DIAMONDS IN THE MUD: the story will drag you to a new world

“You keep betting and losing, yet you won’t stop. See, the bones around your cheeks are showing ‘jenkpi kaato’”, Shams Taunted. “Hahahahaha you dey laugh at my ‘janqui’, my cheek bones are more attractive than yours, your beardless face like a female mango, ‘zoomo kaato’  ”, Saad teased.  They laughed heartily   and hugged each other.

Saad and Shams are very good friends who grew up in a slum. Saad is an orphan who lost both parents when he was young, and Shams is the product of a broken home. They had a tough life growing up, but they have stuck together as friends.  Saad has engaged in sports betting for four years now. His friend, Shams has tried to advise him against the habit, but he doesn’t listen.  Saad always promised his friend that the day he won 1,000 Ghana Cedis, he would stop and use the money to start a new life. Shams is gifted with the talent of writing poems and performing them, but his community doesn’t appreciate his talent. Even though he is very intelligent and gentle, he sometimes feels compelled to steal so as to feed himself and his little brother, Saad.

Saad is addicted to watching football. His addiction is as a result of his constant participation in sports betting.  Even though Shams is more like a brother to him than friend, he has other friends he constantly goes out with, friends with whom he engages in gambling.    All of these  friends are school drop-outs; and all they do together is argue and fight over football and bets.

One early morning when the sun was bright and shinning, Saad showed up at the betting center holding his last coins. Shams had given him that money the previous evening, begging him to spend it only on food. He had nodded happily, promising to buy food with the money.  But he thought to himself, “if I use this little money to bet and I am lucky enough to win, I will get money worth more than this and I can feed myself and my brother. Then I will be respected and loved by ‘boys boys’".

As soon as he entered the betting center, he saw two school boys in their school uniforms. He shouted at them, “Hey you!  Are you not supposed to be in school?  This place is not for children.” The school boys laughed at him, “Look at you this good-for-nothing adult with a face as hard as a rock. Are you not here for the same reason as we?” The air was filled with an uproar of laughter. Saad felt embarrassed. He murmured to himself, “How can a child who looks like he’s 12 treat me this way?” He was about to hit them when a woman suddenly shouted, “is this the school I paid fees for you to attend?!” The school children started trembling. She grabbed them by the ears and warned all the people there never to entertain her children. They laughed at her and one of them said angrily, “We didn’t force them, they came by themselves. What do I care if little boys want to squander their money?””

The woman pulled the boys out of the betting Center. She screamed with anger and agony “Do you know how I suffer to pay your expensive school fees all by myself? Do you know how I managed to get you money this morning? Do you have any idea what I am going through? Your friends are in the classroom learning, but look at you...”  She knocked them on the forehead.  A woman who  sold Burkina in front of the betting center run towards the boys’ mother and gave her a long cane.  “I have always been worried about these kids. They are always here in their school uniforms. I have warned them several times but they won’t listen. Amarya discipline your children before it’s too late”. She yanked the stick from the Burkina Seller’s hand and started whipping them on the back. People gathered there to watch the scene, others went by unconcerned. Saad went to the children’s rescue.  He begged their mother to stop beating them. After much begging, she relented and dragged the boys to school while they wept and wailed.  Saad smiled at the scene and said to himself, “At least, you have a mother who is willing to take care of you.” He remembered his parents and felt sad. He missed them. He quickly pulled himself together and walked back to  the betting center to bet with his last money.   

Saad left the betting center two hours later. His stomach had started grumbling due to hunger. He needed food and decided to go to his friends. When he got there, they were involved in a heated argument. After gambling for many years, they had finally gotten lucky that day. Kudus had won 200 Ghana cedis and he refused to share the money with his friends. Kudus always recorded every amount of money he spent on sports betting. He  brought out the record book. He started flipping through “I have spent 2,736 Ghana cedis over the years. And this is the result, just 200 Ghana.” He paused, looking hurt and disappointed. “My father disowned me because I was not punctual at school but rather spent all my time with you guys watching football and gambling. And you guys are here jubilating over common 200 Ghana. Don’t you realize we have wasted our time and our lives?”  “Massa Massa, bring the money make we chop” Saad interrupted. Kudus said “okay, I will share the money with you.” He slowly walked away from the other boys,  dropped two 1 cedi notes and took to his heels. The move was so unexpected that his friends were caught unawares; they couldn’t even chase him because he was far away by the time they realized what was happening.  They started fighting over the one cedi notes. Saad gave up. He realized it was pointless fighting with nine hungry and desperate boys over two Ghana cedis.  He left and walked home on an empty stomach.  

Shams wasn’t home when he arrived. He took a pen and paper and drew a nice picture of a hungry-looking boy holding an empty big bowl. Exhausted and hungry, he fell asleep on the mat in their little room.

“How did you get this delicious food?” Saad asked Shams as he ground the meat in his mouth, making sounds that showed he couldn’t wait to swallow. “Massa, concentrate on your food. If I tell you right now, you will start going there every day to beg for food”.  Saad quickly put the last morsel into his mouth and rushed out as if he was being chased by the police.  “I can’t miss the match between Barcelona and Liverpool.” he said. “Wait! Wait! Wait! I need to discuss…” before Shams could finish talking, he  could only see Saad’s head far away, walking briskly.

Shams sat on the mat they both slept on, recalling memories of how they struggled together. He alternated between smiling and crying.  He regarded Saad as his younger brother. It hurt him that Saad dropped out of school 4 years ago;  he could not finish SHS. However, Shams managed to complete SHS with an average result. He wished he could afford to go to the university, and convince his brother to stop sports betting and go back to school. “Saad spends all his time watching football and never thinks about the future”. Tears rolled down his face. Sometimes, he wished that his father was dead so that he would be convinced that he was an orphan. He sat on the mat till he fell asleep.

 Deep into the night, he felt someone tapping him. “Wake up, bro”  He sleepily opened his eyes.  A monster with a huge mouth stared down at him. He wondered whether he was dreaming.  He got frightened and jumped up from his mat as if he was being chased by a snake in his dream. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Saad. Blood was oozing  out of his nose, and his mouth was swollen.  His eyes were red.  His heart beat loudly in his chest. “What happened to you?” he asked with fear in his voice. I played a bet with Tahiru and won and he refused to give me my money. I started punching him and his friends came to beat me up. I won’t forgive them, I swear!”

Shams felt sad for his brother. He brought out a bottle of ointment.  As he applied the ointment on Saad’s face, he said, “My brother, I have been thinking about our future. For how long do we continue living like this? There is no reward in sports betting. It makes you lose focus in life.” He paused briefly and continued.  “Saad, you used to draw and paint. I have always known you would become an artist.” Saad frowned. “It’s  suffer like us.” Saad became angry “You that you have a meaningful life, what have you achieved for yourself? Always moving from event to event to recite poems. Yet, the only benefit you get is meat pie and drink, excuse me brother!” He moaned in pain because his mouth hurt so badly that it was painful to speak.

Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door.  They heard people screaming at the background “Saad, run for your life. The area boys are coming to beat you up.  Tahiru has fainted and is in the hospital as a result of the beatings you gave him.” When Shams and Saad heard that, they left everything in their room and broke out of the window. They run as fast as they could. They left their neighborhood and went far away to a quiet part of the city. Most of the houses were storey  buildings with colourful paintings  on the walls, decorated with flowers. They saw a huge tree with rocks under it and they  sat on the rocks. They were tired and thirsty.  “Saad, when we were kids, you used to entertain people with colorful paintings like these. I thought you would be an artist one day.” Shams said, panting. “I was just doing that for fun.” Saad responded. “You can continue doing that for fun.” said Shams. Saad was hungry and he felt sick.  His face was still swollen.

Shams looked around. The cars moving on the road were falling into huge potholes. He saw an abandoned bucket by the untarred road.  He picked the bucket and started fetching sand to fill the potholes. Saad joined him. Many of the drivers started giving them money out of sympathy. They saw a teenager with a swollen face, struggling to walk but still working hard. A man driving a government vehicle gave them 500 Ghana cedis in an envelope. They worked until sunset and went back to the huge tree that gave them shelter. They counted their money and it was 650 Ghana Cedis. They shared it equally. Saad held the money in his hand and fell on his knee with tears in his eyes “I have never made such an amount of money before. I have wasted all my life betting without gain.” Shams smiled and thanked God his brother had finally seen the light.

 The next day, Saad used part of his money to buy paints, food and water. He used a knife to shape the tree and painted it. How he managed to carve and paint his face and that of Shams on the tree was amazing. He was excited, “my talent is still alive!”  “Betting and football took all the goodness in you away.” said Shams. Saad gave the wall an exciting artistic design.  A lot of people gathered there; they could not keep their eyes off it.  They would look at the faces of Shams and Saad, and then turn to look at the carving on the tree. The resemblance was remarkable.  Shams took that as an opportunity to perform poetry to their audience. Soon, media men appeared there. The headlines read “the talented young guys who made their pictures out of a tree.”  They were discussed and admired by everyone.  A number of business men wanted to invest in them. They became famous. While Shams decided go to the university to study,  Saad became an award-winning artist.  

He did not only enjoyed his fame, he decided to use his gift to the benefit of society. He created a lot of paintings to campaign against sports betting, gambling, laziness and stealing.  He won many international awards. Shams also wrote poetry on poor parenting and its effects, sports betting, hard work and determination. He has got many opportunities to perform on international platforms. Their lives were transformed  in a way they never imagined. Keep believing in God and do the right thing.

DIAMONDS IN THE MUD 

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