience and skills that made this beautiful hut loved by strangers and she made a regrettable mistake that destroyed her legacy and the legacy of her community members who helped her with the hut.
Remember, when this kind of hut is built, it is done by a collective society where many people take part in it. For instance, men,design a foundation, cut the log that support a hut to stand tall and strong.they also build the foundation with clay.Boys bring a clay to the old men-the designers because of their physical fitness,power and light feet.
The Women bring grass, bring water,make ropes and finish the roof by thatching the grass to the logs at the top of the roof. Therefore, the labor which make this beautiful hut was not only of Achol but many members of her society had a big share in it.
Unfortunately, Achol thoughts and conscience were all affected by the compliments she got from strangers. As a result, sometimes when someone is praising you for doing your job, you should thank him/her and think twice! Was it a normal compliments or it is meant to distract your plan?
Achol destroyed her hut and these strangers disappeared and no single person comes back to console her for losing her valuable, important achievement, and legacy because of listening and trusting strangers too much.
Comparing Achol’s story of beautiful hut with the most African liberation heroes and heroines who turn dictators postcolonialism, you can find some common and similarities in them.
Kuach Loch Garang Deng is a South Sudanese Canadian citizen who lives in Calgary, Canada. he can be reached at lochdit2002@yahoo.ca
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