Notes to broadcasters
This drama is 13 episodes. The attached document includes tips on how to adapt this drama for your radio program.
The central theme of this serial drama can be summarized in the adage, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” The emotional focus of the serial reflects universal moral values such as truth, courage, and good triumphing over evil. Another theme is the courage of individuals to make a difference.
There are many messages for the audience to learn from, plus instruction on specific skills – from negotiating with their neighbours on how to jointly combat desertification to methods of returning moisture to degraded lands. Key messages are:
1. What is desertification?
2. What causes desertification? (Covers mostly human actions)
3. Solutions to desertification
Main Plot: Yohanna’s story
Yohanna is a simple but contented farmer and part-time herbalist who lives in the small rural town of Mabudi where rainfall is customarily low and the weather is hot and dry for the better part of each year. Things were different when he was a boy. Yohanna can remember when the desert featured only in folk tales of adventure and long treks to Mecca on holy pilgrimages, and when Mabudi and the surrounding region were lush, green and fertile. He was virtually raised in the forest and grew to love it dearly, learning about each herb and tree bark, drinking from cool streams and learning the trill of each bird and the tracks of every animal.
The centre of this drama is the often turbulent relationship between Yohanna and his cousin, Moleke. Their history of animosity began during their childhood when the orphaned Yohanna went to live with Moleke’s family and was raised by his parents Babamu and Mamji. In those days, Babamu was a famous herbalist who was said to understand the language of the bush and was revered for his knowledge of nature and natural cures for illness. As a boy, Yohanna had thrived on the close attention, love and education provided by Babamu. Not so for Moleke, who had despised his father and taken off at the first opportunity. Yohanna inherited his Uncle’s respectful ways with nature and herbs, as well as the family land upon the passing of the old man in a mysterious fire. While everyone in Mabudi believes the fire was an act of God, Yohanna is convinced that he had seen someone like Moleke come out of Babamu’s room and slink into the shadows on the night of the fire. Though he has never mentioned it to anyone, he is convinced to this day that Moleke is responsible for the death of the only man he ever knew as a father. Yohanna took care of Moleke’s mother until her death and gave her a burial such as a son of her loins would, since no one had heard anything from Moleke.
Moleke reappears twenty years later, very wealthy and with no explanation as to where he had been or the source of his affluence. He throws money and presents around so much that no one but Yohanna wants to question the source of his wealth. Everyone also seems to forget Babamu and the fact that Moleke had not returned once since the tragedy, not even for his own mother’s funeral. When Moleke proposes to introduce new farming techniques for mass production of vegetable crops, Yohanna is the only one to see the plans as potentially destructive of the land. Moleke tells the villagers that there is serious money to be made in tomatoes, carrots, and other salad vegetables as opposed to the grains they traditionally grow in this region. He advises Mabudians to join the forward-thinking farmers in other towns and villages and begin to grow these commodities in the quantities that will turn them into instant millionaires. While the whole of Mabudi is agog and jubilant at the prospect of becoming rich, Yohanna cautions them on the long-term effect of the farming practices that will support such large-scale projects. His stance pits him against many in Mabudi, including the Abah, Moleke and his own wife Choliba.
Ten years later, Mabudi is a desert and most of the Mabudians are relocating to greener pastures. Yohanna is one of the few who decide to stay. These remnants do whatever they can to reclaim the land, using methods they learn about from neighbouring districts, from Shurahi and from traditional knowledge.
On a personal level, Moleke’s return opens up a land tussle that forces the community to take sides. Yohanna also loses first his wife and later his daughter Zara when she elopes with Garam, the itinerant salesman. He gains a son, Bala Manu, who walks out of a sandstorm to stay and help push the desert back.
Sub Plot 1: Moleke’s Story
This is the story of a local man, Moleke, who disappears for 20 years as a youth and returns an extremely rich and generous older man, whose apparent agenda is to enrich his fellow townsfolk. He tells them that the source of his wealth is trading in tomatoes and other vegetables and in transporting these commodities to the coastal cities. He encourages them to change their farming practices and land use system, advancing them new seedlings and inputs as loans to be repaid from future sales. The townsfolk happily buy into this scheme and use all of Mabudi’s farmland to cultivate large quantities of vegetables. He persuades them to sacrifice their forest. In ten years the land turns barren and dusty, the people are labouring under huge debts, and there is a vast exodus from the village to the city to find menial work.
Moleke had always been trouble from childhood. He gave his father so much stress that, when Moleke was 25, his father finally disowned him and declared the adopted Yohanna as his only son. Moleke left town in anger soon after, the same day a mysterious fire claimed the life of his father, Babamu. His mother died of shame and heartbreak from the rumour that Moleke had caused his father’s death.
While Moleke was away, a series of circumstances had led him to embark on the vegetable trading and transport business, and he has become very wealthy.
Moleke blames Yohanna for his turbulent relationship with his parents, whom he accuses of preferring the orphan to him. He has been jealous of Yohanna all his life and is angered over the latter’s unflappable attitude to Moleke’s new wealth, which he had hoped to use to impress and oppress him. His plan is to control everything in Mabudi and make its people realize his power, and above all to make Yohanna pay for the parental approval and love he felt the latter stole from him.
Even after the town dies and Yohanna stays behind to pick up the pieces, Moleke finds ways to trouble him until the remaining residents wise up and deal with Moleke once and for all.
Sub Plot 2: The Abah Manu’s story
The Abah Manu is the king of Mabudi. He has been king since he was 15 and is considered to be the worst king in the history of the community. He uses his position for his own benefit alone and has introduced and institutionalized bribery and graft. He is well known for his ego, pride and greed. He is a much-married man and divorces his wives on the flimsiest of excuses, a common one being that they have gotten older. He boasts that he can never have old women in the palace when girls are born every day in his kingdom. Most of the problems he has with his subjects arise from tussles over women, either from making passes at other men’s wives or from chatting up their under-aged daughters.
He has also belittled the merit-based customs of the land by awarding titles indiscriminately and to people of questionable repute, and by turning the process into a money-making venture.
Script
Episode 1
CAST
NARRATOR
YOHANNA
HASSAN
THE ABAH MANU
MOLEKE
KOI-KOI, VOICES
_______________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, 0.5 AND UNDER…
ANNOUNCER: PROGRAM TITLE AND OPENING CREDIT, THEME MUSIC UP, 0.5 AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Greetings listeners! You are about to enter a familiar world with
people just like you and me and our neighbours. How do I know this? Because! There are good and bad people, annoying and aggravating folks, friendly and neighbourly ones. Quite a few are kind and selfless; these are people who think of others and the communal good. But I’m sure you are all familiar with certain people you might call greedy. Yes, you know the kind. They will cheat and take and take and take but give nothing in return … sound familiar?
So it is with Mabudi. A quiet town where a lot happens … but you’ll never know it unless you pay close attention and scratch beneath the surface. Or until something and someone new shows up. His name is Moleke. No one in MABUDI had heard of him for TWENTY years. Yes! (CLEARS THROAT) Let me stop here and allow you to meet this Moleke’s cousin, Yohanna, a respected farmer, as he and his son, Hassan, enjoy a serene morning in their forest… little dreaming their world will soon change …
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: A SOUND BED OF A FOREST ATMOSPHERE
(TWITTERING BIRDS, CHIRPS AND DISTANT LONE CALLS, SOUND OF WATER PERHAPS) UP AND UNDER THE FIRST TWO LINES AND FADE.
5. YOHANNA: (IN A GENTLE HUSHED VOICE) Ah, Hassan! This is where
peace lives…don’t you feel it?
6. HASSAN: (LAUGHS AND IN A LOUD VOICE) If you say so, Baba
[DAD]!
7. SFX: A SUDDEN FLAP OF BIRDS TAKING OFF IN FLIGHT
AND CUT.
8. YOHANNA: (REPRIMANDS HIM, STILL HUSHED) Shhh! Not so loud,
Hassan! You’ll frighten the animals. Be quiet when you come here.
9. HASSAN: (QUIETER) Of course. I forgot. (PAUSES) Hmmn … You love
it here, don’t you, Baba?
10. YOHANNA: I do. (CHUCKLES) If I had my way, I, Yohanna, would move
here to live.
11. HASSAN: In the forest? People in Mabudi would say you are mad or that you
are finally about to lose your mind.
12. YOHANNA: What else is new? Most of them already say I’m strange.
13. HASSAN: Yes, until they need your help with their ailments and need your
herbs and medicine.
14. YOHANNA: It’s not my medicine, Hassan. As if I did anything other than help
myself to what is already here in the forest. Every herb, every tree bark or fruit tree was put here by nature to bless us and the animals that live here.
15. HASSAN: (HUSHED BUT EXCITED) Baba! Look! A deer…
16. YOHANNA: It’s come for water. Pretend you aren’t looking or you’ll frighten
it. (AFTER A PAUSE, BITES INTO A FRUIT) Here … take…it’s ripe.
17. HASSAN: Guava! Thanks…my favourite fruit. (TAKES A BITE AND
WITH A MOUTHFUL). It never ceases to amaze me how lush everything always is in the forest, even though rainfall has been scanty these past few years…look how everything grows so well even though no one tends it.
18. YOHANNA: (THOUGHTFUL) Uhn-hmn. You are right. Come and look at
something. See this leaf? Rub it between your fingers.
19. HASSAN: (SURPRISED) It smells like perfume, Baba.
20. YOHANNA: Yes, Hassan. It is a perfume plant. But it is also a wash. Your
mother used to rub it into her hair. It left it clean and smelling nice for days.
21. HASSAN: It’s true. It smells like Mama used to smell. I remember it.
22. YOHANNA: Pay attention, Hassan. Look at this herb. The leaves look like a
star. It grows by the stream here …
23. HASSAN: (INTERRUPTS) I know it! It’s for relieving piles, isn’t it?
24. YOHANNA: (PLEASED) Very good, Hassan. You are paying attention. That’s
good.
25. HASSAN: (THOUGHTFUL) Baba? I’ve been thinking…
26. YOHANNA: Uhn-hmn?
27. HASSAN: Why is this land not used to cultivate crops? We wouldn’t have to
worry about poor rainfall with land like this. Everything would grow without tending. The land seems so fertile…why not cut down the trees and bushes and use this place for farmland?
28. YOHANNA: Ah, Hassan. You are not the first person in the world to want to
cut down the forest to use it for farming.
29. HASSAN: So why don’t they do it then, Baba? This is a waste of potentially
good and fertile farmland. You could use this stream for irrigation water.
30. YOHANNA: Come, let me show you something, Hassan.
31. SFX: RUFFLING THROUGH DRY LEAVES WHICH MAKE
CRACKLING NOISES.
32. YOHANNA: The fallen leaves covering the forest floor and the thick shrubbery
growing low to the ground actually protect the forest soil. The forest’s topsoil is really quite thin and very fragile. Without this cover, the sun would dry up the land in a short time and the wind would do the rest by sweeping off the topsoil, turning it to dust.
33. HASSAN: (UNCERTAIN) I’m sure you are telling the truth, Baba. But it just
seems hard to believe that the soil that grows this forest could be blown away by wind.
34. YOHANNA: Not only that, but when rain comes, it would then wash away
whatever soil the wind did not blow away.
35. HASSAN: Soil and wind erosion?
36. YOHANNA: That’s right. The forest has many other benefits. It helps to
preserve our ground water. It is this forest that has helped to keep the desert at bay. Cut down this forest and in a few years, this whole area will become lifeless and barren, unable to support plant life.
37. SFX: SUDDEN DISTANT STACCATO SOUNDS OF GUNSHOT.
BIRDS TAKE FLIGHT WITH CHATTER AND COMMOTION.
38. HASSAN: (SHAKEN) Goodness! Were those gunshots?
39. YOHANNA: (SADLY) I’m afraid so. What can be happening now?
40. HASSAN: It sounded like it came from that direction…the border between
Mabudi and Jantale. Baba, we should go home quickly.
41. YOHANNA: Yes. (PAUSES) God, I pray we are not in for another skirmish
with Jantale over grazing lands.
42: MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO
SCENE 2
43. SFX: A MOTOR CAR WITH A LARGE ENGINE DRIVES UP,
HONKS, REVS AND COMES TO A STOP SLIGHTLY OFF MIC.
44. ABAH: (MUTTERS TO SELF, ON MIC) Who dares to park a car in
front of my palace? (CALLS) Palace Guards! Have you all gone blind? Get that driver off my reserved parking space this instant! (TO HIMSELF) What cheek! Imagine the nonsense.
45. SFX: BARKED ORDERS OFF MIC: MOVE THAT CAR! NOW!
NO PARKING. COME ON MOVE IT!
46. MOLEKE: (OFF MIC, OVER ANGRY ORDERS) Please, I brought gifts
for the Abah…they are quite heavy…let us just offload them, then we’ll move the car, I beg you.
47. ABAH: (CHANGES TACK, CALLS OUT, ON MIC) Guards! Leave
the visitor alone to park where he wants.
48. MOLEKE: (COMING ON MIC) Your Royal Majesty, the Abah Manu.
Long may you continue to reign. (ON MIC) Your humble servant salutes you, my Abah!
49. ABAH: (CURIOUS) Yes, yes. Get up, get up. No need to soil your
beautiful clothes. Won’t you come in and sit down?
50. MOLEKE: You are too kind, my King, thank you. But first I must apologize
for letting my driver park my jeep in front of the palace like that. I meant no disrespect.
51. ABAH: (QUICKLY) Not at all. There’s no need to apologize. Please feel
free to park anywhere you like whenever you come here, so long as there is no car there. (EFFUSIVE) Yes! No problem at all.
52. MOLEKE: Thank you, your Majesty. You are too kind to this poor wretch
who is your loyal servant. It’s been such a long time and yet you look as youthful and strong as ever…long may you reign, your Majesty!!
53. ABAH: Thank you, thank you! (CALLS OUT) Ehen? Who’s there?
Halima! Babi! Come out quickly and bring some tea (LOWERS VOICE) … or would you rather have fruit juice? (CALLS OUT AGAIN) Bring juice and….
54. MOLEKE: (INTERRUPTS) Please! Please, your Majesty. Thank you for
your kindness but don’t trouble yourself…
55. ABAH: (DEFLATED) Eh? Has the Abah offended his most distinguished
visitor in some way?
56. MOLEKE: (QUICKLY) Not at all, my Abah! And may God forbid that I,
Moleke, will ever be so presumptuous as to find offence in anything that the Abah Manu of Mabudi would deem fit to do.
57. ABAH: Wel..ll, in that case…
58. MOLEKE: It’s just that I want to do first things first. You see I brought some
gifts for my Abah…If your Majesty will be so kind as to send your stewards to the car and bring the things…
59. ABAH: (PLEASED AND EFFUSIVE) Oh my! Yes, yes of course!
(CALLS OUT COMMON NAMES GOING OFF MIC) Bolo! Anta! Where are those good-for-nothings? Musa, didn’t you hear me calling? Go and call Anta and go to the car and bring the things here…quickly! (COMING BACK ON) That is quite some car you have there, my friend. (ON) It is simply too fantastic and must cost millions, am I wrong? [Use a locally reasonable amount]
60. MOLEKE: Yes, my Abah it is a very expensive car but it is worth it.
(COUGHS QUICKLY) But my Abah deserves a much better and more luxurious car than this. (BOTH LAUGH) This one is only the younger brother of the one the Abah Manu should be riding!
61. ABAH: Is that so? Ehm, by the way…I’m sure I know you well but have
forgotten where we met…Yes, yes…you must excuse the vagaries of aging and all, but who did you say you are again?
62. MOLEKE: Is it possible that the Abah Manu cannot recognize me? My name
is Moleke.
63. ABAH: (STILL PUZZLED) Indeed? Moleke? Hmnn! Moleke, Moleke?
Forgive me but….
64. MOLEKE: I’m Moleke. Babamu, the Native doctor’s son…don’t you
remember me?
65. ABAH: (SHOCKED) WHAT!!? Moleke!? Good gracious, Moleke! Is
this really you!!?
66. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 3
67. SFX: DOOR OPENS AND BANGS SHUT.
68. HASSAN: (COMING ON MIC) Good evening, Baba [DAD]!
69. YOHANNA: (ON) Well, it’s about time, Hassan. What took you so long? You
were just to go to the town centre to find out about the gunshots we heard this morning…
70. HASSAN: (GRAVE. ON MIC) Baba, I thought you said you didn’t have any
brothers or sisters?
71. YOHANNA: (PUZZLED) Why? What’s that got to do with anything?
72. HASSAN: Well Baba, it seems that you have been lying to me and Zara about
that.
73. YOHANNA: (PLEASANT, EVEN AMUSED) Lie? I? Yohanna? How did you
come to the conclusion that I have lied?
74. HASSAN: Never mind. It doesn’t matter.
75. YOHANNA: Oh no. You cannot do that, Hassan. What makes you think I have
brothers and sisters when I say I don’t?
76. HASSAN: Because I met someone at the palace who was introduced to me as
my father’s brother. Everyone is talking about him and calling him Yohanna’s brother. What was I supposed to think?
77. YOHANNA: Does this brother of mine have a name?
78. HASSAN: (A BIT FRUSTRATED) Humpf! I just forgot! But you need to
see this guy! Man…and his car….hmnpf! He must be loaded! That car is something else. I have never seen wheels like that, ever! Everything about him is too much! I am telling you. The guy smells like solid cash. You just have to see him. Everyone is at the palace right now to see him. They say the Abah himself came out to receive him.
79. YOHANNA: Well, here’s the truth, Hassan. I was an only child, an orphan in
fact, and I had no siblings. A-n-d I am very hungry. Have you seen your mother?
80. HASSAN: Choliba is not my mother!
81. YOHANNA: (SIGHS) Ahh! Hassan … Choliba is my wife. She is your new
mother. She could be a good mother to you and your sister if only you’d give her a chance.
82. HASSAN: I know Choliba is your wife but that does not mean she is my
mother. (HUFFS) For God’s sake Baba, seriously, even Choliba doesn’t want to be anyone’s mother, don’t you see?
83. YOHANNA: All right, Hassan. (CHANGING TACKS) Am I the only one
hungry? Where’s your sister, by the way?
84. HASSAN: I don’t know. But I’ll bet she’s lying in her room with her face in
a book.
85. YOHANNA: Well then get her, and let us cook something before we die of
hunger.
86. HASSAN: (GOING OFF) Okay, Baba. (COMING BACK ON) Ehen! Baba,
I remember the guy’s name now….
87. YOHANNA: What guy?
88. HASSAN: You know…the man I told you about. Your so-called brother. His
name is Moleke. Yes, that‘s it. Moleke!
89. YOHANNA: (SHOCKED) What!? What did you say his name was?
90. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 4
91. VOICES: A MEETING IS UNDERWAY WITH VARIOUS ANGRY
VOICES RAISED IN PROTEST
92. ABAH: (OVER THE ROWDY PROTESTS) All right! If you people
came here just to make noise, then you should leave my palace. Now, now!
93. KOI-KOI: (CLEARS THROAT) Ah, Abah. Long may you reign, Abah.
We are very sorry, your Majesty! (CALLS OUT OVER NOISE) People! It is enough! Quiet, now! Let us talk one by one, eh?
94. ABAH: No way! I’m not going to sit here and listen to everyone talking
one by one. We won’t finish this meeting today. No way! Only one person talks… present your case and we will hear it. That’s how I want it.
95. VOICES: MUTED VOICES CONFER IN WHISPERS OFF MIC
96. ABAH: (IMPATIENT) Ehen? Who is your spokesperson? (ASIDE)
Moleke, do you see how my open door policy is abused daily by these people?
97. MOLEKE: I see it, your Royal Highness. You are too kind and lenient.
98. KOI-KOI: (CLEARS THROAT) My name is Koi-koi. I am the
spokesperson, your Majesty, appointed by the delegation from Jantale.
99. ABAH: From Jantale? What is it about? And why didn’t the King come?
100. KOI-KOI: Your Highness, it is not because of a slight that our King did not
come with us.
101. MOLEKE: (ANGRY) Then what is it? Your King should be here to talk King
to King instead of sending the riff-raff to stand before the Abah. (HISSES) Imagine! No protocol!
102. ABAH: Don’t mind them, Moleke. It’s my fault for adopting an open door
policy. (RUDELY) So. What is it? Why are you here?
103. KOI-KOI: Your Royal Highness, Sir. The matter for which we have come is a
very serious one and concerns individuals from Jantale. But we knew that we could come to you to discuss our plight without making it a clan issue. This is why, our dear Abah, we did not involve our King. We don’t mean any disrespect, your Highness.
104. ABAH: Koi-koi, is it? Well, go on, let’s hear it.
105. KOI-KOI: Sir, early this morning, some youths from Mabudi accosted me and
a few other herdsmen from Jantale, asking us to take our sheep out of the grazing land between our two communities. We thought it was a joke at first. When we refused to move they brought out guns and shot all the sheep in cold blood.
106. ABAH: So? What do you want me to do about that?
107. KOI-KOI: (IN DISBELIEF) Your Highness! Do you not realize what this
means? How this might escalate into another clash between our two communities? If I hadn’t pleaded with our youth to cool down…
108. MOLEKE: (INTERUPTS) Look here, Mister … Koi-koi or whatever you are
called. You better mind how you speak to the Abah.
109. VOICES: (TALKING AT ONCE) AH-AH! WHO’S THIS? THIS IS
NO USE. WAIT. I TELL YOU THERE’LL BE WAR! GOD HAVE MERCY, WHAT KIND OF THING IS THIS? LET US GO!
110. KOI-KOI: (OVER THE VOICES) Your Highness! People please …
(VOICES STOP) Your Highness, it is because we are men of peace – that’s why we have come to you to let you know what happened today. Many herdsmen suffered major losses today because of some troublemakers.
111. ABAH: Don’t! You! Dare! Call them troublemakers! If you must know,
they work for me and were carrying out my orders.
112. KOI-KOI: (SHOCKED) Your orders? Your Highness … what can you
mean?
113. ABAH: Did the men not tell you to move your sheep from there?
114. KOI-KOI: (SPLUTTERS) Ye..ye…yes…bbbut…
115. ABAH: Then why didn’t you obey?
116. KOI-KOI: (STILL IN SHOCK) But, your Highness … that is our ancestral
grazing land.
117. ABAH: Which ancestor are we talking about now?
118. MOLEKE: (MOCKING LAUGH) I wonder.
119. KOI-KOI: I don’t understand … our ancestors. Ours and yours, of course.
Those grazing lands have always belonged to our two communities.
120. ABAH: My dear man, don’t talk to me about ancestors! It seems you need
a history lesson. MY ancestors own all that land, let me tell you. Didn’t your ancestors settle after mine?
121. VOICES: WHAT!? This is an insult! Let’s go! Mad!
122. KOI-KOI (HUMORLESS LAUGH) Surely His Highness does not mean
that?
123. ABAH: Oho! So you didn’t know? The whole of Jantale actually belongs
to us. It is out of the goodness of our hearts that we allowed your people to stay there.
124. KOI-KOI: (SIGHS) Hmn … What the Abah has said here today is so
provocative that it could cause a war between our two neighbourly communities. I truly cannot believe you said those things, your Highness.
125. MOLEKE: (ANGRY) What’s hard to believe in what His Majesty has said?
(MIMICS) It can cause war…you think we are afraid of your war?
126. KOI-KOI: Who the hell are you? Why are you stirring up so much trouble?
Was I addressing you at any time?
127. MOLEKE: I am Moleke. And I will not sit here and have you insult my Abah!
How dare you?
128. KOI-KOI: I dare because peace is preferable to war any day. People like
you always stoke the fire for war for whatever reason or gain no one knows…
129. MOLEKE: (INCENSED) Shut up! Shut up, you stupid man! We are not
afraid of your war threats, let me tell you! I, Moleke, will provide Mabudi with enough sophisticated weapons to wipe you all off the face of the earth. Nonsense!
130. ABAH: (PLACATES HIM) It’s all right, Moleke. Don’t mind them.
131. KOI-KOI: (LAUGHS) Please, good people of Jantale, let’s go home…
it’s no use talking. As for you, Moleke…I know people like you. You start the trouble and as soon as you hear the war drums, you will be the first to take flight and hide in the forest.
132. MOLEKE: (BOASTS) I, Moleke? Any time you are ready for war, bring it on.
I am ready to fight for my Abah any day!
133. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP AND UNDER
134. NARRATOR: Well friends, that is how today’s instalment of life in the
previously quiet neighbourhoods of Mabudi and Jantale went. Gunshots and dead flocks! Threats and counter threats of war! The arrival of Moleke certainly caused a big upheaval for these communities. Who is he and why has he come? We do know that things will never be the same again in Mabudi. You’d better stay tuned to this station for the next instalment of our story because you won’t want to miss what happens next.
135. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER CLOSING CREDITS
THE END
Script written by Data Alison Phido, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 2
March 2006
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Episode 2
CAST
NARRATOR
CHOLIBA
YOHANNA
MOLEKE
THE ABAH MANU
GARAM
BABI
NARRATOR
_________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP 0.5 AND FADE UNDER OPENING
ANNOUNCEMENT OF TITLE et cetera. THEME MUSIC FADES UP AND UNDER.
2. NARRATOR: Welcome, friends, to this program. Last time we were in Mabudi, the once sleepy and serene town was suddenly roused into excitement. It was mainly because of the arrival of a very affluent man named Moleke. The Abah Manu, King of Mabudi, seemed bent on a clash with the neighbours and this same Moleke jumped right into the fray to strengthen the Abah’s resolve. Who is Moleke and why has he come is the question on every mind. Perhaps the events of today will reveal all. Please stay tuned.
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADES UNDER
SCENE 1
4. SFX: GRINDING AND POUNDING ON MIC. DOOR BURSTS
OPEN. GRINDING STOPS.
5. CHOLIBA: (EXCITED AND OUT OF BREATH) My husband! You will never guess who has arrived in Mabudi. In a big way! All right guess!
6. YOHANNA: (PATIENTLY) Choliba … why not just tell me?
7. CHOLIBA: (SMUG AND EXCITED STILL) I’m telling you, Yohanna.
You will never be able to guess. Ahh … (SIGHS) What a thing! The whole town is celebrating. He is so handsome, so rich, soooo…
8. SFX: GRINDING OR MIXING RESUMES
9. CHOLIBA: (FRUSTRATED) Yohanna, can you not hear what I am saying?
Stop making your stupid medicines and listen to me … Moleke your brother is back here in Mabudi.
10. YOHANNA: (IN A QUIET TONE) Oh, that? I already heard… Hassan brought
me the news earlier.
11. CHOLIBA: (DEFLATED) Oh! (PAUSES) Oh…that son of yours does not
waste any time. I’m sure he is running around even now, telling everyone. Big mouth…what else did he say?
12. YOHANNA: (CHUCKLES) Is the pot calling the frying pan black now? Is that
it?
13. CHOLIBA: (HISSES) Anyway. He’s back. (IN RAPTURES) Oh Moleke!
(SIGHS) You should have seen him, Yohanna. I have never seen anyone look so distinguished. So rich…
14. YOHANNA: That’s nice, Choliba. I think I get the point.
15. CHOLIBA: (SINGING) Hmn. Oh Yohanna, see? Look at what Moleke gave
me! (EXCITED TONE) Look, a nice watch and beau-tiful handbag… It will go nicely with those shoes I bought last Friday … will you please stop grinding and look at me…?!
16. YOHANNA: Nice. Very nice. And Moleke gave them to you…just like that?
Why?
17. CHOLIBA: Because he is a nice man and because he can afford it.
18. YOHANNA: (DOUBTFUL) Really?
19. CHOLIBA: Yes. Wait till my friend Babi sees this bag! Hmn! She will be so
jealous… Wife of the Abah or not, my gifts are so much better than hers. (PAUSES) What’s the matter, Yohanna? It’s like you are not happy Moleke has come home.
20. YOHANNA: You want the truth? I’m indifferent.
21. CHOLIBA: You are nothing but a killjoy, Yohanna. You should be happy you
have such a wealthy relative. He is sure to help us.
22. YOHANNA: Never trust a man who leaves home poor and in shame and comes back with so much wealth…one never knows what he might have done to get it.
23. CHOLIBA: I don’t have time for your wise cracks… if you are so wise how come you have not made as much money as your brother Moleke?
24. YOHANNA: I didn’t know I was in competition with Moleke. By the way,
where and how did you and your rich brother-in-law meet?
25. CHOLIBA: Oh! I went to the palace to see Babi and Moleke drove up in this fantastic car! He looked so handsome in his heavy lace clothes and matching snakeskin shoes. And oh, I wish you could have seen the rings on his fingers…his gold chain (SIGHS)… His wife is so lucky! (DREAMY) Oh, how I wish!
26. YOHANNA: Choliba … I suggest you come back to earth. You are talking
about Moleke? The one I know?
27. CHOLIBA: I don’t understand what you mean. This is a good man. He is
so nice; he gave a gift to everyone who came to greet him. But I think mine were … (PAUSES TO REFLECT AND EMPHASIZE) I think more special than what he gave others. In fact he even asked after you. He said, “How’s your dear husband doing these days?”
28. YOHANNA: Should I feel honoured?
29. CHOLIBA: You just want to spoil my mood, Yohanna. You won’t succeed
because I’m too happy.
30. YOHANNA: I apologize, Choliba; it’s not my intention. But how can Moleke
know you are my wife?
31. CHOLIBA: I told him of course! (INDIGNANTLY) I went up to him and
introduced myself as his sister-in-law.
32. YOHANNA: I should have known… so where is Moleke going to be staying?
33. CHOLIBA: Where do you think? At the Abah Manu’s palace of course. Where
else? Someone like Moleke… Ah! A man so rich… the palace is the only place to host someone like that. I can’t imagine anywhere else in Mabudi that would be suitable, can you? (HAPPY AGAIN) Moleke did say he was going to come and visit us.
34. YOHANNA: He’s coming here?
35. CHOLIBA: Yes… that’s what he said. (GOING OFF MIC) Let me go and
show Babi my handbag and watch. God, she’ll be so jealous!
36. SFX: DOOR OPENS AND BANGS SHUT
37. YOHANNA: (THOUGHTFULLY) Hmm! I wonder what Moleke is up to now!
38. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO…
SCENE 2
39. SFX: DRUMS AND LIGHT MUSIC OFF MIC. BRIEF KNOCK
SLIGHTLY OFF MIC
40. ABAH: Is that you, Moleke? Come right in…no formalities required.
41. MOLEKE: Good morning your Highness. I, Moleke, your most humble
servant, unworthy as I am to be in your presence, salute you… I hope I am not interrupting anything?
42. ABAH: Not at all, Moleke. In fact, you are just the man I wanted to see. I
hope your quarters are comfortable and my wives are taking care of you?
43. MOLEKE: Thank you, your Highness, for your hospitality. My room is very
comfortable and you and your whole household have been too too kind. In return, let me present you with a little something. Please take this gold watch as a token of my gratitude.
44. ABAH: (IMPRESSED) My goodness, Moleke, you spoil me. You have
given me a present every day since you arrived. Now this…Ah!
45. MOLEKE: Anything for you, your Highness… (SERIOUS) Your Highness
wanted to discuss something with me?
46. ABAH: (LOST FOR A BEAT) Uh? Mnn. Oh Yes! I did, I did. (SELF-
CONSCIOUS LAUGH) Ehm, Moleke. It’s like a miracle seeing you as you are now. I mean twenty years ago, who would have thought… I mean, how? You seem to have made so much money.
47. MOLEKE: (LAUGHS) Abah wants to know how I got rich… is that it?
48. ABAH: (SPLUTTERS) No no no. I wouldn’t dream of asking you such a
rude …
49. MOLEKE: (INTERRUPTS) That’s ok, my Abah. You can ask me and it’s not at all rude.
50. ABAH: (CONSPIRATORIALLY) The thing is … life here is hard. It’s
the same as when you left us. It’s the same hard farm work and the poor rains haven’t helped. I mean … it’s like you’ve left us behind.
51. MOLEKE: (CHUCKLES) If I tell the Abah how I made my money he will
probably laugh and not believe me.
52. ABAH: (QUICKLY) What’s not to believe? Am I not staring at you and
all the signs of your prosperity? Why should I doubt you?
53. MOLEKE: If you must know then, I made my money buying and selling.
54. ABAH: Yes, yes, yes. Buying and selling. What? You are a trader?
55. MOLEKE: Something like that. Do you know that tomatoes and salad
vegetables are in high demand in the capital and all the southern towns?
56. ABAH: You mean salad vegetables like lettuce, cabbage and carrots?
57. MOLEKE: Exactly! They can’t get enough of it. Once a week I send trailer
loads of it to the southern markets. That’s how I made my cash, my Abah.
58. ABAH: Trailer loads? But where can you find such quantities of produce?
Surely with the poor rainfalls no one can grow such quantities of tomatoes and cabbage. Everybody knows those crops require plenty of water.
59. MOLEKE: True. But does the Abah not want to hear how I and farmers in
other places are getting rich?
60. ABAH: Go ahead, Moleke… no problem… you have my undivided
attention. (CALLS OUT) Who’s there? Anta? Bring some refreshment for me and my guest.
61. SFX: HURRYING STEPS GOING OFF. DOOR OPENS AND
SHUTS OFF MIC.
62. ABAH: Yes Moleke, we were saying?
63. MOLEKE: There are great riches in growing tomatoes, cabbages, carrots and
lettuce. Especially tomatoes for city markets.
64. ABAH: Yes yes. But how can farmers like me grow such crops when all
we have is grassland and drought? Even growing grains is hard without much water. You’ve seen our land.
65. MOLEKE: I have. Believe me. That is why I have come back.
66. ABAH: I don’t get you.
67. MOLEKE: I want to help you. You too can get very rich by changing the way
you farm. Convert all your farmland into growing tomatoes, cabbages and carrots on a large scale. If you can convince every farmer in Mabudi to do the same, I promise you great wealth in a very short time. I myself will transport all your produce to the coastal markets and bring your money back.
68. ABAH: (ECSTATIC) Really? I want to do it. But what about water?
69. SFX: DOOR OPENS AND SOUND OF TRAY WITH TEA CUPS
AND SAUCERS COMES ON MIC AND IS THEN PLACED ON A TABLE
70. ABAH: (IMPATIENT) Thank you. Just leave it there and go. I don’t
want anybody hanging around my chambers, is that clear?
71. SFX: LEAVING FOOTSTEPS AND DOOR SHUTS
72. MOLEKE: As I was saying, about the water…I’m prepared to pay to sink
several boreholes so that the water can be pumped out to irrigate the farms year round. I shall also provide fertilizers and high quality seedlings. With these inputs, there’s no more season. Year round, you will harvest your vegetable crops.
73. ABAH: (THOUGHTFUL) You will do that? Moleke, you will actually
help us become rich like you?
74. MOLEKE: Yes, your Majesty. It is but a small thing.
75. ABAH: I am overwhelmed. Hmn … I am very interested in this thing.
Once we start earning money like you say, we’ll have to reimburse you for your spending on the boreholes and fertilizers. No question about that.
76. MOLEKE: That’s all right. No problem…no problem at all.
77. ABAH: Which reminds me … What does your cousin Yohanna have to say
about your return?
78. MOLEKE: Would you believe that I’ve yet to see him? I’ve been very busy
tying up some loose ends of my business…it’s been hectic.
79. ABAH: But of course. He should have come to see you … I’m sure he’s
heard that you are back.
80. MOLEKE: Don’t mind him. In fact, Abah, I intend to take my father’s land
back from him as I also want to cultivate vegetables.
81. ABAH: (TRIES TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT) Some tea, Moleke?
82. SFX: POURS TEA IN CUPS ON MIC
83. MOLEKE: (CONTINUES AS TEA IS BEING POURED) I need you to
back me on this, Abah. By rights that land belongs to me as I’m the real son of Babamu. Yohanna was merely adopted and whether Babamu gave him the land or not, I want it. I trust you will take care of this small issue for me.
84. ABAH: (CORNERED, CLEARS THROAT) Yes, yes of course. It is
your right and we are one hundred percent behind you. No problem.
85. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO
SCENE 3:
86. SFX: BELL TINKLES TO ATTRACT BUYERS AS CONSISTENT
SOUND BED UNDER THIS SCENE.
87. GARAM: (ENTHUSIASTIC SALES PITCH) I have the best fabrics and jewellery. Come and buy! Quality goods have arrived! Come on.
Hurry. Just two days of sales. Hurry! Ah hello, good morning Madam Choliba… you are looking ever so radiant today! I have just the perfect thing for you!
88. SFX: CHECKING THROUGH VARIOUS ITEMS
89. CHOLIBA: (EXCITED) Garam, the mobile super market! No one told me
you had arrived. Quick, let me see what you have…
90. GARAM: Here we are… look how this scarf brightens your face and
complexion.
91. CHOLIBA: (HAPPY WITH THE COMPLIMENT) Oh Garam, you say the
nicest things… how much does it cost?
92. GARAM: For you, Madam, I have a special price as you are one of my best
customers. Pick all you wish to buy and I’ll give you a total bargain price.
93. CHOLIBA: Aww, thank you… And could I have a look at those dresses over
there? They look wonderful…very exclusive and expensive.
94. GARAM: Yes, Madam, they are… but unfortunately they are special orders
from Babi and Halima, Abah’s wives. I couldn’t possibly sell them to you.
95. CHOLIBA: (STARTS TO WHINE) But those are the ones that I want… I
won’t have Babi and Halima looking better than me. It isn’t fair. Why didn’t you bring the same for me?
96. GARAM: Ah but Madam, you are the wife of the most famous native doctor
of the region… these items are not worthy of you. You, Madam, are in a class of your own and should have exclusive stuff.
97. CHOLIBA: You do have a point.
98. GARAM: Choliba? If you would be so kind as to give me the money I would
be glad to bring back special and very exclusive fabrics and jewellery just for you.
99. CHOLIBA: Ok Garam … I promise to give you your money. But only when
you return with the fabrics.
100. GARAM: As you wish …but there’s no guarantee. How is your dear
husband, Yohanna? And of course Zara and Hassan and the twins?
101. CHOLIBA: Ask them yourself when you see them… PLEASE let’s talk about
something else. Oh. I need some perfume, a good one.
102. GARAM: Here’s one. Smell it…it’s the latest…quite expensive. By the way,
Choliba…do you have anything you wish to sell or exchange?
103. CHOLIBA: Not this time, no. (PAUSES 2 BEATS) WAIT! There’s a pot and
a few old fashioned dishes my husband’s late wife kept in a cupboard. What do you think you could give me for them?
104. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CUT
SCENE 4
105. SFX: DOOR OPENS AND SHUTS; SOUND OF SITTING ON A
SAGGING SPRING BED; EVERY FEW LINES THE BED CREAKS
106. ABAH: (CONTENT SIGH) Ah, what a day! I’m telling you that Moleke
is full of good ideas…especially ideas for getting rich! Babi… my Queen, come and rub my back … (GROANS) I’m so achy!
107. BABI: (ANGRY ABOUT SOMETHING) I beg you …leave me alone, Abah.
108. ABAH: (SURPRISED) Babi, what’s wrong? (NO REPLY) Has anyone upset you?
109. BABI: What do you want in my room? Go to your favourite Titi’s room.
110. ABAH: What are you talking about? Who’s the favourite, except you?
111. BABI: Indeed? Then how come Titi’s gift from Moleke was nicer than mine?
112. ABAH: I beg your pardon?
113. BABI: (SHOUTS) You heard what I said!
114. ABAH: (CHUCKLES) But my dear, that has nothing to do with me…. Moleke chose who he wanted to give each gift to.
115. BABI: Well then, you should have told him not to give her so many
things!!
116. ABAH: I’m sorry Babi… what would you like me to do about it? Come on
…at least look at me…
117. BABI: I said leave me alone…
118. ABAH: But Babi …
119. BABI: Get your hands off me, Abah Manu, I don’t want your nonsense!
120. ABAH: Ouch… that was painful, Babi! Why?
121. BABI: I’m fed up with putting up with an old man that can never keep any
of his promises.
122. ABAH: Things are about to change, Babi… With this vegetable farm deal with Moleke, you are looking at a stinkingly rich Abah Manu. And
who will spend all that money?
123. BABI: (UNIMPRESSED) How should I know? Maybe your favourite.
124. ABAH: Don’t talk nonsense. You know you are my favourite.
125. BABI: I don’t know about that. Even this wealth, how many years will that take to arrive and how long will it last?
126. ABAH: Soon, my dear, soon. Last? You’ve seen Moleke. Does it seem to
you like his wealth will finish anytime soon?
127. BABI: All I ever get from you is promises. I’m tired of it. Get out!
128. ABAH: Babi, why are you doing this…? Can’t we just sit down and talk?
129. BABI: NO!!!! Go away!
130. ABAH: Ok ok… Babi, just tell me what you want and I will get it for you. Anything my dear …anything.
131. BABI: Ok then, I want the new radio that Moleke gave to you … the one
you like listening to so much.
132. ABAH: Come on, Babi; let’s be reasonable… that was a gift… I can’t give
it to you… Moleke might be offended… you can have anything else you want – no problem.
132. BABI: Then we have a big problem!! That is what I want …I refuse to wait for a prosperity that I have yet to see, whether real or not,
which may not even last.
133. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP AND FADES UNDER
134. NARRATOR: Now friends, at last we have some answers to the questions we’ve
been asking ourselves since learning of Moleke’s arrival after twenty years away from Mabudi. But what is his real agenda? He has sold the Abah Manu on a big scheme for cultivating vegetables year round. To achieve this, he proposes to sink several boreholes for irrigation. Is this wise? Is this sustainable? Digging so many wells and planting only water-thirsty crops is bound to have a major effect on the land. Meanwhile the Abah Manu is totally sold on the idea. Who will tell him to be cautious? Will this project take off? You will have to keep listening so as not to miss any of the developing stories.
135. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP; HOLD AND UNDER CLOSING
CREDITS
THE END
Script written by phemy aribisala, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 3
March 2006
______________________________________________________________________
Episode 3
CAST
NARRATOR
YOHANNA
SHURAHI
BALA MANU
MOLEKE
____________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD 0.05, FADE UNDER OPENING
ANNOUNCEMENT, UP AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Friends, it’s been two weeks since Moleke returned to Mabudi like
a conquering hero. Talk about excitement! But it’s two whole weeks and he has yet to visit with his cousin Yohanna! Is that normal, folks? Or even proper? What is keeping him from contacting Yohanna? Well, our people have a saying that you can run but you can’t hide…
In the meantime, Shurahi the agricultural officer in Mabudi goes about her business of helping the farmers. But the new business venture Moleke wants to introduce has her very worried. Why?
We all know that a person of honour always puts back more than he takes. That is the agreement we all have with Mother Nature, and with our children. e must use our knowledge, power and sweat to leave this place better than we found it. But it seems like some people are bent on throwing this truth out the window…we shall see…
Meanwhile all is well in Yohanna’s world.
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS 0.03, AND FADES
UNDER…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: LEAVES RUSTLING, COMING ON MIC.
5. YOHANNA: (CALLS OUT OFF MIC) Who’s there? Hassan, is that you?
6. SHURAHI: (STARTLED, ON MIC) Ah! I didn’t hear you…Baba [DAD] Yohanna. It’s me, Shurahi.
7. YOHANNA: (ON) Ah, Shurahi, our farming teacher…it’s good that you’ve come as I have some fresh honey for you. I’m just returning from the hives.
8. SHURAHI: I know. I saw you when I went past the forest a while back. (STARTS TO LAUGH)
9. YOHANNA: (PUZZLED) What? Shurahi, why did you not stop by?
10. SHURAHI: (STILL LAUGHING) Baba Yohanna, you looked so strange…
like a scary monster, covered from head to toe with bees. (SERIOUS) How come they are all over you yet don’t sting you even a little? That’s what I’d like to know.
11. YOHANNA: They just don’t. If you had come, Shura, they wouldn’t have stung
you either.
12. SHURAHI: How can you be sure? You would have told them not to bite me –
is that it?
13. YOHANNA: (LAUGHS) Shura… I’m sure you’ve heard the gossip that I talk to
animals and bugs and they talk back, eh? Tsk-tsk-tsk!
14. SHURAHI: (HESITANT) We-ell …
15. YOHANNA: Don’t believe everything you hear, my girl. I have had my share of
stings, believe me. These days I’ve learned to respect the bees and show that I’m not a threat to them.
16. SHURAHI: (SKEPTICAL) If you say so, Baba Yohanna. Still, you should
tell everyone not to try it at home as it can be downright dangerous (BOTH LAUGHING).
17. YOHANNA: I talk to animals indeed! Ask my goats and chickens if that’s true!
Anyway, I take it you were waiting for me for a reason?
18. SHURAHI: Yes, Baba Yohanna I came… (TEASING HIM) that is, apart
from hoping I’d get some honey of course… I came to see how your guinea corn and millet crops are doing. Baba Yohanna, I’m quite worried. The rainy season had barely started before it was over. At this rate, what harvest can farmers expect?
19. YOHANNA: You’re right that we are facing a drought again this year. The signs
have been clear all along that the drought will be severe. But if a farmer pays close attention, he can make plans that will ensure his family will eat, drought or no drought.
20. SHURAHI: Actually, yours is one of the few farms that is doing well.
21. YOHANNA: Thanks to the fast maturing seeds you gave me.
22. SHURAHI: But you are not the only farmer I supplied with those seeds. I love
how you have covered your beds with straw and leaves. This helps your soil to retain water from the rains and not dry out like other farms. I love it! Baba Yohanna, I hope you won’t mind if I ask some of the other farmers to come and see your farm.
23. YOHANNA: (EMBARRASSED) You think? I just used the residue from the
cowpea harvest and last year’s straw to protect the seedlings because I didn’t want the sun to dry up the little rain that fell.
24. SHURAHI: Do you know we have a name for this thing you’ve done…
covering your bed with straw, leaves and tree bark mixed in with soil? We call it mulching.
25. YOHANNA: (TEASING) Isn’t that something? I know something that is in
your books… I, Yohanna?
26. SHURAHI: (SCOLDING) Baba Yohanna, you know a lot more than we have
in our books, let me tell you, Sir. In fact I’m writing a book which is filled with all I’ve learned from you and other farmers …things I didn’t learn in school.
27. YOHANNA: (IMPRESSED) You are writing a book? Hmn.
28. SHURAHI: Yes. I have to. (PAUSES A BEAT) I mean, look at your
vegetable garden! You’ve filled clay pots with water and buried them next to your vegetable seedlings. That way they supply water directly to the roots. It’s fantastic! It’s cheaper and easier than the trickle and drip irrigation I tried to introduce to the farmers.
29. YOHANNA: Well I watched your demonstration of the drip and trickle
irrigation kits, Shurahi, and I liked them very much. You know, you’re the best extension officer we’ve ever had. You’re interested in both the old and the new. I’m very impressed with your attitude, Shurahi.
30. SHURAHI: (EMBARRASSED, IGNORES HIS COMPLIMENT. AFTER
A PAUSE) Yes, the irrigation kits are very good. But your clay pot method works too. The beauty of it is that you are using materials that are locally available.
31. SFX: RUSTLING SOUNDS OFF MIC, THEN COMING ON AS…
32. BALA: (COMING ON MIC) What are you two so happy about so early
in the morning? Shura, what are you pestering Baba Yohanna for now?
33. SHURAHI: (PLEASED TO SEE HIM) Bala Manu! Or should I say Prince
Bala Manu! I’m not pestering anyone. Am I pestering you, Baba Yohanna?
34. YOHANNA: No way! Bala, my dear young man, how’s your father, the Abah
doing these days?
35. BALA: I have no idea. He’s in consultation with your cousin Moleke day
and night; we hardly see him.
36. YOHANNA: Must be important consultations.
37. BALA: Mnnh … so, Shura, tell me… what are you trying to teach Baba
Yohanna, today?
38. SHURA: (HISSES) Me? It’s the other way round. (EXCITED, GOING
SLIGHTLY OFF MIC) Come, come and see something. Isn’t that great?
39. BALA: (PUZZLED) What am I looking at?
40. SHURA: (IMPATIENT) Look at the irrigation system Baba Yohanna set
up for his vegetable garden.
41. BALA: Are you talking about the clay pot of water buried in the soil?
42. SHURA: Yes. Do you know that the water is seeping slowly through the
walls of the pot into the soil, providing water directly to the roots of the vegetables, exactly where it is needed? And it’s underground so there’s no evaporation?
43. BALA: Hmn … one pot of water will take a long time to seep out and
become empty.
44. YOHANNA: (QUICKLY) Ah, but you must cover the pot. Otherwise, the sun
will evaporate the water before the plants get much.
45. SHURA: (LAUGHS) And I imagine mosquitoes would love to breed in it if
you don’t cover the pot.
46. BALA: (TEASING) Well, Shurahi, there you are… admit it. Despite your
university education, we ordinary farmers know something you don’t.
47. SHURA: (LAUGHS) Who is we? Come on, Bala … I know you will make
a great farmer some day. But right now come and I’ll give you a tip about…
48. BALA: (INTERRUPTS) …In your dreams, Shura.
49. YOHANNA: (CHUCKLING) I will leave you youngsters to argue then. I’m
off. As for you, Bala, you’d be wise to listen to her. Shura is one of the best farmers I’ve ever known.
50. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 2
51. SFX: SCRAPING NOISE ON MIC, KNOCKS ON DOOR OFF
MIC.
52. YOHANNA: (ON) Who is it? Please enter.
53. SFX: DOOR OPENS AS…
54. MOLEKE: (COMING ON MIC) Yohanna? It’s me, Moleke.
55. YOHANNA: This is a surprise Moleke! How long has it been? Twenty years!
56. MOLEKE: Indeed. My my my, Yohanna. You’re looking well.
57. YOHANNA: Thanks. And you look well, too. You look like a very rich man.
Please. Won’t you sit?
58. MOLEKE: I actually arrived two weeks ago.
59. YOHANNA: I heard. By the way, thanks for all the nice things you gave my
wife, Choliba.
60. MOLEKE: Yes, yes. I was told that your wife died and you married again. I
brought you a little something. Here.
61. YOHANNA: My Goodness. Moleke… what are all these? This big radio, a
watch, and a French suit…ah ah ah. What are all these? Moleke, it’s too much. You know I can’t use half of what you’ve brought.
62. MOLEKE: (LAUGHS) Yohanna. Ever predictable! Anyway, you will accept
the gifts because you are my brother! The French suit may be a little too big. I didn’t realize you remained the same size.
63. YOHANNA: Unlike you. You have doubled in size. Thanks for the gifts. The
suit can be reduced, don’t worry.
64. MOLEKE: Nothing seems to have changed, Yohanna…I see you are still
mixing herbs and medicines…
65. YOHANNA: From what I have heard you haven’t changed either, Moleke. The
question is: why have you returned? Are you in some kind of trouble out there?
66. MOLEKE: (INDIGNANT) Of course not! Why would you think that?
67. YOHANNA: Because I know you, Moleke. You may fool everyone else. Why
have you come really?
68. MOLEKE: You think you know me…that was the Moleke of twenty years
ago. I just wanted to come home.
69. YOHANNA: Why now?
70. MOLEKE: I have made money – I mean real money. I wanted to do
something good for Mabudi. You know … spread the wealth around a bit.
71. YOHANNA: Is that so? Just like that you will share your money with everyone?
Okay. Then tell me, why did you stay away all these years?
72. MOLEKE: (MOCK LAUGH) You see, Yohanna, my brother … the day
Babamu disinherited me, I promised myself that I would show him that I could make it. I returned so he can see how rich I am only to be told he died! What a pity…
73. YOHANNA: (ANGRY) Moleke! Why, why do you talk as if you didn’t know
Babamu was dead?
74. MOLEKE: How could I have known?
75. YOHANNA: Oh, come off it! Just because I decided not to tell anyone doesn’t
mean I don’t know what you did.
76. MOLEKE: What are you talking about, Yohanna?
77. YOHANNA: I was there and saw everything. You killed Babamu, so stop
pretending.
78. MOLEKE: (SHOCKED) I, Moleke? I wasn’t even here – how could I have
killed him?
79. YOHANNA: (SADLY) I saw you, Moleke. I saw you come out of Babamu’s
room that night and before we knew it there was a fire so wild it razed down the whole building with Babamu locked inside.
80. MOLEKE: Yohanna, you really think I’m that evil, to set fire to my home and
kill my own father?
81. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CUT TO
SCENE 3
82. SFX: OUTDOORS NEAR THE ABAH’S PALACE AS SOUND
BED THROUGHOUT THIS SCENE.
83. SHURAHI: (COMING ON MIC) Hey Bala! Is the Abah in?
84. BALA: (PLEASED. ON MIC) Shurahi! What’s up?
85. SHURAHI: (ON) Look Bala, can you apologize for me?
86. BALA: Apologize for what?
87. SHURAHI: I made an appointment to see the Abah but see how dirty I am? I
can’t go in like this. Maybe I’ll come back tonight after I’ve washed up.
88. BALA: You do look like you’ve had a mud bath… how did you get so… I
mean …
89. SHURAHI: (INTERRUPTS) Dirty? Say it, Bala! I know I’m smelly. If
you’d been digging fertility trenches all day and handling manure and compost, you wouldn’t smell nice either, I promise you.
90. BALA: Fertility trenches? What are they?
91. SHURAHI: They are deep trenches that you dig and fill with layers of soil and
stuff like weeds, grass, manure and kitchen scraps.
92. BALA: Isn’t that like a compost heap?
93. SHURAHI: Sort of, yes. But this one is underground. The point of a fertility
trench is that, if you dig it at the start of or during the rainy season, the organic materials in the trench will absorb and hold the water for the crops you plant on the trenches during the dry season.
94. BALA: Wow Shura, you mean to tell me you actually dug trenches? On
whose farm?
95. SHURAHI: Pongo’s farm. And yes, I actually dug along with Pongo’s boys
and even his wife. Everyone chipped in. Even the little girls carried the small buckets of water that we sprinkled over the layer of scraps to help them rot.
96. BALA: You’ll have to show me how this is done. But I wouldn’t let you
get so dirty if you came to help me on my farm.
97. SHURAHI: I don’t know what you are talking about. Is it possible to do farm
work and not get dirty?
98. BALA: But you don’t have to actually do the work…you are a university
graduate, for heaven’s sake!
99. SHURAHI: (INDIGNANT) That is soooo… mmph! I mean, I studied
agriculture because I wanted to be a farmer who helped other farmers. So what do you expect me to do?
100. BALA: Don’t get so vexed! Anyway, what you are doing here in Mabudi
is admirable. But I know soon you will get fed up and go to the city to take a big job in an office.
101. SHURAHI: (BOTH LAUGHING) Okay, no problem. The day you leave for
the city, me too I’ll go. How’s that?
102. BALA: (STILL LAUGHING) Okay, okay. Hey Shura, did you hear the
latest about cutting up every bit of land in Mabudi for tomato farming?
103. SHURAHI: (GRAVE) Yes, everyone’s talking about it. I even came to talk to
the Abah about the dangers of it.
104. BALA: Dangers? How?
105. SHURAHI: Bala, listen. Much of the land around Mabudi is too dry; it’s not
suitable for growing water-thirsty crops like tomatoes on such a large scale.
106. BALA: I agree, but I understand Moleke will commission the sinking of
boreholes to provide water for irrigating the gardens.
107. SHURAHI: Yes, that’s what your father, the Abah, told me. That in fact is the
worst thing that can happen to Mabudi.
108. BALA: Why do you say that, Shura?
109. SHURAHI: I’ve heard talk about ten boreholes or more. I’m afraid that
using so much ground water will exhaust the underground supply and then we’ll really be in trouble. Everything would turn to dust. I’d give it ten years maximum.
110. BALA: I’m sure you know what you are saying, but can it really be that
bad?
111. SHURAHI: I wish it were not true, but I’ve seen this happen elsewhere, trust
me. Planting the same crop year in and year out won’t help either. The soil will be depleted of nutrients. They may harvest a good crop to begin with, but it won’t last. The land will become dusty and arid.
112. BALA: (THOUGHTFUL) Hmmm…. When you told my Dad, what did
he say?
113. SHURAHI: (SIGHS) I’m afraid he didn’t believe me. Moleke has
brainwashed everyone to believe they will become millionaires. No one wants to hear a counter opinion.
114. BALA: That’s too bad. I’ll try and talk to him… tell him all you’ve told
me. Though I fear he may not listen to me either.
115. SHURAHI: Bala, you have to try hard. I’m telling you this whole proposal is a
bad idea.
116. BALA: Okay. Now please tell me how you make fertility trenches.
117. SHURAHI: (LAUGHS) Bala! You are still thinking about fertility trenches?
118. BALA: Of course. I like the sound of it. Besides I’d like to make some to
catch the rains before they stop. So tell me, tell me.
119. SHURAHI: (AMUSED) You know what people call someone like you in my
hometown?
120. BALA: (AMUSED) What?
121. SHURAHI: Hot roasted yam! Because you must eat it before it cools.
122. BALA: Good – so now you know. Tell me quick about these fertility
trenches…
123. SHURAHI: Okay, okay. It’s not too hard. Dig a trench…one metre deep… if
you stand in it, this will come up to your waist, Bala. Make it one metre wide… use a rope to measure your foot up to your waist, that’s about one metre. The length should be six metres or more, if you want more growing space.
124. BALA: Okay, one metre deep, one metre wide and six metres long. What
next?
125. SHURAHI: Then you fill the trench. Make a first layer by putting rubbish and
stuff that can decompose… you know … weeds, grass, grain stalks, bones, kitchen scraps, manure….from the bottom of the trench up to 30 centimetres.
126. BALA: Hold on, let me get this… I put up to 30 centimetres of rubbish in
the trench … how much is that exactly?
127. SHURAHI: Look, Mr. hot roasted yam! (BOTH LAUGHING) Okay, Prince
Bala. There’s no exactly in these things… you can gauge 30 centimetres as the distance from your elbow to your wrist. So that is your first layer, from your wrist to your elbow, of rubbish that can rot…
128. BALA: (INTERRUPTS) Do I have to put my hand in to the rubbish to
measure up to my elbow? Yuck!
129. SHURAHI: Bala, be serious! The yuck will actually become great plant food in
a short while. Anyway, if you like, you can measure it with rope. Next you should sprinkle some water over the rubbish, about two buckets if available. That will help the rubbish rot.
130. BALA: Thanks, Shura. I’ve got it.
131. SHURAHI: Wait! I’m not finished. All you’ve got so far is a deep hole with
some rubbish in it. If you leave it like that, rain will make a pool in it and folks will be falling into it and drowning.
132. BALA: (IMPATIENT) Okay, what next?
133. SHURAHI: Now you add 10 centimetres of soil…that’s from your wrist to the
base of your middle finger, all right? Then add another 30 centimetres of organic scraps, then 10 centimetres of soil, layer by layer like that. Then you fill the trench up with scraps to just below ground level to allow runoff water to collect in the trench, and a thin layer of soil. Last, you cover the trench with a layer of leaves and grass to keep the soil from drying out.
134. BALA: Good. So what do I do with this trench when I’m through? Eh,
Shura?
135. SHURAHI: Are you trying to annoy me? Why have I wasted time telling you
about fertility trenches if you don’t even know why you need them?
136. BALA: (LAUGHS) I was just playing with you… Of course, I need the
thing. I know I can plant really good stuff there – sweet potatoes, vegetables, watermelon, the works…
137. SHURAHI: You can even grow fruit trees, did you know that? Anyway, I’ve
talked enough for one day. (GOING OFF MIC) Bye bye, Bala, I’m going home…
138. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD AND UNDER…
139. NARRATOR: Well, friends. The cousins finally came face to face and it wasn’t a
pretty picture, what with accusations and denials. Who is telling the truth about Babamu, their father’s death? Only time will tell.
Today we learned quite a lot about both old and new farming methods. Yohanna and Shurahi! What a duo! A more different and at the same time similar pair you will not find. Bala Manu, the Prince of Mabudi, is sticking close to this pair these days. Clever man! Shouldn’t we also pay close attention? Just today I have learned about mulching my beds and ridges to minimize moisture loss, ehm … irrigation of plants using sunk clay water pots and fertility trenches…I can’t wait to go and try these on my farm. And I bet you can’t wait to find out what will happen next in my little hometown, Mabudi. Just stay tuned.
140. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, AND FADE UNDER CLOSING
CREDITS
THE END
Script written by Data Alison Phido, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 4
March 2006
______________________________________________________________________________
Episode 4
CAST
NARRATOR
MOLEKE
THE ABAH MANU
BABI
CHOLIBA
SULEIMAN
TITI
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD AND FADE UNDER OPENING
ANOUNCEMENTS OF PROGRAM TITLE ETC. THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Welcome friends to our little quiet town of Mabudi which is on
the brink of a major upheaval. Whether it will be for good or for bad we just have to wait and see… Meanwhile, the Abah Manu’s attention is completely focused on the scheme that will rake in the millions that Moleke has promised. Any surprise that they are thick as thieves these days?
As Moleke’s plan to cultivate only tomato and salad vegetables on mostly inappropriate lands moves into high gear, the Abah Manu seems to have caught the fever of greed for which there is no remedy. Just how far these two will go to satisfy their god of money may surprise you… anyway, let’s listen.
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADE TO…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: FOOTSTEPS AS MOLEKE ENTERS AMIDST PEOPLE
TALKING.
5. MOLEKE: (COMING ON MIC, LOUDLY) Good day, our dear father of
Mabudi.
6. ABAH: (ON) Ah – ah – ah, there enters the beloved son of the land, the
High Chief himself, Moleke.
7. MOLEKE: (ON) Thank you very much, my King.
8. ABAH: In fact I have been waiting for you, illustrious son of the soil.
9. MOLEKE: I am greatly honoured, your Highness.
10. ABAH: (AS IF JOKING) Well, as you people can see, when little fish
want to feed from the bait on a fisherman’s hook, they disappear at the coming of a big fish. (THEY RESPOND WITH SOME INAUDIBLE VOICES)
11. MOLEKE: (CHUCKLES) You are correct, my King.
12. ABAH: (NOW SERIOUS) Simply put, I want everybody out of this
palace because I have a very crucial matter to discuss with the gold fish of Mabudi. So scram all of you!
13. SFX: MULTIPLE FOOTSTEPS, SLIGHT COMMOTION AS
THEY ALL LEAVE IN A HURRY AND HUFF.
14. MOLEKE: (AFTER A BRIEF SILENCE) Once again I am most honoured.
15. ABAH: You deserve far more than you get, Moleke.
16. MOLEKE: Thank you, my King.
17. ABAH: (EXCITED) So, have you surveyed the guinea corn field you want
us to use for the tomato farm?
18. MOLEKE: (UNIMPRESSED) I have done that.
19. ABAH: Are you satisfied with what you saw?
20. MOLEKE: Well, as a seasoned businessman, I can say that the field, though
large, is far less than what we need.
21. ABAH: (DEFLATED) Really?
22. MOLEKE: Oh yes. The inputs I am planning for the land, like the boreholes,
the irrigation scheme, a fertilizer warehouse, a seedling store, etc… will need a very large field. Especially considering people’s response to the project so far.
23. ABAH: I am happy about the people’s response. It is very encouraging.
So what do we do now, my High Chief?
24. MOLEKE: Simple.
25. ABAH: (HAPPY) Great. I trust you will always have several solutions to
any problem. Let me hear you further.
26. MOLEKE: You need to add the grazing land.
27. ABAH: (SURPRISED) The grazing land?
28. MOLEKE: Yes. Don’t hesitate to release it for this money-spilling project.
29. ABAH: (STAMMERS) Bu…bu….but I was thinking that the grazing land
may be unsuitable for farming such water-loving crops. The land is high up there, very dry, quite stony and far from water.
30. MOLEKE: Land is land. What you are saying is probably rumour started by
the lazy herdsmen of Mabudi so that they can keep the land for their use only.
31. ABAH: (NOT TOO HAPPY BUT RALLIES) You know you have a
point, my High Chief. (PAUSES A BIT) Yes! After all, in other places herdsmen are nomadic. Let our herdsmen too move around in search of grazing lands.
32. MOLEKE: Precisely. Other herdsmen don’t get glued to one location like
they do here. Our herdsmen too must be told to move round and graze other lands.
33. ABAH: The problem is that, over the years, that piece of grassland has
been reserved for herdsmen of our village and Jantale.
34. MOLEKE: That must change. After all, the multi-million naira [USE LOCAL
CURRENCY] tomato project is for this village also.
35. ABAH: Once again you are correct, Moleke. But will the people not
protest violently if that land is taken from them?
36. MOLEKE: Are you no longer the great King of Mabudi?
37. ABAH: (ELATED) Of course I am.
38. MOLEKE: All you need to do is to give an order that, henceforth, nobody
grazes on that land, and that whoever does so will answer bitterly to his Highness. That’s all.
39. ABAH: (LAUGHING) Moleke. You make it sound so easy. Anyway, we
shall see.
40. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CUT TO …
SCENE 2
41. SFX: OUTDOORS: SOUND OF CHICKENS AND GOATS AS
SOUND BED OFF MIC. QUICK FOOTSTEPS COMING ON MIC.
42. CHOLIBA: (COMING ON) Hello, the Queen of Mabudi.
43. BABI: (ON) Choliba, you can say that again.
44. CHOLIBA: Our dear Queen, the beauty of the land, she who must be
appreciated and honoured. (THEY BOTH LAUGH)
45. BABI: I am so glad you have come.
46. CHOLIBA: How could I have done otherwise? How dare I say no to my friend
Babi, the Queen herself?
47. BABI: Thank you, Choliba.
48. CHOLIBA: Let’s sit under this tree and I’ll braid your hair, Babi.
49. BABI: Under this tree? Ehm… no.
50. CHOLIBA: Okay – where?
.
51. BABI: Let’s go over there, behind Titi’s bedroom window.
52. CHOLIBA: Your co-Queen?
53. BABI: (SNAPS) What co-Queen? There’s only one, my dear Choliba.
54. CHOLIBA: (QUICKLY) Of course! What was I thinking?
55. BABI: Yes. Let’s sit there. I want her to see how you will once again give
me the best hairstyle in this town.
56. CHOLIBA: My Queen, you have started again. Well, whatever you say.
(SILENCE) Let me help you carry our stools then.
57. SFX: STOOLS ARE PLACED ON THE BARE HARD FLOOR.
58. BABI: Honestly, I am happy you came, Choliba.
59. CHOLIBA: Right. All right … keep your head this way so that I can braid a
masterpiece to captivate and drive the Abah insane. (THEY LAUGH)
60. BABI: Not only that. I want this hairstyle to really aggravate the
jealousy of his other wives.
61. CHOLIBA: You are correct, my Queen, and you can trust I will do my best.
62. BABI: You know that I now control the Abah. I’m not boasting but he
will do whatever I want. If I don’t like something or someone, that’s it… it’s over.
63. CHOLIBA: (GLEEFULLY) Mnn … P-o-w-e-r! Everyone in Mabudi knows
that. It’s a popular gossip in town, but I don’t blame you. That is what you deserve for combining beauty and youth with royalty.
64. BABI: Oh Choliba! That one is deep, girl!
65. CHOLIBA: In fact it is rumoured that, when in court, the Abah bases his
judgments on your facial expressions – the way you respond to the issues and personalities involved.
66. BABI: Well I don’t know about that, Choliba …
67. CHOLIBA: But it’s true! He usually suspends court sittings when her
Highness, Babi, needs his attention.
68. BABI: (THEY LAUGH) Choliba, you are bad!
69. CHOLIBA: But Babi, don’t take this the wrong way…even though everything
shows he loves you, I personally couldn’t share my husband Yohanna with another woman at all.
70. BABI: It depends. Even though I’m the last wife, I have the power to stop
the Abah from spending the night in his other wives’ rooms if I want.
71. CHOLIBA: Really?
72. BABI: I mean it. Trust me. Let me tell you, he cannot visit even Titi
without my clearance.
73. CHOLIBA: And how is Titi taking it?
74. BABI: Who cares? She has no choice. If she is not careful she will be
thrown out of the palace to where she deserves. After all, she came in here without any real marriage rites.
75. CHOLIBA: Wow, Babi that’s explosive! No marriage rites?
.
76. BABI: As far as I am concerned, Titi is a mere resident concubine (THEY
LAUGH).
77. CHOLIBA: (TALKING SOFTLY) Please talk gently and quietly.
78. BABI: I’m staying by her window for this braiding, and I don’t care if she
can hear me. Let her talk I will deal with her.
79. CHOLIBA: (TO BABI) Turn your head that way. (SILENCE) Yes, yes …
(SURPRISED) Ha!
80. BABI: What is it, Choliba?
81. CHOLIBA: What a beautiful gold ring on your finger, Babi.
82. BABI: Ha! I took it from the Abah. And that very expensive radio
Moleke gave him now belongs to me.
.
83. CHOLIBA: You mean after all the special gifts Moleke splashed on you as the
Abah’s favourite wife, you still took these?
84. BABI: You haven’t heard anything yet!
85. CHOLIBA: Please, my Queen, tell me what is happening?
86. BABI: The Abah will be giving out chieftaincy titles to celebrate his
birthday.
87. CHOLIBA: Oh yes. And I heard Moleke will finally and officially be granted
the honour of High Chief, even though he has started answering to the title already.
88. BABI: Well, Choliba, on that same day, your friend Babi the favourite
Queen of Mabudiland, my very noble and sincere self, shall be honoured with the most deserving title of “Chief the Honourable Foremost Queen of the King’s Heart”.
89. CHOLIBA: Wow! Babi, I swear to God, you are so lucky (THEY GIVE
EACH OTHER HIGH FIVES)! Anyone who doesn’t like it can go and hang herself!
90. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 3
91. SFX: HURRYING FOOTSTEPS.
92. SULEIMAN: I heard you sent for me, your Highness.
93. ABAH: That is true. Well, without any unnecessary formalities, go and tell
all your fellow herdsmen in both Mabudi and Jantale that henceforth, no one is allowed to graze livestock on the communal pasture between the two communities again.
94. SULEIMAN: (SHOCKED) What?!
95. ABAH: Grazing can only take place on the north eastern tip near the
boundary between the two villages. Is that understood?
96. SULEIMAN: But why?
97. ABAH: Because I have said so and that is final.
98. SULEIMAN: (SCOFFS) It can’t be final, Abah.
99. ABAH: I say it is final and it is. Nobody, I repeat, nobody has what it
takes to say no when I, the Abah of Mabudi, say yes.
100. SULEIMAN: I cannot deliver that message to my fellow herdsmen. Not even if I
were the Abah himself.
101. ABAH: Why, if I may ask?
102. SULEIMAN: This is the pasture we have grazed for hundreds of years. A piece
of land we inherited from our ancestors. How can anybody suddenly decree that the land no longer belongs to us? Impossible!
103. ABAH: So long as this decision is for the benefit of the majority of the
Mabudi people, not even you and all your herdsmen put together can alter it.
104. SULEIMAN: (LAUGHING) I know the reason behind all this vague and
baseless pretended love for “the majority of the Mabudi people.” You want to take the land for your tomato-farming scheme. Who do you think is fooled?
105. ABAH: (GETTING ANGRY) How dare you talk to me with such
impudence, Suleiman?
106. SULEIMAN: You have always been greedy and selfish, never tiring of
desiring other people’s property.
107. ABAH: What the hell are you talking about?
108. SULEIMAN: Let me remind you, King … you will fail in this plan exactly as
you failed in your attempt to steal my wife–to–be.
109. ABAH: (CALLING) Guards! Guards!
110. SULEIMAN: Just as you were thwarted and publicly shamed over my wife–to–
be, shame and disgrace await you on this matter.
111. ABAH: (CALLING) Guards! Guards. Come and sweep away this stench
of a dirt from my presence.
112. SULEIMAN: No guard will dare to touch me. As I came on my own without a
push, so shall I go back. But King, I promise you, you will be massively humiliated and put to shame.
113. SFX: HURRIED FOOTSTEPS AS SULEIMAN LEAVES IN
ANGER.
114. ABAH: (OVER THE MIC) Suleiman – you dare talk to me like this? I tell
you, you will be sorry.
115. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
SCENE 4
116. SFX: A GENTLE KNOCK ON THE DOOR. SILENCE.
REPEATED KNOCK.
117. ABAH: Titi. Titi? (NO ANSWER) Titi, I know you are in. (SILENCE)
Open the door for me.
118. TITI: (OFF MIC) What do you want in my room at this time of the
night?
119. ABAH: What kind of a question is that, Titi? You mean as your husband I
cannot come into my wife’s room when I want? (SILENCE) Well, just open the door.
120. TITI: So what do you want? What do you want after telling the whole
world that I am a mere resident concubine and not even a wife?
121. ABAH: How could I have said such nonsense to anybody? Not even under
the influence of alcohol.
122. TITI: You are denying it. You are denying it because it is night and you
are here desperately attempting to relieve your emotions.
123. ABAH: I don’t understand you one bit, Titi.
124. TITI: (SARCASTIC) Did you receive express permission and clearance
from that fish mouth wife of yours called Babi before coming here?
125. ABAH: Oh I see. I see. Me, me the Abah of Mabudi needing clearance
from Babi before seeing you? God forbid.
126. TITI: Just leave me alone. Even if I am a mere resident concubine, I still
have the lock and key to my privacy.
127. ABAH: What kind of drama is going on here?
128. TITI: Drama? This is reality. You are nothing but a cheat and Babi’s
errand boy.
129. ABAH: Me? Me? Babi’s errand boy? You are overstepping your bounds,
Titi.
130. TITI: Tell me… tell me then how the radio that Moleke gave you as a
gift is now in Babi’s possession?
131. ABAH: But Titi! That radio is in my room as I talk with you now.
132. TITI: Go and tell that to the winds. What about the gold ring, you liar?
133. ABAH: Gold ring?
134. TITI: Look, I know all your plans. I know your plans to honour Babi
with a chieftaincy title.
135. ABAH: Titi, Titi. First it was the radio then the gold ring, and now
chieftaincy…
136. TITI: (CUTTING IN) And am I wrong in any detail? Do you think I’m
a fool? Dare you contradict me now? Can you?
137. ABAH: These matters can be gently settled without a fight or quarrel.
Open the door.
138. TITI: Let me warn you, I will not sit here as a lame senior wife to Babi
and swallow all this nonsense.
139. ABAH: Just open the door, Titi.
140. TITI: As the more senior wife to Babi, I must get that honour before her
or I promise you a big scene on that day.
141. ABAH: Just let me in. We can settle all this. Come on, Titi.
142. TITI: No, Abah. The resident concubine is not available tonight.
143. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD AND FADE UNDER…
144. NARRATOR: When a king decides to be greedy, selfish and uncaring, it
manifests not only in his relationship with his subjects, but also in his own home. The battle line is drawn and Titi has called the Abah on his unequal treatment of his wives. I wonder what will happen next. Tuning into the next instalment is a must.
145. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP AND UNDER END CREDITS.
THE END
Script written by Sam Kafewo, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 5
March 2006
_______________________________________________________________________
Episode 5
CAST
NARRATOR
YOHANNA
KOI-KOI
SULEIMAN
BALA MANU
THE ABAH MANU
MOLEKE
CHOLIBA
ZARA
_____________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD AND FADE UNDER OPENING
ANNOUNCEMENTS, UP AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Friends, welcome to the latest instalment in our story about the
village of Mabudi, which is undergoing some major changes since her prodigal son Moleke returned a year ago. Yes! A whole year has passed and the large-scale scheme to grow only tomatoes and salad vegetables on grasslands, including the old communal grazing land, is at its peak. Hardly anyone grows grains or any other crop these days. These are hard times for herdsmen in Mabudi as grazing land is grabbed and the remaining strip becomes overgrazed and bald. A solution, my friends, is urgently needed… Will they find it?
True to his promise, “Chief” Moleke did indeed sink a dozen or more boreholes, and installed machines to pump water over all the fields. Moleke is also the chief buyer and transporter of the produce to the coast. Some of our neighbours are holding their breath and looking forward to the promised prosperity. Will it materialize?
But what does the Prince Bala Manu really think of the tight friendship between Moleke and his father the Abah? And what kind of a leader is the Abah Manu? Our elders used to say that leadership is for those with the hearts of servants, and whose concern is for the lot of their people. How does the Abah measure up? (PAUSE) I talk too much. Let’s hurry to listen to Yohanna and his friends talk about their lives, the changes, the new values….
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP AND FADES UNDER…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: OUTDOORS BY YOHANNA’S HOMESTEAD. SOUNDS OF
CHICKENS, DOGS, GOATS AND SHEEP INTERMITTENTLY AS SOUND BED.
5. YOHANNA: Koi-koi, my very good friend. Just apply the herbs as I instructed.
6. KOI-KOI: Thank you, Yohanna, for all your help. I should have made this
trip earlier.
7. YOHANNA: Before you finish these herbs, your whole family should be feeling
a lot better, every one of you.
8. KOI-KOI: Thank you, my friend, for making your good knowledge of herbs
readily available to me and my family.
9. YOHANNA: We thank God and Mother Nature. As for me, I did nothing but
take a little of the gifts kindly provided by God.
10. SFX: FOOTSTEPS. CLUCKING HENS, GROWLING DOG
SIGNIFYING SOMEONE’S APPROACH.
11. KOI-KOI: Is that Suleiman the herdsman coming? My God, he looks
emaciated!
12. YOHANNA: Yes, that’s him. The poor man is just returning from a grazing trip
with his whole family. They were gone for two good months.
13. SFX: FOOTSTEPS AND RACKET OF BUCKETS AND BASINS
SLOWLY COMING ON MIC.
14. KOI-KOI: Ah ah ah, Suleiman… You look exhausted, my friend.
15. SULEIMAN: Ah, Koi-koi my Jantale friend. How is life treating you?
16. KOI-KOI: Not too bad, except for the malaria that threatens my family.
17. SULEIMAN: If that is the case, with Yohanna here your problem is as good as
solved (THEY CHUCKLE)!
18. YOHANNA: That is precisely why he came … you can see the herbs with him
already.
19. SULEIMAN: God will continue to help us.
20. YOHANNA: Suleiman, how was your grazing trip?
21. SULEIMAN: Hmm Yohanna …this nomadic life one has been forced to start in
old age? It is not easy.
22. KOI-KOI: I understand you were away for eight solid weeks.
23. SULEIMAN: Yes, Koi-koi. Nearly eight weeks of avoidable stress and hardship
for my family.
24. YOHANNA: I know, Suleiman.
25. SULEIMAN: You both know how large my herd is?
26. KOI-KOI: Oh yes.
27. SULEIMAN: Since the Abah banned us from grazing on our ancestral pasture,
we’ve had to start roaming with the cattle and sheep in search of food. It has been very difficult.
28. YOHANNA: I do not personally believe that the community grassland should be
taken because the Abah and Moleke want to plant tomatoes. It is unjust.
29. KOI-KOI: In Jantale, we’ve heard that these vegetable gardens belong jointly
to the people of Mabudi. Is this true?
30. SULEIMAN: All lies and rumours! Who are these gardeners but the Abah and
Moleke his friend? We wanted to resist but they deceived us and used ruffians to harass and displace us, so we’ve left it to God.
31. YOHANNA: Terrible. The Abah doesn’t know who he’s dealing with though.
Knowing my cousin Moleke very well, the Abah will soon discover that he owns nothing.
32. KOI-KOI: What do you mean?
33. YOHANNA: You watch. Moleke will outsmart him soon enough and take sole
ownership of everything.
34. SULEIMAN: Now that the greedy collaborators have driven us from our grazing
pasture, the only land we had left was completely stripped by overgrazing in no time. All that’s left is a dust bowl.
35. KOI-KOI: Well, in my village of Jantale, our herdsmen have managed to
survive the banning, interestingly enough. We still graze our animals close by without totally stripping the land.
36. SULEIMAN: (EAGERLY) How do you do that? Sheep and goats in particular
will graze until nothing is left. You can hardly stop them once they start eating. So it would be nice to know how you graze and still have any grass left.
37. KOI-KOI: The Jantale herdsmen now use a method of grazing which is good
at restoring fertility to overgrazed land.
38. SULEIMAN: Thank God I met you here. You have to tell me, Koi-koi!
39. KOI-KOI: We are rotating the grazing fields and we are doing something
called bunching.
40. SULEIMAN: (ATTEMPTING TO PRONOUNCE IT) B-u-nch.
41. YOHANNA: Tell us how you did it, Koi-koi.
42. KOI-KOI: The entire community came together to plan what to do when the
biggest part of the grazing land was taken away. We knew that if we continued to graze individual herds separately the animals would destroy the land.
43. SULEIMAN: You are quite right… it’s happened with the land around here…all
patches and dust. Grass no longer grows there.
44. YOHANNA: Go on please, Koi-koi.
45. KOI-KOI: The first thing we did was make joint plans as to how our land and
water will be used by all. We divided up our grazing land into many individual grazing units and grazed all our animals close together on one unit only at a time.
46. SULEIMAN: What good will that do? They’ll eventually eat everything up.
47. KOI-KOI: Not the way we do it. We talked with our expert herders and our
agricultural extension officer to advise us on the amount of grass the livestock require. Now we rotate the herds and leave the land already grazed to grow back.
48. YOHANNA: That makes sense. Sounds to me like how we used to cultivate our
farms when I was a lad. We left lands fallow for a period, farmed elsewhere, then came back to the old field when the soil improved.
49. SULEIMAN: Let me understand you well, my friend. Everybody’s livestock
will be grazed together on one plot at a time? (CHUCKLES IN DISBELIEF)
50. KOI-KOI: Yes. Oh, I know some folks won’t like the idea. But you have to
come together as a community and agree on a solution. And this one works! The alternative is to be like Mabudi, which everyone can see has a serious problem.
51. YOHANNA: It’s not such an unreasonable idea, Suleiman. Think about it. If
everyone agrees, you graze your animals on one unit for a while …
52. KOI-KOI: … and you move on to the next grazing unit when the grass is lush
there, and before the cattle graze the first unit down to the roots.
53. SULEIMAN: I really like this idea. But our land is already poor. I wish we had
known about this before.
54. KOI-KOI: Suleiman, look … with determination and a plan, it is possible to
halt the destruction and start reclamation.
55. SULEIMAN: I definitely want to try it. But I must talk to all the herdsmen.
56. KOI-KOI: Now that you are back, you can come and see our grazing area.
Bunching helps the soil to become fertile. With bunching, you keep the animals close together. That way, they churn the maize stalk and other stubble into the soil, together with their urine and dung. All this provides good fertilizer for the grass that is trying to grow back.
57. YOHANNA: Well, Suleiman my neighbour, do you think it will work here?
58. SULEIMAN: I am prepared to try it. Anything that can help us restore the land
and stay in our homes is good news.
59. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND UNDER
SCENE 2
60. SFX: NOISE OF ACTIVITIES ON THE FARM. PUMPS SPLASH
WATER. SEVERAL FOOTSTEPS.
61. ABAH: I see that work is going on as planned.
62. BALA: So far so good, Baba.
63. ABAH: Bala my son, you can see that finally our dreams of making it real
big, I mean making cool money, are near reality.
64. BALA: Yes, Baba. I recruited lots of new labourers from around the whole
region to pick the unripe tomatoes today.
65. ABAH: Good. No wonder I see a lot of new faces.
66. BALA: We expect that we’ll be able to meet the weekly quota of three
dozen baskets today with no problem.
67. ABAH: (ELATED) Great! Let me call my friend Moleke and inform him
immediately. (SILENCE AS HE TRIES A CALL) Halo … yes … yes …this is the Abah. Correct. Yes. Okay. Just to inform you that the tomatoes are ready to be trucked tomorrow. Yes. That is true. (LAUGHING) No no no … I should thank you for all your help and guidance. Oh yes. Okay. True. Yes. Bye, my High Chief. (TO BALA) Wonderful son of the soil he is.
68. BALA: How much do we owe him so far?
69. ABAH: (SURPRISED) Owe? There is no talk of indebtedness.
70. BALA: Well, Moleke has a book into which he always scribbles things.
71. ABAH: I have myself seen him do that. But what does that have to do with
debts?
72. BALA: That is his debt book. Every seedling or fertilizer bag given to
anyone is recorded as a debt against the name of the person.
73. ABAH: Impossible! Moleke cannot turn round and charge me for items he
freely gave me!
74. BALA: We owe Moleke several thousand naira [USE LOCAL
CURRENCY] already.
75. ABAH: How can that be?
76. BALA: The three boreholes on our farms have to be paid for.
77. ABAH: You are not serious, Bala.
78. BALA: I am serious. The amounts of money I saw recorded against
people’s names are frightening.
79. ABAH: You must be joking.
80. BALA: We might all end up at the end of the day labouring for Moleke –
except for Yohanna.
81. ABAH: That is a lie, my son. Moleke my High Chief cannot do such a
thing. I don’t know where you hear such wicked lies.
82. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 3
83. YOHANNA: Moleke, you are welcome.
84. MOLEKE: Thank you.
85. YOHANNA: I am, however, a little bit uncomfortable that you rejected the
dinner served you.
86. MOLEKE: No no no. You don’t have to be uncomfortable with that. You
know I am being well taken care of by the Abah; he cannot see me come home to the table with my appetite spoiled by outside meals.
87. YOHANNA: Well, if you think the meals served to you here are outside meals,
then so be it. All the same, you are welcome.
88. MOLEKE: Thank you, Yohanna. Emm, have you heard of the big money that
wise farmers of Mabudi are earning? And after barely a year of cultivating tomatoes, carrots and cabbages?
89. YOHANNA: Of course I am aware.
90. MOLEKE: Don’t you regret not joining others to make this money?
91. YOHANNA: I don’t have to feel sorry for a decision I strongly believe was the
right one for me.
92. MOLEKE: But you have remained poor because of that decision.
93. YOHANNA: Whatever people’s feelings, including yours, I am always content
with my life, which people misunderstand to be poor. I can judge best what and how I feel.
94. MOLEKE: Well…
95. SFX: CHAIR CREAKS AS HE GETS UP.
96. YOHANNA: You want to go so soon?
97. MOLEKE: Yes, but not without telling you I want to repossess my land from
you.
98. YOHANNA: Your land?
99. MOLEKE: Yes. I mean my rightful inheritance as the only surviving son of
my father Babamu.
100. YOHANNA: Well, be reminded that Babamu himself personally gave me the
land on which I built this house and farm.
101. MOLEKE: I see.
102. YOHANNA: May I remind you also that it was in the presence of the whole
community that your father, my very dear uncle, gave me the land.
103. MOLEKE: (GETTING ANGRY) Look Yohanna, all that you did to turn my
parents against me and dispossess me of my inheritance will stop today.
104. YOHANNA: (CHUCKLES) There is nothing you can do that will wash clean
the black nose of a dog.
105. MOLEKE: Meaning what?
106. YOHANNA: Everybody in Mabudi knows your father disowned you and
disinherited you of any possessions. Returning to Mabudi with your questionable affluence and dazzling gullible people cannot undo that act.
107. MOLEKE: What garbage! I swear, Yohanna, I will take back my land as the
real son of Babamu.
108. YOHANNA: Why? To satisfy your greed? Or to destroy this land as you are
destroying other parts of Mabudi, and turning the whole area into a desert?
109. MOLEKE: You must be insane to be the only ingrate in Mabudi to see evil in
this wonderful project. Don’t you see that it’s making people rich?
110. YOHANNA: Rich? But for how long, Moleke, before both their lives and future
die?
111. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 4
112. SFX: CRASHING OF PLATES. OPENING AND CLOSING OF
CUPBOARD DOORS. DRAGGING OF TIN TRUNKS ACROSS FLOOR.
113. CHOLIBA: Oh my God, what is the matter, Zara?
114. SFX: MORE CRASHING OF PLATES.
115. CHOLIBA: I hope I am not talking to a deaf and dumb person. What are you
looking for and why are you making such a racket?
116. ZARA: I am looking for my late mother’s china plates and deep serving
dishes … and it looks like they are all missing.
117. CHOLIBA: (LAUGHING) So it’s because of those worthless old dishes that
you are frowning and banging all over the place?
118. ZARA: Worthless old dishes, did you say? Choliba, why don’t you mind
your own business?
119. CHOLIBA: Get ready to carry the twins for the rest of the day if you wake
them up with this noise.
120 ZARA: The dishes may be old but they are priceless; they were my late
mother’s marriage trousseau.
121. CHOLIBA: Well, I’m warning you not to wake my children … that’s all.
122. SFX: MORE DESPARATE SEARCH. MORE CRASHING. MORE
NOISE.
123. ZARA: I can’t find them. I can’t find my mother’s dishes. (TO
CHOLIBA) Choliba, are you sure you don’t have my mother’s china and dishes? Somebody better own up before a curse sticks to them.
124. CHOLIBA: If you must know, Zara, I exchanged them months ago for the
lovely necklace and veil I am wearing.
125. ZARA: (VERY ANGRY) What?! Choliba, you did what? You mean you
sold my inheritance for that gaudy necklace? Somebody must join my mother in the grave today, and that person is you.
126. SFX. HURRIED FOOTSTEPS. CRASHING PLATES AND
CUPBOARDS AS ZARA RUSHES AFTER CHOLIBA.
127. CHOLIBA: How dare you! How dare you!
128. SFX: MORE HURRIED FOOTSTEPS. MORE CRASHING OF
PLATES.
129. ZARA: (SCUFFLING NOISES) I will squeeze the life out of you today.
130. SFX: STRUGGLING FOOTSTEPS AS THEY FIGHT.
131. CHOLIBA: (CHOKING) Zara, Zara, leave my neck, leave my neck. Do you
w-w ant to kill me?
132. SFX: MORE SOUNDS AS BEFORE.
133. ZARA: I swear, I have had enough. Since you came to this house, you
have done your best to remind me and Hassan of my mother’s death. What kind of evil woman are you?
134. CHOLIBA: So did I kill your mother? Did I kill your mother? (CHOKING
SOUNDS AND YELLING) Neighbours!
135. ZARA: Neighbours or no neighbours, you will be buried today with this
stupid trinket if you don’t get my mother’s dishes back. You empty-headed, vacant skull, walking around pretending to be a human being.
136. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
137. NARRATOR: Greed has certainly arrived and made itself comfortable in Mabudi.
Every home seems infected by it… even Yohanna’s. Those who are afflicted want to take and take and put nothing back.
Something tells me the Abah Manu is going to be in shock soon when Moleke finally shows his hand. The Abah still considers Moleke a dear friend. He has never once asked himself why Moleke is playing the philanthropist. Bala has tried to warn him, but like the housefly that follows the corpse into the grave and gets buried, the Abah has rejected every warning and the grave seems imminent. There’s more so keep tuning in…
138. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD, AND FADE UNDER CLOSING
CREDITS.
THE END
Script written by Sam Kafewo, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 6
March 2006
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 6
CAST
NARRATOR
YOHANNA
ABAH
SHURAHI
BALA
ZARA
______________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD 0.05 AND FADE UNDER TITLE AND OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT, FADE UP, HOLD 0.05 AND FADE UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: A greedy soul is like Mother Earth. She never ever tires of
swallowing corpses. Nor is there ever any satisfaction. Isn’t it a lot like the stomach? If you eat a large meal today, does it mean you won’t ever be hungry again? And so it is with Moleke and the Abah, and several of their farmer friends in Mabudi. Grabbing land here and there … even the dry grasslands which were reserved for grazing by the community. Fertilizers, boreholes and generators to work the water pumps … all these changes squeeze the land to produce tons of tomatoes and vegetables for the time being. For how long will the Abah and his cohorts worship the god of greed? And how long can Yohanna hold on to his determination to be the kind of farmer Mabudi needs even when he stands alone?
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP AND CROSS FADES TO…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: AMBIENCE OF ABAH’S PALACE, VOICES AND DRUMS
OFF MIC.
5. YOHANNA: (CLEARS THROAT) That is why I came, my Abah.
6. ABAH: I am hearing you, Yohanna.
7. YOHANNA: Moleke has been threatening and harassing me over my land.
8. ABAH: I am listening. Go on, I am listening.
9. YOHANNA: Babamu, my late uncle, the man who was the only father I ever
knew after my own father died, gave me that land.
10. ABAH: Yessss …
11. YOHANNA: I began to farm on that land long before my uncle Babamu died.
You know that yourself, as does every person in Mabudi.
12. ABAH: Well Yohanna, I have heard you.
13. YOHANNA: I brought the matter before you because I do not want any trouble
with my cousin Moleke.
14. ABAH: Good.
15. YOHANNA: He should leave me alone to plant what I want on the land I
inherited and on which I have lived for decades. Talk to him.
16. ABAH: On the contrary, I think it is you I should talk to.
17. YOHANNA: Why?
18. ABAH: Since you have not done much on that land, I advise you to release
the land and let the High Chief Moleke make good use of it.
19. YOHANNA: (SHOCKED) What?! So that he can degrade my land and turn it
into a desert? Babamu would turn in his grave!
20. ABAH: (LAUGHING) Yohanna, the only brown patchy land in Mabudi is
that on which you insist on struggling to plant your corn, guinea corn and millet rather than the vegetables that all progressive farmers now grow.
21. YOHANNA: (SHOCKED) I can’t believe this.
22. ABAH: You’d better believe it. Or are you blind to the green of the
vegetables as far as the eye can see? Thanks by the way to your brother Moleke, who has provided boreholes and pumps to irrigate our farms.
23. YOHANNA: (STILL SURPRISED) What?
24. ABAH: Give that grossly underdeveloped land to the High Chief Moleke.
He will farm it for the benefit of Mabudiland.
25. YOHANNA: I see …
26. ABAH: Besides, Moleke is the direct heir to Babamu, being his only child.
27. YOHANNA: No, King. Moleke was disowned by Babamu publicly before he
died.
28. ABAH: You are correct, but far behind the times.
29. YOHANNA: What do you mean?
30. ABAH: As the Abah of Mabudiland, I have amended the rule. No parent
has the right any longer to disown his offspring.
31. YOHANNA: But even if that law is binding, it is coming into effect several
years after Babamu died.
32. ABAH: Yohanna, the law is retroactive.
33. YOHANNA: Meaning what?
34. ABAH: Simple. It means any such acts that happened in Mabudiland from
its beginning till now and as long as I live to enforce this law … remain null and void and of no effect.
35. YOHANNA: I see. I know who is behind all this.
36. ABAH: This law allows the High Chief to chase you out of that land, by
the use of force if necessary.
37. YOHANNA: High Chief?! What is this noise about High Chief?
38. ABAH: That is Moleke’s new position in Mabudi. In fact, he is also my
Chief Advisor and Prime Minister. So you see, Yohanna … Moleke is far above who you think he is.
39. YOHANNA: Then I cannot expect any justice. You want my land? Go on and
take it. But I will not let you turn it into a desert.
40. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 2
41. SFX: USUAL FARM NOISES, DISTANT SOUNDS OF
PUMPING MACHINES WORKING AND POURING WATER.
42. SHURAHI: (OFF MIC) Bala? Bala?
43. BALA: (ON MIC, EXITED) Zara? Hey Zara, I am in the hut, come
straight in. Mind your head….
44. SFX: GENTLE CAREFUL FOOTSTEPS AS SHE ENTERS THE
HUT.
45. SHURAHI: (SELF-CONSCIOUS LAUGH, COMING ON) I am not that
tall! Sorry Bala, you seem to have mistaken my voice for …
46. BALA: (CUTTING HER SHORT) Shura! It’s you! Well, well, well.
(LAUGHING) You sounded just like Zara (THEY BOTH LAUGH).
47. SHURAHI: (ON) Since when? It’s great what love can do. In spite of all the
work to do on this farm, all you can think about is Zara. Isn’t that nice?
48. BALA: (EMBARRASSED) Well, well, well …
49. SHURAHI: I hope you are not too disappointed at this case of mistaken
identity?
50. BALA: No, no no no. It’s all right.
51. SHURAHI: Everyone in Mabudi knows how madly in love you are with Zara.
52. BALA: No no no. Don’t mind them.
53. SHURAHI: Well, Bala, I am very impressed with the work you people are
doing here.
54. BALA: Thank you, Shurahi. Coming from an experienced farmer and
agricultural officer like you, I feel highly encouraged.
55. SHURAHI: My God. Tomato vines and lettuce, carrots and peppers, cabbages,
oooh! As far as the eye can see…it tells me what a hardworking farmer you are, Bala.
56. BALA: Thank you, Shura.
57. SHURAHI: But emm … Bala?
58. BALA: Yes.
59. SHURAHI: I am wondering why, after all this great work, you are not planting
grains also.
60. BALA: Grains? (HE BURSTS OUT LAUGHING) Grains?
61. SHURAHI: Yes, grains. Why the laughter?
62. BALA: Well, my father, the Abah himself, together with Moleke, has
scrapped the idea of growing grains for now.
63. SHURAHI: But why?
64. BALA: The focus for now is vegetables. In fact at least three dozen tomato
baskets and several baskets of salad vegetables are harvested from this farm every week.
65. SHURAHI: You must be very rich now, rich enough to marry your heartthrob
Zara (THEY LAUGH).
66. BALA: No no no. It’s not my money yet, and besides I have no plans to
marry soon.
67. SHURAHI: Look Bala, I am genuinely worried about Mabudi’s farmers.
68. BALA: (SURPRISED) Why?
69. SHURAHI: If the farmers continue to burn all the bushes and fields just to
grow vegetables, the entire area will be barren within a few years.
70. BALA: I don’t understand you, Shura. Everything is growing so well. You
can see for yourself.
71. SHURAHI: Bala, some of what you are doing to these fields is highly
damaging to the soil.
72. BALA: Tell me more.
73. SHURAHI: In a few short years this soil will be so degraded that it will no
longer support crops.
74. BALA: I am listening, Shura. But why exactly?
75. SHURAHI: For instance, too much ploughing damages the fragile topsoil. This
destroys the structure of the soil, making it easy for wind to blow it away. This is soil erosion.
76. BALA: Really?
77. SHURAHI: Think about the water being pumped out all over the lands. If
water doesn’t drain properly, it sits on the soil surface, and floods and kills the plant roots.
78. BALA: I can see how that would be a problem…
79. SHURAHI: In fact, Bala, if the water doesn’t drain, it can leave salt deposits on
the soil, which can kill the plants. And if the water runs off too quickly, it carries away the topsoil.
80. BALA: This is serious.
81. SHURAHI: All this burning of bushes also damages the soil. When the soil
isn’t covered, it’s exposed to wind and sun. It dries out and you get dust bowls. This is wind erosion.
82. BALA: I never thought of things in this way, Shura.
83. SHURAHI: Sinking so many boreholes and pumping so much groundwater to
irrigate the farms may soon use up the groundwater. Then there will really be trouble with the land. Also, planting the same crop over and over again will deplete the soil of nutrients. And using too much fertilizer can cause the soil to become toxic.
84. BALA: This is very serious. I am also worried, Shurahi, but my father and
the others are expecting, you know, quick money. They don’t want to hear any counter arguments. So what do we do?
85. SHURAHI: Several things. Diversify the crops you plant. If you’re careful
with soil and water, you can grow your tomatoes along with some other crops. Another thing is to return organic matter to the soil by growing cover crops like velvet beans, sunn hemp, clover and green manure crops between your main corps. After harvest, dig the cover crops into the soil.
86. BALA: This is a bright idea. But what do we say to these get-rich-quick
farmers. Will they listen?
87. SHURAHI: They should, because it is possible to make money and still
manage our land properly. That way it can remain fertile for our children’s children.
88. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE TO…
SCENE 3
89. SFX: THE BENCH ZARA HAD BEEN SITTING ON FALLS
OVER WITH A CRASH AS SHE IS SURPRISED BY THE ABAH.
90. ZARA: You are welcome, Abah.
91. ABAH: Thank you, Zara. Go and call your father, Yohanna. What are you
doing sitting here by yourself?
92. ZARA: My father is in the forest. As you can see, I am busy reading. But
let me get you some water, or will it be tea?
93. ABAH: No, no don’t bother.
94. ZARA: Well …
95. ABAH: You see, Zara, I have been watching you grow over the years and I
cannot believe how lovely you have become.
96. ZARA: Thank you.
97. ABAH: (LOWERING HIS VOICE) So Zara, who is your fortunate male
lover and admirer?
98. ZARA: I am not interested in such matters.
99. ABAH: You can’t be serious.
100. ZARA: I am very serious.
101. ABAH: How can such a lovely girl like you have no suitor? You mean all
men in Mabudi are blind?
102. ZARA: Whether they are blind or have four eyes is none of my business.
103. ABAH: Well, well, well Zara, I humbly offer myself in that case.
104. ZARA: (BURSTS INTO LAUGHTER) For what?
105. ABAH: I want to marry you and make you the best queen Mabudi will ever
have.
106. ZARA: (GETTING A LITTLE BIT ANGRY) God forbid!
107. ABAH: (LAUGHING) I love this. You know it is good to play hard-to-
get. This is far more exciting for me than an outright acceptance.
108. ZARA: (ANGRY) You should be going.
109. ABAH: Ah ah, Zara. Just like that?
110. ZARA: I want to run an errand before my father returns.
111. SFX: FOOTSTEPS AND COMMOTION AS HE MOVES TO
GRAB HER.
112. ZARA: What are you doing? Why are you grabbing me like that?
113. SFX: STRUGGLE, THEN A SHARP SLAP.
114. ZARA: Get your hands off me!
115. SFX: STRUGGLES. SHE PUSHES HIM AND HE FALLS TO
THE FLOOR IN PAIN. HURRIED FOOTSTEPS.
116. ABAH: Ah – ah – ah. Zara, you want to kill me? (SHOUTING IN PAIN)
You pushed me down! Ah – ah look at this girl, you’re strong. Come back here, my God. Did you see how strong she is? I like it. I like it.
117. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
SCENE 4
118. SFX: FARM SOUNDS. YOHANNA’S FARM.
119. YOHANNA: Thank you for coming to my farm, Shurahi.
120. SHURAHI: I promised I’d come, Baba Yohanna. As usual I am greatly
impressed with your farm.
121. YOHANNA: Hmm? … I am worried about the rains … they’re so little and so
late. It is a struggle nowadays to grow grains when everyone has jumped on the vegetable bandwagon.
122. SHURAHI: I quite understand your fears and concern.
123. YOHANNA: As if that wasn’t enough, greedy souls are eyeing my land.
124. SHURAHI: It seems they all want to turn their farms into vegetable gardens to
make some fast money.
125. YOHANNA: But I have made up my mind never to do something just because
everybody else is doing it.
126. SHURAHI: I appreciate your style of farming above all others. The way you
cultivate this land, the land will not only be preserved but will keep yielding.
127. YOHANNA: Thank you, my daughter.
128. SHURAHI: If only others would learn from the way you plant cover crops like
beans between your sorghum and maize rows.
129. YOHANNA: Thank you, Shura.
130. SHURAHI: I see that you also turn crop residues back into the soil. That’s
good. Then they can rot and enrich the soil as well as hold water in the soil when rain falls. (PAUSE) And I see you are growing Tephrosia. This is a wonderful plant. You can turn it back into the soil, but it has many other uses as well.
131. YOHANNA: Yes, we use its leaves as an insecticide. You can also use the
branches for firewood.
132. SHURAHI: I have heard that it keeps rats away as well.
133. YOHANNA: Yes, that is what our fathers taught us. (PAUSE) I can’t thank you
enough for visiting and encouraging me, Shura.
134 SHURAHI: Oh Baba Yohanna, you have nothing to thank me for. I love it on
your farm. I love coming here.
135. YOHANNA: And you are welcome any time you want, Shura.
136. SHURAHI: By the way, Baba Yohanna … I told you about the fertility
trenches we made in Pongo’s farm, right?
137. YOHANNA: You did. I went to see. Nice work, Shura.
138. SHURAHI: If you like, I can ask Mr. Jeb, my colleague from Jantale, to give us
a hand to dig some here for you. Some more rain, no matter how little, will eventually fall before the dry season begins. With the trenches, your farm can store more moisture.
139. YOHANNA: Thank you, Shura. Fertility trenches here will be excellent.
140. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
141. NARRATOR: Friends … fields and fields of tomatoes and cabbages are all you
will see now if you visit the farms of Mabudi. Except of course Yohanna and a handful of skeptical farmers. They distrust Moleke and a farming method that is based on growing one type of crop season in, season out. Where, my friends, do you stand on this matter?
And did you notice the Abah tussle with Zara right in her father’s house? What’s with that? Why was he even there in the first place? We’ll find out more as we continue to listen. Tune in next time.
142. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADE UP AND FADE UNDER CLOSING
CREDIT.
THE END
Script written by Sam Kafewo, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 7
March 2006
_______________________________________________________________________
Episode 7
CAST
NARRATOR
HASSAN
ZARA
MOLEKE
THE ABAH MANU
BALA MANU
NARRATOR
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS 0.05, AND CROSS
FADES TO…
2. SFX: RADIOS BLARING, MOTOR BIKES SPEEDING UP AND
AWAY, CARS HONKING, GENERAL NOISE SUSTAINED 0.03 AND FADE UNDER…
3. NARRATOR: Ah friends, the noise, the noise! I have had to move far away so
that I can to talk to you, but there’s no getting away from it. Noise … everywhere! Radios, music sets, electric generators, motorbikes and bicycles. Goodness! People can’t get enough of these gadgets! Yes, my friends…that’s Mabudi these days. Three years have passed and it’s hard to picture the way it was – a pristine and sleepy little town… It’s three years since Moleke first returned and sold the idea of turning every inch of land into vegetable gardens. New prosperity has come to those who joined Moleke’s and Abah Manu’s bandwagon!
But that’s not all, friends. You will recall that Moleke planned to oust Yohanna from his land with the Abah’s support? All Yohanna has left today, let me tell you, is a distant, stony and rocky hillside plot nobody wants. What can he do with such land? Is the day of greed and evil never to end? We will just have to wait and see.
4. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS, AND FADES UNDER
SCENE 1
5. SFX: OUTDOORS IN FRONT OF YOHANNA’S HOUSE.
DISTANT TOWNSHIP NOISES AS SOUND BED, MOTOR BIKES AND CARS DRIVE BY FROM TIME TO TIME. SOUND OF CHICKENS AND GOATS IN THE BACKGROUND.
6. ZARA: (MUMBLES THEN GIVES A SUDDEN YELP IN PAIN) Ooi!
Oh my God! (SHE THROWS THE CONTENTS OF THE SEWING BOX TO THE GROUND WITH A CLATTER.)
7. SFX: SOUND OF TIN CONTAINER FALLING AND THE SOUND
OF BOUNCING COVER AND WOODEN THREAD SPOOLS ON A HARD FLOOR.
8. ZARA: Stupid needle. Stupid, stupid needle!
9. SFX: SOUND OF DOOR OPENING AND SLAMMING SHUT AS
HASSAN RUNS OUT OF THE HOUSE ALARMED.
10. HASSAN: Zara, are you okay? (PAUSE ONE BEAT) Don’t worry, let me
pick them up.
11. ZARA: (IN ANGER AND PAIN) Ooh, this stupid needle has wounded
me. Hassan, I am just fed up with this kind of life. Why does Baba have to be such a pushover?
12. SFX: SOUNDS AS SEWING TOOLS ARE DROPPED BACK IN
TIN CONTAINER.
13. HASSAN: (SOOTHING) Calm down, Zara. What has the needle got to do
with Baba?
14. ZARA: (PASSIONATELY) It has everything to do with Baba. Why do I
have to sew and patch this stupid tattered dress? (FLINGS DRESS AWAY) Here – you can have it for all I care.
15. SFX: SOUND OF STOOL FALLING OVER AS HASSAN JUMPS
AWAY.
16. HASSAN: (CRIES OUT) Zara! Why did you fling your sewing at me? Do
you want to blind me with it? Ha! See! The needle is still dangling from it.
17. ZARA: Sorry, Hassan. Please … I’m very sorry. (SIGHS) I cannot
understand how Baba can stand there and watch his cousin Moleke take over all his land, while his family dies of poverty.
18. HASSAN: (PLACATING) There was nothing Baba could do about that.
Let’s just move on and carry on with our lives.
19. ZARA: How can we carry on with our lives? What’s left of it anyway…
rags and empty pots?
20. HASSAN: Empty pots! Ha, Zara that is not quite…
21. ZARA: (CUTS IN) Ok, how many times do we eat in a day?
22. HASSAN: Well… maybe… eh even then… maybe not like before, but…
23. ZARA: (TRIUMPHANTLY) But what? Listen, Baba is never going to
change. People will always push him around. We are stuck in this condition until we die of hunger or Moleke buys us out spirit, body, and soul.
24. HASSAN: It has not come to that yet.
25. ZARA: We are almost there, Hassan. That land Moleke left for Baba is
nothing but dry rocks on a steep hill. He will need a magician to make anything grow on it.
26. HASSAN: I’ve heard that it is possible to improve the land.
27. ZARA: (LAUGHS) Improve that rocky wasteland?! Hassan, you talk as if
you have not seen the land.
28. HASSAN: Well, Shurahi was saying something about some ditches you can
make to help the land?
29. ZARA: (LAUGHS) Hassan, you believe everything you hear.
30. HASSAN: Anyway, I’m not worried. I’m sure Baba knows what he is doing.
He is just a man of peace.
31. ZARA: (CYNICALLY) Yes indeed, and has peace brought him any more
cows? The land was rightfully ours; Moleke has enough money as it is. Does Baba want us to remain poor forever?
32. HASSAN: Zara, you know that is Baba’s nature – gentle and peaceful.
33. ZARA: (IRRITATED) Yes, but where does that get him and his family?
(EMPHATICALLY) At the bottom of the rubbish heap!
34. HASSAN: (DISAPPROVINGLY) I don’t know about that. Baba works
harder than many younger people. He is bound to make it one of these days.
35. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
SCENE 2
36. SFX: A CAR DRIVES UP AND STOPS OFF MIC. CAR DOOR
OPENS AND CLOSES. PAUSE 3 BEATS AND…
37. MOLEKE: Greetings, your Royal Highness! The King that will soon be richer
than rich. You are looking more majestic than ever. I only wish that one day I will be worthy of standing on the same soil as someone so great as yourself, O Mighty Abah Manu of Mabudi.
38. ABAH MANU: (LAUGHS SELF CONSCIOUSLY) Moleke, you are too kind.
39. MOLEKE: (FLATTERING) Not only are you mighty, you are wiser than the
owl in the forest. Thank you for approving the planting of tomatoes, peppers and salad vegetables everywhere.
40. ABAH MANU: Ah Moleke, I would not have been able to do this without your
great wisdom.
41. MOLEKE: Your Highness, you are the wise one…
42. ABAH MANU: (CUTS IN) No…no… I thank you once again for honouring your
word and providing us with the wells and pumps.
43. MOLEKE: Your Highness, everybody is singing your praises because they are
earning more money.
44. ABAH MANU: Indeed, this way of farming has brought great rewards.
45. MOLEKE: Oh yes, the vegetables are doing so well. Can you imagine what
would happen if we extended our project to the forest?
46. ABAH MANU: (PUZZLED) The forest … how do you mean?
47. MOLEKE: Think of the streams and the vegetation… think of how quickly
things grow in the forest…
48. ABAH MANU: (CUTS IN, EXCITED) Wait a minute, you mean…
49. MOLEKE: Exactly!
50. ABAH MANU: Wait! You mean to plant vegetables in the forest?
51. MOLEKE: (GLEEFULLY) Absolutely!
52. ABAH MANU: Good God! That sounds fantastic! There’s plenty of land right
there…Plants grow so well in the forest…
53. MOLEKE: (CUTS IN) …that they may not even need fertilizers! Ah, great
Abah, I knew that your great intelligence would see the fortune that is wasting in the forest.
54. ABAH MANU: (PONDERING) Yes, that is true… it is almost like magic. Even
when it doesn’t rain, plants grow everywhere.
55. MOLEKE: Yes, your Highness. I see that you are not only great and wise but
observant as well.
56. SFX: MOLEKE CLEARS THROAT SLIGHTLY, AFRAID TO
BURST THE BUBBLE.
57. MOLEKE: But there is a small problem though …mmmh, very small.
58. ABAH MANU: Really? What is the problem?
59. MOLEKE: Well, not really a problem… but you know wherever there is
progress there are always enemies of progress.
60. ABAH MANU: Unfortunately that is true, Moleke.
61. MOLEKE: Well… my dear cousin Yohanna, enemy–of–progress–number–
one, may have something to say about our plan.
62. ABAH MANU: Hmn! That one? Well, he disagrees with everything. If he didn’t
disagree with our progressive ideas, wouldn’t you think something was wrong? Don’t worry. There will be no problem.
63. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO…
SCENE 3
Zara & Hassan are outside of their house husking corn.
64 SFX: SOUND OF CORN FALLING INTO PLASTIC
TRAYS/BOWLS.
65. ZARA: Ooh! This job is killing me, Hassan! Do you think we have enough
for supper?
66. HASSAN: Don’t ask me – you are the one who’s going to pound it.
67. ZARA: You are dreaming! I am very tired.
68. SFX: (OFF) IMPATIENT SOUND OF BICYCLE BELL. CRY OF
ALARM, “HEY YOU! DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME? CAN’T YOU LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING?” GRUMBLING CONTINUES, THEN FADES.
69. ZARA: Mhh … does he have to knock everybody down because he bought
a new bicycle?
70. HASSAN: (CHUCKLING) Zara, how does the man’s bicycle concern you?
71. ZARA: (PIQUED) Very soon there will be more bicycles in this village
than people.
72. HASSAN: (WRYLY) Very soon there will be more of EVERYTHING in this
village.
73. SFX (OFF ) SOUND OF RADIO CARRIED BY SOMEONE
APPROACHING, PASSING BY AND FADING.
74. ZARA: Ah ha! Another one showing off his newfound wealth. Hassan, do
you know that I’m ashamed to walk on the streets?
75. HASSAN: (LAUGHS, TEASING) Why? Did you steal somebody’s goat?
76. ZARA: I’m not joking, Hassan. Can’t you see that every family has
become rich except ours? We are the only ones with nothing new to show off.
77. HASSAN: Yes, I know. I just wish your “favourite uncle” Moleke had never
come back to this village.
78. ZARA: Whose uncle? He is not my uncle! Not mine.
79. HASSAN: (CONSPIRATORIALLY) And here comes your favourite
admirer.
80. ZARA: Where? Where? (SEES BALA MANU & HISSES) Hassan, I will
throw this corn at you.
81. SFX: NOISE AND CLATTER AS HASSAN (LAUGHING)
ATTEMPTS TO AVOID ZARA’S ATTACK.
82. BALA MANU: (COMING ON MIC) Ha! Hassan, looks like you are under attack.
83. HASSAN: (STILL LAUGHING) Oh Bala, how are you?
84. BALA MANU: Good day, Zara. You are working real hard.
85. ZARA: (SUCKING HER TEETH, SARCASTIC) What’s good about
my day? Why are you here – don’t you and your father have any more farms to steal?
86. HASSAN: (OUTRAGED) Ah! Zara!
87. BALA MANU: Zara, I’m really sorry. I keep telling you I had nothing to do with
it. I have always loved and admired your father.
88. ZARA: (SARCASTIC) So you show your love by stealing from the
person you claim to love?
89. BALA MANU: Honestly Zara, I don’t know what to say.
90. ZARA: You could have done something to stop it. After all, Abah Manu is
your father.
91. BALA MANU: Unfortunately my father never listens to me. (PAUSE) Mhh … so
what will your father do now?
92. ZARA: Haven’t you heard that all they left us is a stony worthless strip of
land miles from the village?
93. BALA MANU: Once again I apologize on behalf of my father. I …er… Hassan, see
you later. (GOING OFF).
94. HASSAN: Don’t mind my sister, Bala. See you later. (TO ZARA) Zara, why
were you so rude to Bala? Don’t you know that he is not involved in all this?
95. ZARA: How do you know? Everyone in his family only cares about
money… greedy pigs.
96. HASSAN: Zara, are you blind?! Can’t you see that Bala likes you?
97. ZARA: Well, I had better run before he shows me the kind of love his
people have shown my father.
98. HASSAN: Sometimes you really are a case. Anyone can tell that he likes you
a lot.
99. ZARA: Hassan, I don’t like that kind of joke – please stop! If you don’t
have anything sensible to say, just shut up!
100. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 4
At Abah Manu’s Palace
101. MOLEKE: Your Highness! You are so lucky to have most of the forest land in
Mabudi.
102. ABAH MANU: Yes, that is rather fortunate. We don’t have to convince a lot of
ignorant people how profitable planting in the forest can be.
103. MOLEKE: It means nobody can stand in our way. And it means more money
for all of us.
104. ABAH MANU: Speaking of money, Moleke, I have not received payment in the
last four weeks for the baskets of tomatoes that your trailers have loaded.
105. MOLEKE: Don’t worry about that, your Highness. I have simply begun to
hold on to a bit of the cash.
106. ABAH MANU: I don’t understand.
107. MOLEKE: Well, I wouldn’t want your debts to get too large, your Highness.
108. ABAH MANU: (PUZZLED) Debts? What debts?
109. MOLEKE: Oh! Not much … just a few millions…
110. ABAH MANU: (DAZED) Millions?
111. MOLEKE: To cover all the gallons of water I provided to irrigate the
vegetables. And of course the fertilizers.
112. ABAH MANU: But that is simply impossible!
113. MOLEKE: I have my records, your High…
114. ABAH MANU: (CUTTING IN, INCREDULOUS) So you mean all this time you
have been adding up all the costs?
115. MOLEKE: Of course, your Highness… I have really sacrificed a lot for this
business. I couldn’t do it all for free.
116. ABAH MANU: Water and fertilizer… but how did it all add up to millions?
117. MOLEKE: Your Highness, you know you always want nothing but the best
quality.
118. ABAH MANU: (PANICKY) But why didn’t you tell me I owed so much?
119. MOLEKE: Your Highness, it’s a small thing…
120. ABAH MANU: How can you call so much money a small thing?
121. MOLEKE: Well, I have not asked you to pay back…
122. ABAH MANU: But you have deprived me of money that I needed.
123. MOLEKE: I have helped you so much that my own businesses have begun to
suffer.
124. ABAH MANU: But how can this be? You just bought a fleet of new cars and you
are building a mansion.
125 MOLEKE: Your Highness, I have other businesses …
126. ABAH MANU: (WORRIED) How could I possibly pay you back so much?!
127. MOLEKE: Don’t worry about how to pay me. When we cut down the forest,
the sale of timber and firewood will fetch plenty of money.
128. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC HOLDS AND FADES TO…
129. NARRATOR: Well, well, well! Is Moleke biting the hand that feeds him or just
supplying ver…rry good and expensive water? Mmhh! Will the people of Mabudi allow the forest to be cleared for farming? Why would people settle for such short-term gains? People are forgetting that the pact we have with our earth is to receive sustenance from it but leave it better than we found it. Take one and put two back, so to speak. But those days seem long gone. I’m shuddering at the coming terror if Yohanna and the rest are to be believed. The forces of greed are gathering momentum and I wonder what can stop them now.
130. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS AND UNDER
CLOSING CREDITS.
THE END
Script written by Vera Fulu Adesanya, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 8
March 2006
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 8
CAST
NARRATOR
YOHANNA
THE ABAH MANU
GARAM
ZARA
BABI
MOLEKE
VOICES
________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS 0.05 AND FADE
UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Looks like the people of Mabudi have signed their own
death warrant. Can anybody stem this tide of doom? Well, happily, Zara has some surprise gifts – or should we say that Garam is a surprise on his own! Thank God everybody is not greedy. Meanwhile (CONSPIRATORIALLY) our dear greedy Abah Manu seems to have bitten off more than he can chew in the love department as well. Strangely, he does even not know when his hands are full. Pah!
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS AND FADES
UNDER
SCENE 1
4. YOHANNA: Your Highness, please sit down. You should have sent for
me instead of coming here.
5. ABAH MANU: (CLEARS THROAT, EMBARRASSED) Well…ehm…
6. YOHANNA: Please sit down. Can I get you herb tea while we…?
7. ABAH MANU: (FRANTICALLY) No, no, no! (IN LOW TONE) Are we
alone?
8. YOHANNA: Oh yes, nobody enters this place unless I …
9. ABAH MANU: (BLURTS OUT) I need your help!
10. YOHANNA: What exactly is the problem?
11. ABAH M: Well… (EMBARRASSED)… ehm … it’s Babi… she…
12. YOHANNA: Oh, she’s pregnant!
13. ABAH M: Oh no! Not at all.
14. YOHANNA: Then what is wrong with her?
15. ABAH MANU: (LAUGHS, EMBARRASSED) You know women and
their problems …
16. YOHANNA: Is she bleeding at the wrong time?
17. ABAH MANU: (BLURTS OUT) She has threatened to leave me if I don’t
improve my…ehm you know…ehm …
18. SFX: AWKWARD SILENCE
19. YOHANNA: Your Highness, do you mean your sexual performance?
20. ABAH MANU: Sssshh …not so loud!
21. YOHANNA: I am sure we can get to the root of the matter in no time.
22. ABAH MANU: Yes, I am sure a small tonic will … (DOUBTFULLY) …
but do you think my enemies are at it again?
23. YOHANNA: No. What would anyone gain from that?
24. ABAH MANU: Well, you know I have beautiful wives and some of them
had suitors before I came for their hand…
25. YOHANNA: (TAKES A DEEP BREATH) Your Highness, this
problem is common and it often has a cure.
26. ABAH MANU: (DEEP SIGH OF RELIEF) Thank God. You mean you
have a herb for me to use immediately?
27. YOHANNA: Well it depends… is it that you are impotent or…
28. ABAH MANU: (HASTILY) God forbid! (HESITATES) It’s just that Babi
wants more than I can give… ahh, God forbid I am not impotent. After all (SHEEPISH LAUGHTER) I am the true son of my father… he had 32 children! I am not doing badly myself.
29. YOHANNA: Do you have any fever?
30. ABAH MANU: No.
31. YOHANNA: Headache?
32. ABAH MANU: No.
33. YOHANNA: Any pain anywhere?
34. ABAH MANU: Not at all.
35. YOHANNA: Well, your Highness… in this case love for one’s partner is
the best medicine for strength to satisfy one another.
36. ABAH MANU: But the problem is that I don’t have the strength to keep up
with her demands. I am sure there are herbs that people take for such problems.
37. YOHANNA: Unfortunately, I don’t believe that herbs really take care of
the problem all the time. I believe that rest, good food, no worries and the woman you truly love…
38. ABAH MANU: (CUTS IN) Yohanna, just get me the herbs.
39. YOHANNA: Very well, your Majesty. I shall look into what herbs may
be suitable. Come back tonight and I shall have something ready for you.
40. ABAH MANU: Thank you, Yohanna. (SELF CONSCIOUS LAUGH) Eh
… perhaps you could send your daughter… (HASTILY) or maybe not…
41. YOHANNA: As you wish, your Highness.
42. ABAH MANU: Time flies. I was here sometime ago and was pleasantly surprised to see that your daughter has grown up to be a
very beautiful woman.
43. YOHANNA: (A BIT COLD) Oh yes… children grow up very fast these
days.
44. ABAH MANU: So what plans are being made to find her a suitable
husband?
45. YOHANNA: I trust Zara will fall in love and marry the man of her
choice when she is ready.
46. ABAH MANU: (DISAPPROVINGLY) Are you not being too liberal and
modern? Suppose she chooses somebody you do not
approve of?
47. YOHANNA: Well, that will be her choice. Remember that you can take a
horse to water but you cannot force it to drink.
48. ABAH MANU: (SHEEPISHLY) Anyway, why don’t you consider giving
her to me? She will make a beautiful King’s wife and I will make her happy.
49. YOHANNA: (SARCASTIC) Really?
50. ABAH MANU: (BOASTING) Don’t you know what I can do?
51. YOHANNA: (LAUGHING SARCASTICALLY, DISMISSING THE
IDEA) Ah … Your Highness, you yourself confessed that your hands are already full with your wives Halima, Titi and especially Babi… Are you sure my Zara would not be the death of you?
52. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 2
Garam & Zara in front of Zara’s house
53. GARAM: Good day, my beautiful princess. I have come to see your
mother about some items she requested.
54. ZARA: (HOSTILE) I am not your princess and she is not my
mother!
55. GARAM: (TEASING) Ok, our beautiful princess.
56. ZARA: Save your charm. My father’s wife has done a good job of
selling off all my mother’s property.
57. GARAM: That is not…
58. ZARA: I wonder how you can sleep at night knowing that some of
the goods you buy are stolen.
59. GARAM: Zara, it’s not like that.
60. ZARA: How is it, Garam, you that knew my mother well?
61. GARAM: I really don’t have an …
62. ZARA: (HISSES AND CUTS IN) I wonder which of my mother’s
things she is exchanging today. That woman has stolen almost all that my mother left for Hassan and me.
63. GARAM: (PLACATING) Zara, you have my sincerest apologies.
64. ZARA: Of course that is the best solution … apologies.
65. GARAM: I did indeed accept some items knowing that they were
your late mother’s.
66. ZARA: And so, of course, that is why I am now the proud owner of
your apologies!
67. GARAM: That is why I have brought them back…
68. ZARA: (CONTINUES) I don’t know why people always feel that
once they apologize… (STOPS)…. What did you say?
69. GARAM: I brought your mother’s things back.
70. ZARA: (HAPPY) Are you serious? Did you really bring my
mother’s things back?
71. GARAM: I could not bring myself to trade them.
72. ZARA: (CAUTIOUSLY) Oh… I see… so how much will I have
to pay you for them?
73. GARAM: Nothing.
74. ZARA: How is that possible? You paid money for them. My
father’s wife will never pay you back.
75. GARAM: Of course. I don’t expect her to. Money isn’t everything.
76. ZARA: I can pay by instalments till…
77. GARAM: Please, Zara, let’s leave it, ok. (CHANGES SUBJECT) So
how’s your father doing by the way?
78. ZARA: Garam, you are a good man after all… thank you.
79. GARAM: (TEASING) So can I call you princess now? I hate to see
you frown.
80. ZARA: (IGNORING HIM) My father is at the palace. There is a
meeting about cutting down the forest so that more vegetables can be grown.
81. GARAM: So this madness has reached Mabudi too.
82. ZARA: What madness?
83. GARAM: Well, you know I would never say anything against traders
(HE CHUCKLES) … But there are a few greedy ones who are going around convincing farmers to cultivate only vegetables, even on the most unsuitable lands, just so that they will have truckloads of produce to sell.
84. ZARA: So what is wrong with that?
85. GARAM: The land and the community suffer later.
86. ZARA: That is hard to believe.
87. GARAM: Let me just say that trees and plants are valuable.
88. ZARA: I know that.
89. GARAM: Not just as timber and fuel but to protect the land.
90. ZARA: Protect from what or who?
91. GARAM: From erosion … wind, flood, even the hot sun… and to
safeguard groundwater
92. ZARA: So you’re saying we need the forests around us?
93. GARAM: Exactly! If not, the desert will come closer and closer until
the community will have to move away in search of better land. I’ve seen it happen in many places.
94. ZARA: That is unfortunate because it seems that everyone in
Mabudi wants the forest cleared so that they can plant more vegetables.
95. GARAM: Really? I hope they will vote against it. I have seen places
where they got rid of all the trees… the land turned into desert in just a few years.
96. ZARA: Garam, you too? My father, Shurahi and the Agricultural
staff all seem to be saying the same thing. Would you mind telling the Abah please? It might help.
97. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS CUT TO…
SCENE 3
98. SFX: MEETING OF ELDERS AT THE PALACE. VOICES.
99. ABAH MANU: So to round up, we the elders of Mabudi have decided to
cut the forest down and share the land among all the families. We assure you that there will be no problems. Furthermore … the trees will be numbered and sold to the highest bidder. High Chief Moleke will advise us on the best wood merchants. Does anyone have anything else to say on this matter?
100. BABI: (CLEARING HER THROAT) I Babi… speak on behalf
of the women of Mabudi. We feel that the forest is just sitting there year in year out doing nothing for anyone. Moleke’s suggestion to use it will make everyone richer. So we agree that it is a good decision. (CLAPPING AND PRAISE)
101. YOHANNA: Your Highness, I have something to say as well.
102. SFX: PEOPLE SHOUT HIM DOWN.
103. ABAH MANU: Please, let us give everybody a chance to speak.
104. YOHANNA: One should not see trouble coming in the distance and
invite it to come closer. I do not support clearing the forest to plant vegetables. The forest is fertile only because of the trees and plants in it.
105. BABI: Eh? … So we want to plant more useful plants like
tomatoes…
106. YOHANNA: That is not the point. Cutting down the trees will expose the
soil to the hot sun, wind and rain. You will only be able to grow crops on such land for a few seasons before your yields start to drop and the soil becomes degraded and the land barren.
107. VOICE: I don’t agree, but let us give it a trial and see how many
seasons…
108. YOHANNA: (PASSIONATELY) This is another point … we cannot
put the forest back once it is cleared away. The forest protects against the encroachment of the desert. We may lose our homes and farmland. We will lose all the animals, birds and fruit trees.
109. ABAH MANU: So Yohanna, you are more concerned with protecting the
animals than with the prosperity and progress of our people?
110. YOHANNA: Your Highness, this is progress and prosperity that will not
last long. It will only bring trouble, hardship, famine …
111. BABI: (CUTTING IN, SHOUTING) Yohanna only wants the
forest kept because he gathers medicinal herbs from it. Who cares about his smelly old concoctions anyway?
112. ABAH MANU: (CLEARING HIS THROAT) Babi, that’s enough.
113. BABI: (IGNORING HIM) People nowadays have enough money
to buy their medicines from modern pharmacies.
114. ABAH MANU: (RAISING HIS VOICE) Babi, I said enough!
115. YOHANNA: Your Highness, once again I insist that this action should
not take place. The forest is good to us; it protects life, prevents erosion and serves as a windbreak for farms and homes. Please let us consider this action very carefully.
116. VOICES: Please – we need prosperity …Shut up!… Bush herbalist!…
What do you know?… Animals and birds indeed, etc.
117. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 4
The ABAH and Moleke in his palace
118. ABAH MANU: We missed you at the meeting.
119. MOLEKE: Your Majesty, I’m sorry I was not able to attend the
meeting. I trust it went well?
120. ABAH MANU: Yes yes, of course, Moleke… no problem… it was almost a
unanimous decision.
121. MOLEKE: When you say almost I’m sure it was my dear cousin
Yohanna that opposed the motion.
122. ABAH MANU: (LAUGHING) Yes, you are right… but don’t worry…no
problem… it’s all under control. There was a surprise visitor… Garam the merchant came and took Yohanna’s side. He says he has seen the desert encroach where forests are cleared like we propose… he was very sure of his facts. (DOUBT CREEPING IN) Well … we have our facts too, don’t we?
123. MOLEKE: Completely, inside out. Your Highness, you are so nice and
democratic that you allow every riff-raff to join in the kingdom’s decisions. That is true democracy!
124. ABAH MANU: Indeed, Moleke… People often take my kindness for
granted. Anyway that was that … I do have a small matter though that needs taking care of urgently.
125. MOLEKE: Your Majesty, your wishes are my commands.
126. ABAH MANU: You know Yohanna’s daughter?
127. MOLEKE: You mean my cousin Yohanna? That will be Zara.
128. ABAH MANU: Ah, I wish to take Zara, Yohanna’s daughter, as my wife.
But Yohanna is not interested.
129. MOLEKE: (REASSURINGLY) Your Majesty, is that all? I am as
much Zara’s father as Yohanna. This is a small matter. Don’t worry – she will marry you…(DEEP AND SINISTER) I will make sure of it.
130. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES, HOLDS 0.05, AND FADES
UNDER.
131. NARRATOR: Oh dear … what sinister plans does Moleke have in store
for Zara? I can’t imagine Zara and the Abah Manu as man and wife. Besides, shouldn’t he finish Yohanna’s herbs before thinking of a new wife? The bigger problem, however, is that the elders of Mabudi have voted to clear the forest. Apart from Yohanna – whom they almost tore apart – who can save the forest now? Who can save the future of Mabudi?
132. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS AND FADES
UNDER CLOSING CREDITS.
THE END
Script written by Vera Fulu Adesanya, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 9
March 2006
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 9
CAST
NARRATOR
CHOLIBA
YOHANNA
MR. ZEB
SHURA
ZARA
MOLEKE
_________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS 0.05 AND FADES…
2. NARRATOR: Friends, last time we saw Mabudi arrive at the point of no return
when they decided to convert the forest to vegetable farmland! The FOREST? I mean, what are they thinking? Yohanna is the lone dissenting voice. But sheer stupid greed has an even louder voice. Who can stop Moleke and his cohorts? Moleke is so bloated in his greed that he thinks he can get anything he wants. And for Heaven’s sake, what’s Yohanna to do with a piece of land that’s dry, stony, hilly and with not a shrub in sight! Right now Yohanna is the most discouraged and dejected man in Mabudi… and who can blame him? There seems to be no respite from the onslaught of greed. But as they say, every day for the thief, ONE DAY for the owner. That day will come soon enough, trust me. Keep listening, folks.
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP HOLDS AND FADES UNDER…
SCENE 1
4. CHOLIBA: (RAISED VOICE) Yohanna, you have disgraced me!! The whole
village is laughing at you.
5. YOHANNA: What are you talking about?
6. CHOLIBA: Why can’t you just be like everyone else? Don’t you want to be
rich?!
7. YOHANNA: I don’t have anything against getting rich, Choliba. But not at such
a heavy price …
8. CHOLIBA: (CUTS IN AND CONTINUES RAISING HER VOICE) What
price? Everyone is thinking of their family first. All of this crazy talk about the forest turning into a desert… I’m fed up with being poor when everyone else around me is rich.
9. YOHANNA: Choliba, keep your voice down. I don’t mind being rich but not at
the expense of my future… everyone’s future.
10. CHOLIBA: If you continue like this, poverty will kill you and your children’s
children, and nobody will be left for the future you love so much.
11. YOHANNA: Choliba, please keep your voice down. The neighbours are coming
out to…
12. CHOLIBA: To hear me, eh… let them come out! Is it a secret that we are the
poorest family in this village? I am not saying anything that the
world doesn’t know.
13. YOHANNA: All the same, let us talk things over quietly.
14. CHOLIBA: Yohanna, what is there to talk about, except that my husband can
no longer support his family?
15. YOHANNA: Choliba, it does not look nice for people to hear you talk to me like
this, or for us to keep quarrelling like this. I have…
16. CHOLIBA: (CUTS IN) Indeed, my dear husband, it does not look nice for
your wife to go about in such tattered and frayed clothes and for
her to have empty pots in the kitchen.
17. YOHANNA: You know what has brought about the hard times. Don’t worry. I
will soon solve that problem.
18. CHOLIBA: I am worried, in fact I am very worried.
19. YOHANNA: I have provided you with food, clothing and shelter to the best of
my ability. Is that not all that you need? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
20. CHOLIBA: (FLARES UP) I have had enough of your proverbs… I’ve had
enough of poverty, all of this… I want a divorce! I don’t want to die poor!
21. YOHANNA: Choliba, please don’t joke about such serious matters.
22. CHOLIBA: (INCENSED) Joke! You want to know who is a joke? You,
Yohanna!
23. YOHANNA: Keep your voice down…
24. CHOLIBA: (GOES BERSERK) Don’t you tell me to keep my voice down! I
want a divorce now…now! In fact…
25. SFX: CHOLIBA THROWING THINGS AROUND AND
PACKING. DOOR SLAMMING, DRAWERS AND THINGS FALLING.
26. YOHANNA: What are you doing?
27. CHOLIBA: Are you blind? What does it look like I’m doing? I am packing my
things and I am leaving. I am going back home to my people.
28. YOHANNA: Choliba, I have been very patient with you … don’t let this
problem get out of hand.
29. CHOLIBA: (STUBBORNLY) I want to go home.
30. YOHANNA: (AFTER A PAUSE, QUIETLY) What about your children?
31. CHOLIBA: They are all yours now… if you want, you can leave them to die of
hunger and poverty.
32. YOHANNA: Stop! Slow down Choliba, and think of what you are about to do.
Ah ah… where are you going? Come back … let us discuss this… (DOOR SLAMS)
33. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO…
SCENE 2
34. SFX: OFFICE NOISES. SOUND OF PRINTER.
35. MR ZEB: Shurahi… it is always a pleasure to see you in my office. What
brings you to Jantale?
36. SHURA: (URGENT TONE) Mr. Zeb, I have a big problem in Mabudi. I
came to borrow from your wealth of experience.
37. MR ZEB: You flatter me, Shurahi.
38. SHURA: Let me tell you about the meeting that took place in Mabudi…
mhh … can you believe that these people are planning to cut down all the forest on their land?!
39. MR ZEB: What?!… Well, I’m sure the enlightened ones will advise against it.
40. SHURA: Unfortunately, the vote was overwhelmingly in support of clearing
the forest.
41. MR ZEB: But the forest soil won’t support crops for long.
42. SHURA: Exactly… What do we do? (PAUSE) You are lucky you don’t
have problems like this here in Jantale.
43. MR ZEB: You would be surprised There has been a lot of overgrazing in
this community.
44. SHURA: How did you solve the problem?
45. MR ZEB: The communities met and agreed on some actions. Grazing has
been temporarily prohibited on communal fields…rotational grazing has been recommended so that the grass has time to grow.
46. SHURA: At least people are aware of the problem and willing to do
something to help.
47. MR ZEB: They really are. You know … there are a few unscrupulous traders
behind this vegetable scheme. They have been going around convincing farmers to cultivate vegetables to sell to them.
48. SHURA: I am aware of that. Unfortunately, the farmers don’t realize that
they shouldn’t concentrate on vegetables alone.
49. MR ZEB: I have seen the influence of these traders; I’m trying to convince
the farmers not to use their land only for short-term profit.
50. SHURA: That is exactly what they are doing in Mabudi.
51. MR ZEB: This is serious!
52. SHURA: You cannot believe the tons and tons of groundwater used to make
these vegetables grow.
53. MR ZEB: I can imagine.
54. SHURA: Now they have even planned how to sell the trees before cutting
them down.
55. MR ZEB: If they clear this forest as planned, desertification could take over
this land in no time.
56. SHURA: That’s why I came to you … do you think it would be possible to
get the communities together to meet and plan a joint action to protect their lands?
57. MR ZEB: That is possible … but let’s see ….how can it work?
58. SHURA: I don’t know if the neighbouring communities can succeed in a
joint action without conflict.
59. MR ZEB: Well, we can give it a try…. I will approach the king of Jantale and
some of the elders and ask them to invite their neighbours for a meeting.
60. SHURA: Maybe we should plan for them to lead the meeting themselves … so that there is unity… then the plan will work.
61. MR ZEB: That makes sense.
62. SHURA: Good … I will contact the local government and State Ministry of
Agriculture to observe the meeting.
63. MR ZEB: Yes! I like the way you think… I hope the head office knows that
they have such a brilliant officer in Mabudi.
64. SHURA: Thank you, my head is swelling.
65. MR ZEB: (LAUGHS) We also need to go to Papalanto and tell them what
we are planning, and ask for their help in getting the communities together.
66. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE TO…
SCENE 3
67. SFX: LIGHT KNOCK ON DOOR AND DOOR IS OPENED.
68. ZARA: Good day, Sir.
69. MOLEKE: Good day, Zara. I’m sure you are wondering why I, High Chief
Moleke, have sent for you.
70. ZARA: I hope all is well.
71. MOLEKE: All is very well, my dear. How is your father?
72. ZARA: Chief, you know very well how my father is.
73. MOLEKE: What about you … how are you?
74. ZARA: I do not believe that you called me in just to ask how I was.
75. MOLEKE: Why can’t I do that? After all, you are my family.
76. ZARA: Chief, can we please leave the family matter alone.
77. MOLEKE: Anyway, I want you to know that I have your future in mind.
78. ZARA: That is hard to believe, but I know that God will help me go back
to school one day to get a degree.
79. MOLEKE: A degree? What on earth do you need that for?
80. ZARA: So that I can get a good job and get out of this poverty.
81. MOLEKE: (LAUGHING)… My dear, you do not have to go to school to get
out of poverty. As a matter of fact, I have a suitor for you. If you marry him, all of your troubles will be over. You will never have to think about money again.
82. ZARA: And who is this rich suitor?
83. MOLEKE: The great Abah Manu of Mabudi… the King himself. It would be a
great honour for you to accept his hand in marriage.
84. ZARA: (LAUGHING SCORNFULLY) What kind of honour is there in
marrying a man who has three wives already?
85. MOLEKE: I assure you that Abah is willing to divorce all three if you consent
to take his hand.
86. ZARA: (MOCKINGLY) High Chief Moleke, would you kindly tell the
King that I despise him for all the things he has done to me and my family and that I am not interested in taking his hand in marriage and I never will be.
87. MOLEKE: (LOSING HIS TEMPER) How dare you speak to me like that! I
am an older relative… your uncle and your father… and by tradition I have the right to instruct you. I am ordering you to accept the King’s hand in marriage and that is final!
88. ZARA: I will not marry that old fool… King or not… I would rather die…
and if you force me… I will kill myself!!
89. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
SCENE 4
90. SFX: SOUND BED OF WIND THROUGH THE 2ND AND 3RD
SPEECHES, THEN FADE OUT. FADE IN AGAIN AFTER 3RD SPEECH AND UNDER TO THE END OF THE SCENE.
91. SHURA: Good day, Yohanna… why are you looking so down?
92. YOHANNA: Oh good day, Shura… Just take a look at this dry and barren land.
How will I ever get anything to grow on this rocky slope?
93. SHURA: Hmmm… well… I’ve looked around and I’m sure something can
be done to make the land yield.
94. YOHANNA: I doubt it. Even this little bit of grass is struggling to grow.
95. SHURA: It can be improved, but it must be managed well.
96. YOHANNA: You mean I can do something with this worthless piece of land?
97. SHURA: No land is completely worthless until you have exhausted all
methods of improvement.
98. YOHANNA: What are these methods?
99. SHURA: Let’s start with one that is easy and cost-free.
100. YOHANNA: Hmm … so what is this magic that can change dry land?
101. SHURA: You could start by making half-moon ditches to stop the erosion
and keep the water and nutrients in the soil.
102. YOHANNA: What are half-moon ditches?
103. SHURA: They’re a simple way to help stop soil erosion on gently sloping
land. They help keep water from running off the land.
104. YOHANNA: That sounds good. How do I start?
105. SHURA: Come over here where the ground is clear. Let me use this stick.
106. SFX: SOUND OF BREAKING STICK.
107. SHURA: Oh, this ground is hard.
108. SFX: SOUND OF BREAKING STICK.
109. YOHANNA: Here. Use this one.
110. SHURA: (SPEAKING SLOWLY THROUGHOUT THIS SECTION,
GIVING TIME FOR YOHANNA TO FOLLOW HER INSTRUCTIONS) Thank you. First, draw a half moon shape in the soil by scraping a straight line two strides long horizontally across the hillside. Now the two ends of the line should be at the same height on the hill. Then, stand at the middle of this line.
111. YOHANNA: Like this?
112. SHURA: Yes. From there walk straight downhill one stride and make a mark
in the soil. Now go back to one end of the horizontal line. Draw a curved line from the end of the line down to the mark, and then curve back up to the other end of the line.
113. YOHANNA: Now I can see how it got the name “half-moon ditch”. This
drawing looks like a half-moon.
114. SHURA: Exactly. Next, dig out the soil from inside the half moon until
the hole is about two fists deep, about 10 centimetres.
115. YOHANNA: So you dig out from one end of the half moon to the other?
116. SHURA: Yes. Pile the soil that you dig out of the hole along the
downhill side of the curved half moon to create a barrier that will stop and hold water. For this soil barrier to be strong, its base should be as wide as your forearm is long – that is about 50 centimetres. The top should be at least half that width. If you want, you can further strengthen the barrier, or “bund”, by adding a layer of stones on the slope.
117. YOHANNA: Wait… you mean the bottom width of the soil fence should be as
wide as my forearm. Some people have longer forearms than others …
118. SHURA: The difference doesn’t matter much in this case. The soil barrier
should be at least as high as your foot is long, about 30 centimetres. Once you’ve made the half moon ditch, you can begin to plant food crops in it. Or you can plant trees for fuel.
119. YOHANNA: Is that all?
120. SHURA: Yes. It’s simple isn’t it? When it rains, nutrient-rich soil moves
down the slope and is caught in the ditch, making it fertile and rich. Water will also be caught in the ditch, making the soil moist and soft.
121. YOHANNA: That will surely improve the land.
122. SHURA: You might need a lot of help though… I suggest your wife and
children lend you a hand. It will take about four hours to make each ditch.
123. YOHANNA: Ah Shura… my wife has left me… but I must press on. I shall get
my children and maybe that young man Bala Manu and Koi-koi from Jantale. I won’t give up. I will work hard… (RAISING HIS VOICE, FULL OF OPTIMISM) It can be done!
124. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS AND FADES TO….
125. NARRATOR: Ha! Half-moon ditches – the drawing looks like a smiling mouth to
me. Perhaps Yohanna will soon be smiling. Despite all odds, Yohanna’s resolve is back and there’s no stopping him now. I hope he can raise the work force he needs. Choliba, his fair weather wife, has gone to look for greener pastures. Shurahi and Zeb have brought a ray of hope… but can any of those who have tasted this new prosperity listen to them? I pray that Moleke’s greed will not cause more damage. It looks like Zara may be in for a running battle with Moleke, too. Time will tell …
126. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP; HOLD AND UNDER CLOSING
CREDITS
THE END
Script written by Vera Fulu Adesanya, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 10
March 2006
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 10
CAST
NARRATOR
THE ABAH
SHURAHI
GARAM
MOLEKE
BABI
YOHANNA
ZEB
KOI-KOI
AZARA
VOICES
___________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER OPENING
ANNOUNCEMENTS, UP, AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Friends, welcome to our ongoing drama of life in Mabudi. Last
time we checked, things were slowly coming to a head. Confrontation on all sides. And you guessed it – Moleke is at the centre of it all. Like his thinking he can force Zara to marry the Abah! Some people have such a high opinion of their power…
Interestingly, many other communities want to find better ways to manage their land in the face of increasing drought and soil degradation. There’s even talk of a summit or a meeting of all the communities in the region to form a joint action plan against desertification. So there’s hope. We only hope that Mabudi will join its neighbours in this noble venture…Let’s wait and see what happens.
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC FADES UP, HOLDS AND CUTS TO…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: IN THE ABAH’S PALACE. PALACE NOISES.
5. ABAH: Shurahi, I sent for you so that we can discuss a letter I received
from the State Ministry of Agriculture. They have invited Mabudi to a summit to discuss joint efforts by all the communities in the region to combat desertification.
6. SHURAHI: This is a serious matter, Abah. All over the world people are
worried about the speed at which once fertile land is being degraded.
7. ABAH: I have nominated credible people like the High Chief Moleke, my
dear wife and foremost lady Babi, my son the Prince Bala and Jauro, a respected elder. I will personally lead this powerful team.
8. SHURAHI: I was hoping that you would invite another woman and another
young person to properly represent all the groups in the community. I also think Yohanna should be part of it.
9. ABAH: (GREATLY ENRAGED) Yoha… who?
10. SHURAHI: Baba Yohan…
11. ABAH: (CUTTING HER SHORT). Shut up! (SILENCE) I am talking
about progressive souls who know what is good for the community. And you are mentioning a shameless and unproductive nonentity like Yohanna.
12. SHURAHI: I am sorry, your Highness. I only thought …
13. ABAH: Don’t “only thought” anything! Yohanna? Never! That ingrate old
fool who never sees any good in anything I do? Never! He should not even be allowed to represent his family.
14. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER…
SCENE 2
Yohanna’s house
15. SFX: HURRIED FOOTSTEPS COMING ON. HEAVY SACKS
THROWN DOWN.
16. ZARA: (ON) Garam, the mobile supermarket … you are back?
17. GARAM: (OFF) Zara! (TEASING) I hope this means you are happy to see
me. (LAUGHS) Anyway, how is life these days?
18. ZARA: I am fine, Garam.
19. GARAM: I know you are fine. Even the blind can see you are fine.
20. ZARA: Don’t start any of your jokes today.
21. GARAM: Come on Zara, are you angry with me?
22. ZARA: Look Garam, I don’t have time today. And besides, your
wonderful and dependable customer Choliba is not here.
23. GARAM: Where did she go to again? She said I should come here first
before any other customers see my latest items.
24. ZARA: Well, Choliba has left.
25. GARAM: What do you mean she has left? (SILENCE) But why?
26. ZARA: She said everybody in Mabudi was making a lot of money and
buying very expensive items from you, except my father Yohanna. (SILENCE) Well, mobile supermarket, I blame you for that. The way you dangle your fine products round can make people like Choliba divorce their husbands.
27. GARAM: No no no … I think it had to do with Choliba as a person. As I
move from house to house with my products, I know those who want to run before they crawl. (THEY LAUGH)
28. ZARA: Mobile supermarket.
29. GARAM: That’s me, Zara. Anyway, Zara, I brought a few presents for you.
The moment I saw this scarf nobody else but Zara flashed into my mind. This perfume is as exclusive and as intriguing as Zara. It is also for you.
30. ZARA: Garam, I don’t understand this.
31. GARAM: You don’t need to understand, Zara. All you need to do is to
accept the gifts.
32. ZARA: But why all these, Garam?
33. GARAM: (SILENCE). Well Zara, I have always liked you a lot and I hope
you will one day accept me as a friend.
34. ZARA : (LAUGHING) A friend? A man and a lady, being friends?
35. GARAM: I don’t mind a deeper relationship if you do not approve of
ordinary friendship between us.
36. ZARA : (SHYLY) What does that mean?
37. GARAM: You see Zara, in my travels all over the country I have never met
anyone I feel such a deep and genuine emotion for like you.
38. ZARA: (LAUGHING). Garam, go and say that to the winds.
39. GARAM: (SOUNDING FIRM). I am very serious, Zara.
40. ZARA: How can I be sure you will not find some lady elsewhere and like
her better? I’m sure you tell all the girls the same thing.
41. GARAM: No no no no Zara, look at me. I will not lie to you. I love you. For
a very long time I have loved you. Didn’t you know?
42. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO…
SCENES 3 AND 4
The Great Summit. In a Hall.
43. SFX: SEVERAL FOOTSTEPS. SHUFFLING CHAIRS AND
TABLES AS PEOPLE COME INTO THE HALL. PLEASANTRIES AND EXCITEMENT BOTH ON AND OFF-MIC. FOOTSTEPS.
44. ZEB: (SPEAKING LOUDLY) Ladies and gentlemen, let us settle down
and finally kick-start this all-important summit.
45. VOICES: (OFF MIC) Great! You are welcome. Oh yes, I knew you would
be here. Welcome.
46. ZEB: While we await the arrival of delegates from other communities, I
want to welcome you all. (OFF MIC RESPONSE). Before we proceed, I would like to introduce myself to those who may not know me. I am Mr. Zeb, the agricultural officer and extension worker at Jantale. (RESPONSE AGAIN) This convention was initiated by the Jantale Farmers’ Forum and myself, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and all the communities represented here.
47. VOICES: (OFF MIC). We thank you for such a wonderful idea. We have
already discussed these matters and are taking steps. The convention allows us to exchange information and speed up our solutions.
48. ZEB: We welcome delegates from Gongoni.
49. VOICES: (OFF MIC). Thank you. Thank you.
50. ZEB: Delegates from Tontala, you are welcome.
51. VOICES: (OFF MIC). Thank you. Thank you very much.
52. ZEB: We welcome also our delegates from Jantale.
53. VOICES: (LOUD NOISE) Yeah!
54. ZEB: (LAUGHING). That noise is expected because I am with the
delegation from Jantale. (RESPONSE) I can also see delegates from Dantani. You are welcome.
55. VOICES: Thank you very much. You are welcome too.
56. ZEB: Delegates from Nambata, welcome.
57. VOICES: Thank you. Thank you.
58. ZEB: Any moment from now, delegates from Mabudi will come.
59. SFX: FOOTSTEPS AS PEOPLE COME IN.
60. ZEB: Wonderful. This is great. Behold the delegates from Mabudi led
by the Abah Manu himself (LOUD NOISE BY DELEGATES AS THEY WELCOME THEM). Delegates from Mabudi, we welcome you all.
61. VOICES: Thank you. Thank you. (PLEASANTRIES.)
62. ZEB: The summit is well attended; we have delegates from most of the
communities around here. As more come, we shall welcome them.
63. SFX: FOOTSTEPS AND EXCITEMENT.
64. ZEB: Wonderful. Delegates from Zamto, you are welcome.
65. VOICES: (OFF MIC). Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all.
66. ZEB: As I said before, we are all here today to rub minds, exchange
ideas and strategize how to combat our common enemy called desertification. We shall be focused, purposeful and as free as possible in speaking our minds. Yes, yes, I can see Koi–koi wants to speak straight away. After him we shall listen to others. Yes, Koi-koi.
67. KOI –KOI: Fellow delegates, the time for action is now. (RESPONSE). When
I was a child, the desert was so far away from us, it was spoken of as a folk tale. We enjoyed our thick forests and wonderful vegetation. Today the story is the opposite.
68. VOICES: (OFF MIC). You are correct. That is true. Speak on.
69. KOI-KOI: What do we have today? Dust, wind and desert in spite of all our
efforts in Jantale to curb this menace. That is why the delegates from Jantale congratulate all other delegates for being here. We must combine forces and fight desertification. We must succeed. Thank you all.
70. VOICES: (OFF MIC. VOICES OF DELEGATES FROM JANTALE).
Well spoken. You spoke our collective mind.
71. ZEB: Good talk. Yes Azara, leader of the Gongoni delegates.
72. AZARA: I agree that joint efforts are needed. But what can we do in the
face of nature? Drought is making our lands infertile and allowing the desert sand to take over our land. We from Gongoni have tried but are far from successful. We want to know how we can finally fight nature and succeed after this convention.
73. VOICES: (OFF MIC. MOSTLY FROM GONGONI DELEGATES).
Correct. Yes. Precisely. Good talk.
74. ZEB: Wonderful talk by Azara, leader of the Gongoni delegates.
(RESPONSE) Shurahi, my fellow agricultural officer, wants to make a point. Over to you, Shurahi.
75. SHURAHI: It is true that continuous drought can make land dry and
unproductive (RESPONSE FROM THE DELEGATES). But it is poor management of the land that invites the desert (SILENCE). How is this done, we may ask?
76. VOICES: (OFF MIC) Yes. Tell us. How?
77. SHURAHI: Deforestation is one reason (NOISE). I will explain. When land is
cleared of trees, after a few seasons, rain and wind begin to erode the soil because its protection is gone. (SILENCE). Overgrazing the land is another factor. (RESPONSE) When animals eat plants right down to the roots, the pastures are damaged.
78. VOICES: (OFF MIC). Does it mean we should no longer graze our land?
How will our cattle survive? Should we then feed our cattle with sand? (GENERAL LAUGHTER)
79. VOICES: (OFF MIC) Keep your cattle on one piece of land and move them
to another before the soil gets bare. Or keep them penned and bring forage to them.
80. SHURAHI: Wonderful. That was a brilliant solution from that delegate.
Another delegate just asked me here how over cultivating the land can also cause desertification.
81. ZEB: When you over cultivate the land, it destroys soil structure and can
lead to soil erosion.
82. VOICE: (OFF MIC) But when you don’t have enough land, what can you
do?
83. ZEB: To keep your land fertile, you must return organic matter to the
soil. Try growing cover crops like velvet beans, sunn hemp and clover as green manure crops between your main crops. Then after harvest, dig the cover crops into the soil. Yohanna, would you like to add something on how land gets degraded and infertile?
84. SFX: GENERAL CLAPPING OF HANDS.
85. YOHANNA: Yes. Another cause of land degradation is using land for purposes
for which it is not suited. Excessive use of groundwater, dropping water tables, using land for short-term profit like growing fruit and vegetables on land suited for grazing – these are all causes of desertification. There are many more, and as we break into smaller groups, we can discuss them. (APPLAUSE).
86. ZEB: Good. We shall break into small groups now. Please mix with
delegates from other communities; then we will have a broad sharing of experiences from all communities. Shurahi and Yohanna will help with that.
87. MOLEKE: (IN LOW VOICE ON MIC) Shurahi?
88. SHURAHI: (ALSO LOW, ON MIC) High Chief Moleke, can I help you, Sir?
89. MOLEKE: (ON) I see Yohanna here. He is not part of the delegation from
Mabudi. So what is he doing here?
90. SHURAHI: Yohanna is not attending the summit as a Mabudi representative,
but as a consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and the Environment.
91. MOLEKE: (UPSET) The Mabudi delegation will never accept that. Look –
Yohanna must leave now!
92. SHURAHI: (BEGGING) Sir, I cannot ask someone to leave who the
organizers have hired to advise them on methods to protect the forest.
93. MOLEKE: This is unacceptable to us.
94. SFX: HURRIED FOOTSTEPS GOING OFF.
95. ZEB: (NOISE) Before we start the small group process, let us take a few
minutes to listen again to Yohanna briefly explain his personal experience of desertification. (NOISE SUBSIDES).
96. YOHANNA: Thank you, co-ordinator and delegates. The sounds and colours of
the forest are very crucial to life. They provide shelter to all kinds of animals and birds, and they give wood for fuel, furniture and buildings. The forest helps to provide clean air and serves as a barrier against the desert wind. (APPLAUSE). From my personal experience, when forests are cleared, the land is degraded in just a few years. (RESPONSE – SOME POSITIVE SOUNDS, SOME NEGATIVE MUTTERINGS). The profuse growth of forest vegetation fools people into thinking the soil must be rich enough to support farming for as long as the farmers want to work on it. But the fact is this: the topsoil in the forest is thin and very fragile. Without the cover of the trees, fallen leaves and shrubs, it will dry out very quickly. All that will remain is dusty cracked land that is good for nothing.
97. ABAH: (OFF MIC BUT IN A LOUD TONE) Point of order. Point of
order.
98. ZEB: Yes, Chief Abah.
99. ABAH: As the King and leader of the Mabudi delegation, I don’t approve
of Yohanna’s presence. I will lead my delegates out of this summit if Yohanna stays.
100. ZEB: Sir, Yohanna is actually here as a consultant to the State Ministry
of Agriculture, and…
101. ABAH: Consultant or no consultant, either he leaves or the entire Mabudi
delegation leaves. What kind of rubbish was he saying about the Mabudi progressive farmers? (NOISE ESPECIALLY FROM THE ABAH GROUP).
102. ZEB: (AFTER A WHILE). Can we have some quiet while we settle
this matter amicably please?
103. YOHANNA: I offer to leave if it will help put the summit back on track. I have
said almost all I had to say. Let others stay and suggest solutions to the problems.
104. SFX: FOOTSTEPS AS YOHANNA LEAVES.
105. ZEB: Can we settle down now please? Yes, Azara.
106. AZARA: Let us think of solutions that we will all agree to uphold.
107. ZEB: Good. Yes, Koi-koi.
108. KOI-KOI: I think from now on, no community should clear or burn any forest
or trees.
109. VOICES: Yes – Yes – Yes.
110. ZEB: Yes, Moleke wants to talk. Let’s listen to him.
111. MOLEKE: This summit cannot decide for individual communities. We from
Mabudi do not agree with what that fool of a Yohanna said about forests. We shall not, I repeat, we shall not be signatories to such a convention.
112. ABAH: (OFF MIC TO HIS DELEGATES) In fact, this is a waste of our
precious time and a load of rubbish. Let us get out of here. I am tired of listening to this garbage.
113. SFX: COMMOTION. DRAGGING OF CHAIRS. HURRIED
FOOTSTEPS AS MABUDI DELEGATES WALK OUT.
114. SHURAHI: (OFF MIC) Oh my God, what will become of this noble venture
now?
115. KOI-KOI: (OFF MIC) The rest of us are interested in seeking solutions. I
say let’s carry on.
116. ZEB: I don’t know why the Abah and his Mabudi delegates do not agree
with the positive steps we are taking.
117. AZARA: (OFF MIC) We should go on and list all the available strategies.
We can work with any delegates who have reservations until we reach a consensus.
118. ZEB: (OFF MIC) That is better than doing nothing. (ON MIC) Let all
groups write down their action plans for consideration by the general assembly.
119. SHURAHI: I thank your majesties, elders and distinguished ladies and
gentlemen for your patience. Now let us please complete our work.
120. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
121. NARRATOR: In spite of the behaviour of Moleke and the Mabudi team, the
majority of the delegates look determined to achieve the purpose for which the convention was planned. There is always hope when people unite to take actions for the good of all, and when they base their decisions on the age-old principle that when you take enough for today’s needs, you must put something back against tomorrow’s needs. That some people act as if this wisdom is obsolete does not make it so. Enough said. Let’s wait and see how Mabudi reaps whirlwinds, having sown trouble, confrontation and stubbornness.
122. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD AND FADE UNDER CLOSING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
THE END
Script written by Sam Kafewo, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 11
March 2006
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 11
CAST
NARRATOR
MOLEKE
THE ABAH MANU
BALA MANU
YOHANNA
SHURAHI
GARAM
ZARA
________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, 0.5 AND UNDER OPENING
ANNOUNCEMENTS. UP AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Friends? Are you there? Are you, like me, wondering what has
become of Mabudi? Three years have flown by since a summit was held to engage everyone on a plan to look after their land, forests and water for themselves and future generations. A worthy cause, wouldn’t you say? But surprise, surprise! Mabudi is yet to sign the convention that came out of that meeting. Recall that they staged a walkout that fateful day.
Sadly, the lush forest of Mabudi is no more. The land is dead… this is no exaggeration… though they kept digging deeper, the boreholes and wells are dry and deliver not a drop. All you can see are fields and fields of dust, sand and cracked baked earth. And this is just EIGHT years after Moleke charged in to Mabudi with all his promises. There’s no trees, no plants, and no birdsong where the vegetables were grown – just silence and wind. Only on Yohanna’s hillside oasis will you find anything growing… Ah, but it is sad.
What about the friendship between the Abah and Moleke? Did it stand the test of time? The conquering hero is now called the scoundrel miner – and not just behind his back! Truly, the honeymoon is over and there is gnashing of teeth.
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE UNDER…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: CHIEF ABAH’S HOUSE. FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.
5. MOLEKE: (EXPANSIVELY) The great Abah himself! Long may you reign!
6. ABAH: Ah, the High Chief! Come in, come in. I got your message and
have been waiting for you to come and explain its meaning.
7. MOLEKE: (LAUGHING) Chief oh Chief, which part of the message do you
not understand? I’m here to collect the money you owe me. I’ve been out all day, collecting my debts.
8. ABAH: You see, that is my point! I don’t remember owing you.
9. MOLEKE: According to my records here, you do. (SHEETS RUFFLING AS
BOOK IS OPENED) You see, where I go, this book goes. Not that I need a book to remind me – I never forget a debt owed me … but I carry it for the sake of my debtors.
10. ABAH: You must be joking. Me, Abah, owe you?
11. MOLEKE: (MOVING TO ABAH) Here, you can take a look. Here is your
name … right here.
12. ABAH: Bala, hand me my reading glasses. (PAUSE 3 BEATS. THE
ABAH LETS OUT A LOW WHISTLE IN SURPRISE) Yes…I can see my name. What! What is this ridiculous figure doing next to my name? Five hundred thousand naira? [EXPRESS THIS IN LOCAL CURRENCY] When did I borrow such an amount from you?
13. MOLEKE: Don’t look so shocked. This is money for services rendered. The
boreholes I sank throughout the village…
14. ABAH: (CUTS IN) Wait a minute! What are you talking about? You have
been deducting money from our sales for these boreholes for over eight years now.
15. MOLEKE: That is true, and each deduction is carefully documented.
16. ABAH: So when is it going to end, Moleke? You made huge sums of
money from the sale of wood – not a tree is left standing in the forest today. How can I still owe you?
17. MOLEKE: Chief…Chief! The wood didn’t fetch much, not enough to offset
the costs I incurred.
18. BALA MANU: (WHISTLES) Unbelievable! First you cut down the entire forest,
then you sold all the wood, yet you say it’s not enough? Papa, you remember when I told you this man was up to no good?
19. MOLEKE: Bala, shut up! (MIMICKING) “Up to no good?” What good are
you? You should be working as a houseboy somewhere in the city to offset your father’s debt. Nonsense!
20. ABAH: Moleke, leave my son alone. What he does is none of your
business.
21. MOLEKE: Why are we even wasting time talking? Look, Abah, if you cannot
pay what you owe, quietly sign over your lands to me.
22. ABAH: What? You’re even worse than I thought! What makes you think
I’ll just hand over my lands to you? And to think that Yohanna… and even young Bala here tried to warn me!
23. MOLEKE: Don’t you ever mention Yohanna’s name to me! I have no
business with him. Besides, he did not benefit from any of the untold riches I brought to you and the entire Mabudi village.
24. ABAH: Untold riches you say?!! Where are the riches now? Since you are
recounting history, I welcomed you here like a conquering hero when you showed up after 20 years of absence. I treated you like a worthy son of the soil, gave you a chieftaincy title, even took other people’s lands by force and gave them to you. Is this how you repay me?
25. MOLEKE: Abah, you are beginning to annoy me with your whining! Sell your
property, or get a job in town as a security guard – I don’t care what you do. Just pay back my money.
26. BALA MANU: (ANGRILY) How dare you? Security guard? God forbid! Look
Moleke, do you realize you are in the presence of a King, His Royal Highness, the Abah!
27. MOLEKE: (LAUGHS SCORNFULLY) In the presence of a king?! Royal
Highness without a cent! Abah the debtor! Even this Palace is no longer yours. King of where or who?
28. ABAH: What an insult! So I have now become an object of
ridicule? No problem! But remember, I only have to cough
and my guards will chase you out of Mabudi, you
ungrateful, selfish wretch! You are incapable of feeling
what people around you are going through.
29. MOLEKE: Abah…Abah, look in the mirror. You and I are birds of the same
feather! You are King. But you see your subjects as stepping stones to get ahead! Now that you have fallen, you want me to treat you with the charity you are not willing to show others? Ha!
30. ABAH: Moleke, I will ignore your insults! I blame my own bad judgment
and fortune for dining with a devil like you.
31. BALA MANU: Papa, don’t waste your energy on this viper. He has just shown his
true colours like Yohanna tried to warn us…
32. MOLEKE: If you are done weeping like babies, pay me my money. If you
want me to help you find work as a houseboy or security guard, let me know. I’ll put in a good word for you.
33. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO
SCENE 2
34. SFX: BIRDS CHIRPING, INSECT NOISES, ETC. GENERAL
AMBIENCE OF A FARM.
35. YOHANNA: Just look at my farm… who would have imagined that maize and
cassava would thrive on this parched land?
36. SHURAHI: You made the right decision by staying on in Mabudi to salvage
this land when other people decided to leave. Your hard work is beginning to pay off.
37. YOHANNA: Some people just don’t have any attachment to anything! I believe
that, even if mistakes have been made and the situation seems hopelessly bad, people shouldn’t just throw in the towel and move elsewhere.
38. SHURAHI: You’re right. I couldn’t agree with you more.
39. YOHANNA: I’m quite pleased at this transformation in such a short time. Look
at how everything is growing. I just like to stand and admire the crops.
40. SHURAHI: Over time, and with efforts like these, all of this dry wasted land
could actually be rehabilitated.
41. YOHANNA: It’s certainly worth trying. It saddens me that so much of the forest
is gone and all we have left is this dusty crust of eroded land.
42. SHURAHI: We can start small, just one piece of land at a time, and make
some planting pits. As for your optimism, it’s one of the things we need more people to cultivate!
43. YOHANNA: You are most gracious, Shurahi. (PAUSE) These planting pits that
you mention – tell me how to make them.
44. SHURAHI: It’s easy actually. Dig a round pit about 15 – 20 centimetres deep.
45. YOHANNA: Let’s see. Twenty centimetres deep – that means halfway from my
heel to the knee, if I were to stand in the pit?
46. SHURAHI: Right. Also, the pit should be about 25 centimetres in diameter.
That’s probably the length of an adult’s foot. Make as many pits as you want throughout the field, then fill them up with organic matter, just anything that can decompose.
47. YOHANNA: Perhaps it is better to dig and fill the pits in the dry season. Then
the contents will decompose before the rainy season begins.
48. SHURAHI: That’s the common practice. Another important point to remember
is to carefully arrange the earth removed from the pit in a half-circle along the pit’s lowest edge, so that runoff water flows downhill into the pit.
49. YOHANNA: It sounds easy. The difficult part is probably the digging.
50. SHURAHI: Right. But once you plant, you’ll be amazed at how much better
the yields are. Over the years, you can dig other pits beside the original ones. Before you know it, whole fields can be rehabilitated.
51. YOHANNA: I’m definitely going to try this method on some of the abandoned
fields.
52. SHURAHI: You will never regret it, I assure you. You can produce enough
food for your household, and perhaps even for sale.
53. YOHANNA: As a boy, I remember seeing farmers grow grains in pits. I’m
trying to remember what they used to call it… Mmmm!
Tassa, I think.
54. SHURAHI: Exactly! You are correct. In some places people call it tassa; in
others they call it zai. (NOTE TO BROADCASTERS: USE LOCAL WORD).
55. YOHANNA: Oh, I’m so excited at the prospect of trying. Thank you for helping
me learn something new each time I see you.
56. SHURAHI: Now you are being modest. I have learned a lot from you too,
excellent farm practices that will make good material for the book I’m writing: “Farm Tales from All Over”.
57. YOHANNA: You can’t be serious.
58. SHURAHI: I can think of many things I’ve learned from you: the way you use
prickly pear cactus for erosion control and use the leaves as fodder …
59. YOHANNA: You’ll include that in your book?
60. SHURAHI: Of course! And burying a clay pot with tiny holes in it in the soil
next to vegetable seedlings to provide water directly to their roots. It’s so effective! When you fill that pot with water and bury it, there’s no evaporation because the water moves underground from the pot to the area around the plant roots.
61. YOHANNA: You remember it well.
62. SHURAHI: Oh I do. Actually, I came to your farm to introduce something like
this to you, only to find that you were doing it already.
63. YOHANNA: I owe that knowledge to my father.
64. SHURAHI: And now you’re passing it on to your son and others. These are
practices that other farmers can benefit from, especially farmers in dry zones. It’s all in my book.
65. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 3
66. SFX: KNOCK ON THE DOOR.
67. ZARA: Hassan, stop fooling around, just come in.
68. GARAM: (OPENS DOOR A CRACK) Sorry, I’m not Hassan, but can I
come in?
69. ZARA: (MOVING TO THE DOOR) Who is…ah, Garam, it’s you.
Please come in. I thought it was my brother. He likes to knock and make me open the door for him. You’re welcome. Please sit down.
70. GARAM: Thank you. How are you, Zara?
71. ZARA: I’m fine.
72. GARAM: (TEASING) Yes, you are a fine young woman. I can see that.
73. ZARA: Not at all. I mean … that’s not what I meant. Please sit.
74. GARAM: Thank you. It’s always good to be back here. Although this time, it
feels different. The village is so quiet, almost like a ghost town. I almost turned back.
75. ZARA: Oh, you haven’t come here lately…things have gone from bad to
worse since the last time you were here. Everybody has left Mabudi in search of greener pastures.
76. GARAM: (SHOCKED) Really? You know I passed several houses that
looked completely deserted.
77. ZARA: I don’t blame them. The whole place looks like it’s forsaken by
Mother Nature. Who could possibly want to live here?
78. GARAM: But what happened?
79. ZARA: In a nutshell, everything went wrong: the land stopped producing,
the wells went dry, almost everybody owed Moleke some money … those who couldn’t pay lost their lands to Moleke as collateral. (PAUSE) Sorry, can I offer you a drink?
80. GARAM: Thanks. A glass of water will do. That man Moleke is a nightmare!
I’m sorry. He’s your uncle, isn’t he?
81. ZARA: No need to apologize. He was like a madman the way he went
about collecting his debts. Drove everybody crazy. After handing over their lands, most people had no way to make a living. So they packed up and left.
82. GARAM: What a contrast. The last time I was here, everything was booming.
People bought a lot of luxury items, electronics, jewellery – you name it!
83. ZARA: Now the tide has changed completely.
84. GARAM: What about your family? Does your father have plans to move?
85. ZARA: (LAUGHS) You don’t know my father. He’s unmovable! He
doesn’t mind being the last man standing. Even if everyone leaves, he’ll stay put!
86. GARAM: It shows good strength of character.
87. ZARA: Or a suicidal nature perhaps. Look around you. Everything is dead.
But my father will probably die trying to coax the land back from the brink rather than bail out.
88. GARAM: I admire your father so much. He is very wise. He works hard. He
believes in striving, no matter how difficult it might seem. And to think that he and Moleke were raised by the same man Babamu, yet see how different their paths are!
89. ZARA: I didn’t know you thought so highly of my father.
90. GARAM: Oh, I do. And I’d like to stay and help out. I know of ways of
making dry lands productive again. I have traveled far and wide and have witnessed what people elsewhere have accomplished with infertile lands.
91. ZARA: (SPARK OF INTEREST) Really? And how long do you intend
to stay?
92. GARAM: (LAUGHS) For as long as your family needs me. I only hope I can
find somewhere to live?
93. ZARA: Are you kidding? You won’t lack a place to stay. The whole
village is at your disposal.
94. GARAM: You know, you actually remind me of your father.
95. ZARA: I do? In what way?
96. GARAM: (IN A LOW VOICE) You have his looks. You inherited his
height, you’re very slim with a nice figure. Zara, you’re quite a lovely young woman, you know? But I’m sure you’ve heard that before. I bet you’ve broken more than a few hearts of young Mabudi men. (PAUSE) Oh, I’ve made you shy!
97. ZARA: (LAUGHS) No. I mean, what about you? I see how all the women
of Mabudi give you the eye. Even my father’s wife…
98. GARAM: Your stepmother, you mean? Now you remind me …where is she?
99. ZARA: Flown away, gone with the winds. And thank you, but she’s not
my stepmother. She was my father’s wife, period!
100. GARAM: That makes her your stepmother.
101. ZARA: Whatever. As for where to live, you can take your pick of
residences, from the palace to our neighbour’s hut. No one is there to mind.
102. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 4
103. SFX: FARM AMBIENCE. THROUGHOUT THE SCENE, THERE
SHOULD BE SOUNDS OF DIGGING OF HOLES.
104. BALA MANU: (CALLING OUT) Hassan! Hassan, where are you?
105. YOHANNA: That sounds like Bala.
106. HASSAN: Yes, Papa, it is indeed. (ANSWERING) Over here, Bala. We are
here, near the baobab tree.
107. BALA MANU: (COMING ON) I didn’t know your father was here too. Good
afternoon, Baba Yohanna.
108. YOHANNA: Bala, welcome. You braved this sun to come to our farm?
109. BALA MANU: But you are the ones working in this scorching heat.
110. YOHANNA: We’ll soon stop. As soon as we complete this part, we’ll rest and
come back in the evening when it’s cooler.
111. BALA MANU: Each time I come out here, I see something new. What are you
doing this time?
112. HASSAN: Making stone lines. They act as barriers to water and soil from
downslope runoff. We’ve just started on the second. We’ll build more across the length of the field.
113. BALA MANU: How do they work?
114. YOHANNA: You see the way the stones are arranged? When it rains, these
stones stop water from running off down the slope. That way, the water will soak into the soil, and there’ll be more water for the crops.
115. BALA MANU: That makes a lot of sense. But it must have taken you a long
time to gather all these stones.
116. YOHANNA: Yes, it did. We used both small and large ones, so that in arranging
them, there should be no gaps. You know why?
117. BALA MANU: I think I do, sir. If you leave gaps, water will escape?
118. HASSAN: Also, if stones are washed out, gullies can form downslope from
the gaps.
119. BALA MANU: Simple but ingenious. And it looks so solid!
120. YOHANNA: You have to make it solid. This one is about 20 centimetres wide,
and 20 centimetres high. You can build it as high as 30 centimetres.
121. BALA MANU: Well, now that I’m here, can I help a little?
122. YOHANNA: Thank you. You’re a good boy. Here, you can make a stone line all
by yourself. How is your father, by the way?
123. BALA MANU: He’s fine actually, having come to his senses lately.
124. YOHANNA: What do you mean?
125. BALA MANU: He has finally admitted that you were right about Moleke, about
the danger of using ground water indiscriminately, and many other things.
126. YOHANNA: I wish I could have done more to prevent Mabudi from sinking to
this level.
127. BALA MANU: You sounded the warning; people just didn’t pay attention. Moleke
has even enticed and taken over Babi, my father’s last wife. (YOHANNA AND HASSAN EXPRESS SHOCK). It’s true. She’s installed in his house in the city.
128. YOHANNA: He is shameless! Is there any evil Moleke cannot do?
129. BALA MANU: It appears we’ll be moving to Papalanto. I’m going to be a steward,
and my father … well, he has got a job with a relative who trades in foreign currency. Actually, he runs a black market bureau de change.
130. YOHANNA: Incredible! I’m so sorry that your father, the village head of our
community, has been reduced to this!
131. BALA MANU: (CHANGING THE SUBJECT SUDDENLY) Actually, I
stopped by the house before coming here. I was hoping to say good-bye to Zara too, but she wasn’t there.
132. YOHANNA: Oh, Zara is helping Garam settle in Jauro’s house.
133. BALA MANU: The Mobile Supermarket? Why is he staying in Jauro’s house?
134. YOHANNA: He has offered to stay and help those of us who wish to remain and
reclaim the land. He seems to know a lot of good practices.
135. BALA MANU: That’s quite generous of him. I wish I could also stay…
136. HASSAN: It’d be great if you could stay. Please, can’t you stay?
137. YOHANNA: Come now Hassan, we mustn’t be selfish. We’ll miss you, Bala,
but I think it’ll be good for you. You have been trying to get into the University at Papalanto, right?
138. BALA MANU: That’s true, sir. I’ve tried twice already. Haven’t succeeded yet.
139. YOHANNA: Don’t worry; you’ll succeed at the third attempt. Just keep
knocking at that University door until you get an answer, ok?!
140. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
141. NARRATOR: Ah, friends! Mabudi, oh Mabudi! I weep for you my native land!
And to think that someone saw this day coming and warned us. But did we listen? Thanks to Moleke’s sweet tongue we were determined like the housefly to follow the corpse until we got buried together.
But Yohanna …God, I love the determination of that man! He and
a few remnants have refused to throw in the towel and flee. They are quite prepared to stay and fight back to regain their land. Is it going to work? Let’s wait and see what other excitement is in store for those of us who tune in to the program. See you all next time.
142. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER CLOSING
CREDITS
THE END
Script written by Euphemia Kange Chiekyula, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 12
March 2006
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 12
CAST
NARRATOR
YOHANNA
HASSAN
MOLEKE
BALA MANU
SHURAHI
POLICE INSPECTOR
_____________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD 0.5 AND FADE UNDER
OPENING ANNOUNCEMENTS, FADE UP AND UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Friends, welcome to our stories about my hometown Mabudi. The
last time I talked to you I was in tears and despair about the fate that had befallen my once pristine town. Things were so bad that not a blade of grass was to be seen anywhere, only sand and dust and baked earth. The forest, our lovely thick forest for which Mabudi was well known, was almost gone. The wells and streams dried up and people started fleeing to find greener pastures. Even our Abah found out too late that trusting Moleke is like hugging a rattlesnake to your chest because you thought it was your pet. But does the rattlesnake agree?
As you will recall, not everybody threw in the towel. There were those I like to call the remnants. A small band of principled and I daresay stubborn people who stayed and struggled to push the desert back. These were folks like Yohanna, his son Hassan, Shurahi, the agricultural officer, even Garam. Yes. The mobile supermarket. He stopped here two years ago and decided to stay to assist Yohanna and company.
It’s been two years since that day when all seemed lost. So how are things in Mabudi now? I can’t wait to tell you! These fearless people have been slowly reclaiming the soil and starting to turn the land green with shrubbery, yellow with grass and maize and sorghum stalks. They also planted cassava, yams, sweet potatoes and even vegetables, okra, peppers, tomatoes…. and harvested…. Yes!
How was this possible? How did they do it? Well, they used various methods to coax the hard and cracked land to become productive again, methods that you have probably heard about from Shurahi and Yohanna in the past. They also got a lot of help from their neighbours and the local government and the agricultural experts, because one of the first things they decided to do was sign the convention for joint action against desertification! Neighbouring communities have used what happened in Mabudi to learn what not to do to your land. It is early morning now and the farming household of Yohanna is already awake… let’s join them and find out what the excitement is all about, shall we…
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE UNDER…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: YOHANNA’S HOUSE. EARLY IN THE MORNING. HE IS
PREPARING TO GO TO THE FARM, AND WE HEAR FARM TOOLS BEING ASSEMBLED. SOUND OF WIND FORMS THE SOUNDBED FOR THIS SCENE.
5. YOHANNA: (QUIETLY, ON MIC) Hassan, get the bigger basin too. We need
it to move the stones we gathered yesterday.
6. HASSAN: (GOING OFF MIC) I can’t seem to find it. It’s not with the other
tools we brought from the farm yesterday. Zara…she might….
7. YOHANNA: (CALLS OUT, ON) Well, call and ask her. What’s keeping her
anyway? I’ve been calling and calling, but there’s no response.
8. HASSAN: (OFF MIC) There’s something wrong here…
9. YOHANNA: (ON) What do you mean?
10. HASSAN: (COMING BACK ON) Well, the front door was unlocked when I
woke up this morning. (ON) Then, when I went to tell Zara that we were leaving for the farm in a short while, she wasn’t in her room.
11. YOHANNA: What do you mean “wasn’t in her room”? She went to bed before
the rest of us, didn’t she?
12. HASSAN: Yes… And I personally locked the door myself before going to
bed. But it was unlocked this morning, and Zara…it appears she did not sleep in her bed either.
13. YOHANNA: Well, don’t just stand there … look for her. It’s unusual for her to
wake up this early. Hummnn …
14. HASSAN: Let me try Jauro’s house where Garam is staying…see if she’s
there.
15. YOHANNA: What? What will she be… do you know something that I don’t?
(HASSAN SAYS NO) Anyway, hurry and check. And what would she be doing outside in this foul weather?
16. YOHANNA: (THINKING ALOUD) These children! I hope I haven’t
overlooked anything. Zara with Garam…would she dare? No, she wouldn’t. Zara is a sensible girl. (SEES A PERSON IN THE DISTANCE AND CALLS OUT). Did you get there at all? Did you see… (STOPS SHORT. CONTINUES IN AN UNCERTAIN VOICE). Who are you? What do you want?
17. BALA MANU: (COMING ON MIC) It’s Bala Manu, Baba Yohanna. It’s me.
Good morning, sir.
18. YOHANNA: Bala, is it really you? What are you doing covered up like that?
Are you trying to give an old man a heart attack?
19. BALA MANU: I’m terribly sorry, sir. I must look quite a sight. I ran into a
sandstorm on the outskirts of the village.
20. YOHANNA: I see. You chose a special day to come. We get these sandstorms
every now and then. Oh, you should see yourself in a mirror, all covered in fine grey powder. Come in and get warm.
21. BALA MANU: First, let me get rid of these clothes. There’s sand in the folds of
my clothes, sand in my hair, my nose, my eyes, my ears… When did things get this bad?
22. YOHANNA: It’s been getting progressively worse. Life here seems mostly flies
and dust now. We haven’t seen rain in a long time, not even a sprinkle to settle the dust.
23. BALA MANU: So how do you cope?
24. YOHANNA: Oh, we get by. We were lucky to store some rainwater before this
dry spell, but we use that strictly for drinking. But it is dry. Even the trees are dry. How is your father, by the way?
25. BALA MANU: He’s all right. He has settled down, but he hates life in Papalanto.
Complains all the time.
26. YOHANNA: I’m happy you came to visit. Thanks for not forgetting us.
27. BALA MANU: I didn’t come just for a visit – I’m back for good. It turns out I’m
not cut out for city living at all. I had a most unsuccessful career as a steward. I got fired.
28. YOHANNA: I’m sorry to hear that.
29. BALA MANU: I’m not. Farming is all I’ve ever wanted to do anyway. (PAUSE) I
have another reason for coming back…I don’t know, sir, if it’s too soon or too sudden to state it, but I have come to seek the hand of Zara in marriage.
30. YOHANNA: Zara my daughter?
31. BALA MANU: Yes, sir. Even while I was away from here, I have never stopped
loving or thinking about her. (HASSAN ENTERS. THE TWO EXPRESS HAPPINESS TO SEE EACH OTHER).
32. HASSAN: (COMING ON, SURPRISED) Hey you! Bala, or should I say
“city boy”! (LOUD HIGH FIVES, ON MIC).
33. BALA: (ON) Hey you, yourself! What’s up, Hassan?
34. HASSAN: (ON) So-so. But what are you doing here, man? (LAUGHS) You
look like you came out of the dust or something…
35. BALA: (LAUGHING)
36. YOHANNA: He came through a sandstorm. (PAUSE). Hassan, did you find
her?
37. HASSAN: No. Garam is not there either…it appears he has moved out – all
his things are gone. All I found was this note.
38. YOHANNA: A note? What does it say?
39. HASSAN: (READING). I am sorry. But Zara and I love each other very
much and want to get married. I promise to take very good care of her. Please don’t be alarmed or worried, I’ll do the proper thing by her.
40. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO
SCENE 2
41. SFX: YOHANNA’S HOUSE. DOOR OPENS. SOUND OF WIND
UP AND CUT WHEN DOOR CLOSES.
42. YOHANNA: Well…well…well!
43. MOLEKE: Really, Yohanna, I come back after two years and that’s all the
greeting, all the welcome I get? I take it you are not pleased to see me then?
44. YOHANNA: Forgive me for not jumping up and down. Besides, I thought my
eyes were deceiving me. Frankly, I’m not sure whether to be pleased or not, Moleke, but welcome.
45. MOLEKE: Well, as you can see, it’s me. Your eyes are not deceiving you.
46. YOHANNA: Thanks be to God. You disappear and reappear!
(SARCASTICALLY) And the last time you appeared, you brought nothing but trouble. I’m wondering what it is you have brought this time around.
47. MOLEKE: The only troublemaker I see is the one standing in front of me. You
are the troublemaker, you self-righteous bastard! Who gave you and the others the right to cultivate crops on my land?
48. YOHANNA: Which land might you be referring to? And what makes you think I
require your permission to cultivate communal land?
49. MOLEKE: Oh, is that what you call it? I know you are good at taking what
does not belong to you, but not this time.
50. YOHANNA: Here we go! Anyway, when have you ever known me to take
something that did not belong to me?
51. MOLEKE: You think I have forgotten the way you weaseled your way into
my family and stole my father’s affection from me? Don’t let us open old wounds.
52. YOHANNA: Oh let’s do, because very soon, you’ll accuse me of being
responsible for your bad behaviour as a youngster too.
53. MOLEKE: Your day of reckoning is coming. For your information, I have
come back to stay. And I want my land back.
54. YOHANNA: Haven’t you done enough damage? It’s thanks to you that the
whole of Mabudi has become empty and the land hard, dry and infertile. You are responsible for all that!
55. MOLEKE: That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! Do I control the
elements?
56. YOHANNA: Why don’t you go back to where you have been hiding all these
years? At least, leave us to do the hard work, something you’re obviously unfamiliar with…then you can come back and wreck it again.
57. MOLEKE: If it’s such hard work, then you should be rejoicing that I’ve come
back to relieve you of your burden.
58. YOHANNA: Have you gone to the farms and seen the wonders? Go and see for
yourself. We have managed to grow a few trees; we’re planting more. We’re using various methods to make the soil fertile again.
59. MOLEKE: (SARCASTICALLY) Very impressive!
60. YOHANNA: Now what do you suggest we do?
61. MOLEKE: The obvious. Just cut down those trees and uproot your crops.
Whatever you do is your business. I just want my land back.
62. YOHANNA: This is a fantasy of yours, no more. Tomorrow morning you’ll
wake up and laugh at it. And you keep calling it your land – where did you get that idea from?
63. MOLEKE: Eighty percent of all Mabudi land belongs to me. I am owed
millions on those lands. [USE LOCAL AND REALISTIC CURRENCY AND FIGURES] In the absence of cash, I want to use it for myself as I see fit!
64. YOHANNA: You’ll have the whole land desolate and barren again. (PICKS UP
A CUTLASS) Look, Moleke…
65. MOLEKE: Are you planning to attack me with that cutlass?
66. YOHANNA: Attack you…for what? Our people say that if you argue with a
madman, there’s no difference between the two of you. I have work to do, so you must forgive me if I can no longer stand here and listen to your hallucinations!!
67. MOLEKE: Do you understand what I’m saying? I want my land….
68. YOHANNA: You’ll have to step over my corpse to get to any land.
69. MOLEKE: Is that a death wish?
70. YOHANNA: (ALREADY GOING OFF) I’m not joking.
71. MOLEKE: Well, we’ll see about that! Wait, I’m coming right back soon and
then we’ll see.
72. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 3
73. SFX: BALA MANU AND SHURAHI’S LAUGHTER. SOUNDS OF
FARM WORK LIKE HOEING OR DIGGING.
74. BALA MANU: No, seriously Shurahi, let me try. I’ve been watching as you
planted the other ones. It’s simple. I can do it.
75. SHURAHI: Ok, go ahead. Try. But I’m watching…
76. BALA MANU: Good. Hand me the plastic container. Wait, this one doesn’t seem
to have enough holes.
77. SHURAHI: Don’t worry, there are enough holes. The holes are for water to
drain out; that’s why they are in the bottom. If there are more holes than that, the water will gush out when you water your vegetable seedlings.
78. BALA MANU: I understand. So, I’ll fill the container with soil like this. Then, I’ll
water it to make the soil moist. Then I’m ready to plant a seed?
79. SHURAHI: It’s as simple as that. And because you used a container, you don’t
need as much water to keep the soil moist. Because you’re not watering a lot of extra soil.
80. BALA MANU: Pardon me, but if the soil needs to be moist, why does the soil in
these other bigger containers look so dry?
81. SHURAHI: These seedlings are big enough to transplant directly into the
garden. When they are this size, you put the container outside where it will get some sun and wind. Each day you can increase the time outside. When it’s ready to stay out all day, then you plant it directly into the soil.
82. BALA MANU: Is there any special practice for transplanting into the soil?
83. SHURAHI: Come over here. (THEY MOVE) Now, this furrow is already
prepared. You can see that there’s one centimetre of compost in the furrow. I’ll plant the seeds in the compost, cover them with a little soil, then gently press the soil down. Only the furrows need to be watered. (PAUSE) Are you listening at all?
84. BALA MANU: Of course I am. Do you want me to repeat what you have just said?
85. SHURAHI: It’s just that you seemed miles away, so I thought you weren’t
listening. Anyway, after a few weeks when the seedling is larger, make a circular trough in the soil around the plant, making sure that the base of the plant stem is higher than the bottom of the trough, and water only the trough.
86. BALA MANU: Let me ask you one question which is bothering me. If plants need
sunlight to grow, why are you planting them in this shade?
87. SHURAHI: Well, this location is actually perfect because it gets about eight
hours of sun every day. These plants need at least six hours of sun a day, but too much sun will dry them out. That’s why I created this afternoon shade…(STOPS) you see, you have gone into your thoughts again. You’re not listening.
88. BALA MANU: I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m kind of upset.
89. SHURAHI: I have upset you?
90. BALA MANU: (NERVOUS LAUGH) No…not you. I’m just upset about Zara’s
elopement with that…that…that mobile supermarket.
91. SHURAHI: Why does that upset you?
92. BALA MANU: How could she betray me like that?
93. SHURAHI: Betray you? If I understand it correctly, the girl has gone to be with
the one she loves. How is that a betrayal?
94. BALA MANU: I love her, you see? I have loved her for as long as I can remember.
95. SHURAHI: You have loved her. Well, did she know? If you have loved her all
your life, did you ever tell her?
96. BALA MANU: I spent so much time around her family …I thought it was obvious.
What did I do wrong?
97. SHURAHI: Either she did not get your vibes, or she ignored them.
98. BALA MANU: What a comfort you are!
99. SHURAHI: What do you want me to say? Perhaps you should go and drag
your… (SPITS OUT THE WORD) sweetheart… back by the ear to come and marry you?
100. BALA MANU: That’s unfair…you’re not being nice. What is the matter?
101. SHURAHI: Nothing is the matter. I only wish I could wake you up from your
slumber. There she is with the one she loves, not even sparing a thought for you, and here you are pining away…
102. BALA MANU: Why are you packing up? Don’t you want to finish planting these
vegetables?
103. SHURAHI: How can we finish the work when you take off to the moon at the
slightest opportunity? Please pardon me if I don’t want to hang around and hear you bewail the loss of your sweetheart.
104. BALA MANU: When will you come back so that we can finish the rows?
105. SHURAHI: (ANGRY) I don’t know if I will return. In fact, I plan to go back
to Papalanto as soon as the new extension officer arrives tomorrow. Please tell Pa Yohanna goodbye for me.
106. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 4
107. SFX: GENERAL AMBIENCE DEPICTING YOHANNA’S HOUSE.
108. POLICE INSPECTOR: Yohanna, I see you’re taking advantage of the good weather today.
109. YOHANNA: Oh yes indeed, Inspector. Welcome to my home. I hope you don’t
mind joining me under this mango tree?
110. P. INSPECTOR: Not at all. What about you, Moleke?
111. MOLEKE: Fine by me.
112. YOHANNA: Bala, hurry and bring out more chairs. Inspector, please sit here.
113. P. INSPECTOR: Thank you. I’m sorry for showing up suddenly like this…
114. YOHANNA: No problem at all. You can come to my house anytime. (CHAIRS
ARRIVE AND THEY SIT) I hope there’s no trouble?
115. P. INSPECTOR: I don’t know. You see, when we receive a report, we must
investigate, and that’s why you see me here.
116. YOHANNA: I am listening.
117. P. INSPECTOR: You see, Moleke here reported that you have trespassed on his
land. Is this true?
118. YOHANNA: It’s not true. In fact, it’s a complete lie.
119. P. INSPECTOR: He says that when he demanded the return of his lands, you
threatened him.
120. YOHANNA: I have no idea why he would say things like that. None of these
things happened.
121. P. INSPECTOR: So you’re saying the charge of trespass and that of threat of
bodily harm is false?
122. YOHANNA: That is correct. Nothing of the sort happened.
123. P. INSPECTOR: Well, Moleke, what have you got to say? What did you tell us at
the Police Station?
124. MOLEKE: I stand by everything I said. It happened exactly as I told you. This
man called Yohanna has not only usurped my lands, but when I confronted him, he threatened to deal with me.
125. YOHANNA: Inspector, I think Moleke is just wasting our time. I have not
touched Moleke’s land. I don’t even know where this land is.
126. BALA MANU: If I may speak … (HE GETS THE GO AHEAD) Inspector, all
the land that we have been cultivating is our own. Also, we have been trying to revive the communal grazing lands and what used to be the forest. Perhaps this is what Moleke is referring to?
127. MOLEKE: You are most annoying! What do you know about this matter?
128. YOHANNA: I think it’s a fair assessment to say that he knows more than you
do. We have been working together, toiling side by side. He also happens to be the crown prince of Mabudi, don’t forget.
129. MOLEKE: Inspector, I have proof of ownership of the lands in question. I
have here with me all the documents giving me ownership to those lands.
130. P. INSPECTOR: Who gave you these documents?
131. MOLEKE: The previous owners.
132. P. INSPECTOR: How did they come to give you ownership of their lands?
133. MOLEKE: They owed me huge sums of money, and since they couldn’t pay,
they signed over their lands.
134. P. INSPECTOR: Is this all the proof you have?
135. MOLEKE: What more proof do you need? Is this not enough?
136. P. INSPECTOR: I shall be honest with you, Moleke; I don’t see a case here. You
have asked the law to take sides with you to undo painstaking efforts to revive the land. We can’t do that.
137. MOLEKE: Are you saying you won’t do anything?
138 P. INSPECTOR: You might consider going to the High Court, but this is beyond us.
139. MOLEKE: This is not the end. I shall return for what’s mine, you will see!
140. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER.
141. NARRATOR: Friends, now how do you like that? Moleke. Hah! Moleke. Every
time he reappears expect some kind of trouble for the land in Mabudi. How can he suggest we cut down the trees and plants so painstakingly cultivated by the farmers?! Who in their right minds could support such a claim? I’m not sure we’ve heard the last of this though…Moleke being Moleke!
There’s trouble brewing in the love department for our young people. First Zara elopes with Garam, the mobile supermarket. Garam, after hanging around for the past two years to help her family, finally managed to win Zara’s heart without Yohanna having an inkling. And on the same day that Bala Manu returns to declare his own love for her? Amazing! Now Shurahi, our dear Agricultural officer is threatening to leave Mabudi. Why? You’ll have to tune in to find out on our next program
142. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER CLOSING CREDITS.
THE END
Script written by: Euphemia Kange Chiekyula
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
Package 77, Episode 13
March 2006
_____________________________________________________________________
Episode 13
CAST
NARRATOR
ZARA
YOHANNA
HASSAN
BALA MANU
MOLEKE
SHURAHI
VOICES (YOUTHS)
_____________________________________________________________________________
1. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP, HOLD AND FADE UNDER OPENING
ANNOUNCEMENTS. UP AND FADE UNDER…
2. NARRATOR: Friends, just what did Moleke mean last time when he threatened
that this is not the end. I shall return for what’s mine, you will see!? In today’s story we will find out just how far he’s prepared to go in order to lay claim to all of the land in Mabudi. He is not called scoundrel miner for nothing! But will the people let him get away with it this time?
Still, it is a happy day for me in more meaningful ways. See? Most of us have been able to grow crops in fertility trenches and in other ways, and have actually harvested good quantities of sweet potatoes, cassava, cowpeas, pumpkins and spinach. My own guinea corn and side crop of soybeans have been amazing. We are indeed blessed.
But it was a sad and disappointed Yohanna who found out that his daughter, the lovely but enigmatic Zara, had lost her heart, not to Bala, Prince of Mabudi who has loved her since childhood, but to the unlikely Garam, the mobile supermarket. They even elope. What else can a father do but go after his child to point out the error of her ways? Will he succeed in getting her back? Let’s go to Papalanto to hear what happens when they meet…
3. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND CROSS FADE TO…
SCENE 1
4. SFX: KNOCK ON THE DOOR OFF MIC.
5. ZARA: (ON) Yes… (TO HERSELF) who can that be? (CALLING)
Please hold on, I’m coming…
6. SFX: DOOR OPENS.
7. ZARA: (GASPS. THEN RECOVERS, OFF MIC) Oh, I thought… I
didn’t realize…I mean, Papa! What a surprise!
8. YOHANNA: (OFF MIC) Yes, Zara. It’s me, Yohanna. Whether I am Papa, I’m
no longer sure.
9. ZARA: I’m so surprised to see you. What are you doing here in Papalanto?
Come inside please. (PAUSE 2 BEATS)
10. SFX: DOOR CLOSES.
11. YOHANNA: (COMING ON MIC) Where is he? Where is Garam?
12. ZARA: (ON) He’s not here at the moment. He’ll be back in the evening.
13. YOHANNA: (ON) Too bad. He’ll come back and find an empty house. Then
he’ll know how it feels. Get your things. We’re going.
14. ZARA: Going where?
15. YOHANNA: Going home to Mabudi.
16. ZARA: Papa, please have a seat. Let me get you something to drink.
17. YOHANNA: I didn’t come all the way to Papalanto to have a seat and a drink.
Get your things; we’re going home. I trusted this Garam man – I didn’t expect him to abduct my daughter.
18. ZARA: Papa, you’ve got it all wrong. He didn’t abduct me. I came
willingly.
19. YOHANNA: That cannot be true. What herbs…or what magic did he use to
entice you?
20. ZARA: Papa, you’re not listening. He didn’t do anything. I came willingly.
21. YOHANNA: Zara, I’m not in the mood for long arguments.
22. ZARA: I’m sorry Papa. I don’t intend to argue with you. I can’t go back to
Mabudi. Garam loves me and I love him.
23. YOHANNA: (REPEATING.) You love him. Let me ask you. How long have
you known him? Do you know him?
24. ZARA: Papa, I don’t think the length of time matters…
25. YOHANNA: I won’t argue with you about love or time. All I’m saying is: come
back home and do your love the proper way.
26. ZARA: What is the proper way?
27. YOHANNA: Certainly not sneaking around, and not stealing away in the middle
of the night like a thief. What were you thinking? Zara, you’ve always been a sensible girl.
28. ZARA: I’m sorry, Papa.
29. YOHANNA: That is why I feel this Garam must be a bad influence. Your
brother Hassan has always been your friend. Did you stop for a minute to consider how he would feel before you stole away?
30. ZARA: I’m sorry, Papa…
31. YOHANNA: You didn’t even say goodbye. Did we annoy you?
32. ZARA: No, Papa.
33. YOHANNA: Then why? Look, Zara. Perhaps this is just a phase, a marker on
your way to becoming a woman. When you’ve become that woman, you’ll meet the man destined to be your husband and you’ll marry and settle down.
34. ZARA: I appreciate your concern for me, Papa, but really I’m sure Garam
is the man I was destined to marry.
35. YOHANNA: How do you know?
36. ZARA: I meet few people to fall in love with in Mabudi. Besides, I don’t
want to be stuck in Mabudi for the rest of my life. I can never be a true and happy farmer like Hassan, Bala or Shura. I want change and vitality and love. I believe I have found these in Garam.
37. YOHANNA: Again I ask you: how do you know?
38. ZARA: Garam is so knowledgeable. He has traveled the whole country and
even neighbouring countries to buy and sell…He is not a bad influence like you think.
39. YOHANNA: Zara, I don’t approve of what you did, running off in the night like
that. You run from enemies…I don’t believe we are your enemies.
40. ZARA: I’m sorry, Papa. He loves me and I love him.
41. YOHANNA: Ok. Now, what I want you to do is to come back home with me. If
you still want to marry this Garam, you’ll do it openly. Then you can do whatever you want.
42. ZARA: Papa, we are already married!
43. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER.
SCENE 2
44. SFX: FARM AMBIENCE. HASSAN AND BALA ARE ON THE
FARM.
45. BALA: (CALLING) Hassan…Hassan! Stop spending so much time
building the fire.
46. HASSAN: (OFF) I’ll soon have it going. These sweet potatoes look so
temptingly delicious…I want to have a bite before we get home.
47. BALA: I want to eat too, but at this rate, we may not finish harvesting all
the trenches. (PAUSE) You know, as we harvest, we should also be preparing the trenches for the next planting.
48. HASSAN: (JOINING BALA) It’s such a good harvest, wouldn’t you say?
49. BALA: Considering the weather conditions, I’d say it’s a pretty good
harvest. More than I dared hope for. Look, I’ve finished with this trench. Why don’t you fill it in?
50. HASSAN: Ok. I can do that, using these weeds and leaves and grass…
51. BALA: Add more, Hassan. Use these crop residues, manure, feathers, the
sweet potato and yam peels – anything that will rot as time passes.
52. HASSAN: I didn’t understand it the first time we prepared these trenches …
why we had to accumulate all this rubbish…all kinds of different materials – some young, moist materials and some dead, dry materials…
53. BALA: The rain that falls during the rainy season soaks into the soil in the
trench. The organic matter in the trench holds the water for the crops to use after the dry season begins.
54. HASSAN: (TEASING) Not bad! Spoken like an expert. You seem to know a
lot about farming.
55. BALA: Yeah, I seem to have a natural flair for it, wouldn’t you say?
Actually, I learned a lot from your father and…Shurahi. Anyway, for someone of your age, Hassan, I’d say you’re quite a farmer too.
56. HASSAN: Thank you. Well, let me check the potatoes…
57. BALA: Please do. The sweet aroma is making me hungry.
58. HASSAN: (SPEAKING SLIGHTLY OFF MIC) We need to sprinkle some
water over the layer of the organic materials. My father explained that the water will help the scraps and other organic material to rot.
59. BALA: Isn’t it ironic? Normally you would think anything that rots is bad
… but in this case, as the organic matter in the trench rots, it adds good plant food to the soil.
60. HASSAN: (COMING BACK) No wonder the potatoes grew so big and look
so delicious.
61. BALA: What’s more, you can grow all sorts of crops in these fertility
trenches – not only sweet potatoes but tomatoes, peppers, okra – even fruit trees.
62. HASSAN: Shurahi mentioned that you could grow a different crop every
season. That young lady is such a wealth of knowledge…a walking encyclopaedia on farming. (SILENCE) Did you hear what I said?
63. BALA: I heard you loud and clear!
64. HASSAN: What are you going to do about her?
65. BALA: About who?
66. HASSAN: Shurahi of course!
67. BALA: (CHANGING THE SUBJECT) I’m sure your potatoes are
burning.
68. HASSAN: Nice way to change the subject. Ok, let’s go and do justice to the
food.
69. BALA: I totally agree.
70. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 3
71. SFX: FARM AMBIENCE. NOISE AND COMMOTION GETTING
LOUDER AS IT COMES ON MIC. (IT IS MOLEKE APPROACHING WITH SOME YOUTHS).
72. YOHANNA: Isn’t that Moleke approaching? (PAUSE) It is indeed Moleke. And
where is he going with all those people armed with machetes, cutlasses, cudgels and all?
73. HASSAN: Papa, I have no idea. But this doesn’t look good. What should we
do? I think I better go for help.
74. YOHANNA: Good idea my son. Please hurry … and call other people as you go.
Go quick. (HASSAN LEAVES)
75. MOLEKE: (SHOUTING OFF MIC) Boys, get down to work. Cut down
everything! Uproot everything.
76. SFX: SOUNDS OF CUTTING DOWN CROPS CAN BE HEARD
OFF MIC AND COMING CLOSER.
77. YOHANNA: (SHOUTING ON MIC) Hey, what is this? What are you doing?
Why are you destroying our crops? Moleke, call your people to order. Tell them to stop…
78. MOLEKE: (TAUNTING. COMING ON MIC) Or else? And what can you
do about it?
79. YOHANNA: Moleke, are you completely mad? I’m warning you to stop.
80. MOLEKE: (ON MIC, CALLING) Take no notice of him. Continue with
what you’re doing.
81. YOHANNA: This is unbelievable! I have never heard or witnessed
anything like this in my whole life.
82. MOLEKE: Then consider it a rare privilege.
83. YOHANNA: You are completely unfeeling, Moleke. What do you hope to gain
by destroying our hard work?
84. MOLEKE: Didn’t I warn you? Didn’t I ask you to uproot your crops and take
them to your own farm? I want my land back.
85. YOHANNA: One cannot even reason with you. (VOICES AS MORE
PEOPLE BEGIN TO ARRIVE).
86. VOICES: What?! It’s the High Chief himself! The ultimate destroyer! See
what damage he has done already! What kind of a man is this? Must you destroy everything you come in contact with? We will deal with you today, stupid man! Your friend the Abah is no longer in town, so who will save you from our wrath today? You cheated the whole town. You made money from innocent penniless people. You sent them away from their homes and took away their means of livelihood. You reap where you didn’t sow a thing! Today is payback time. (FRACAS AS THEY DESCEND ON MOLEKE AND HIS GROUP).
87. MUSIC: BRIDGE MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER
SCENE 4
88. SFX: SHURAHI’S HOUSE. KNOCK ON THE DOOR, OFF MIC.
89. SHURAHI: (GOING OFF) Yes, I’m coming.
90. SFX: DOOR OPENS OFF MIC.
91. SHURAHI: (STARTLED OFF MIC) Good heavens! Bala, what are you
doing here?
92. BALA: (OFF MIC) Surprise! Surprise!
93. SHURAHI: Please come in.
94. SFX: DOOR OPENS WIDER. GUSTS OF WIND SWEEP INTO
THE ROOM, CAUSING SOME LOOSE SHEETS OF PAPER TO FLY AROUND. THEY SCRAMBLE FOR THEM. DOOR BANGS SHUT.
95. BALA: (COMING ON MIC) Oh, Shurahi, I’m so sorry…
96. SHURAHI: (ON) No, don’t worry. It’s not your fault. (BOTH PAUSE 2
BEATS)
97. BALA: (ON) What are the papers for?
98. SHURAHI: Manuscripts of my book…the book I’m writing on farming
practices.
99. BALA: How is it coming?
100. SHURAHI: Very well. I’ve almost finished the first draft. I’ll send it to my
editor when I’m through, and hear her comments.
101. BALA: Wao, you’re going to be famous. A writer! Wao! What’s the title?
102. SHURAHI: (LAUGHS A BIT) It’s called Farm Tales from All Over. But the
knowledge that I’m sharing is more important than fame. If this book can help people to be better farmers and make better use of their lands, then my purpose will have been achieved.
103. BALA: I’m so proud of you.
104. SHURAHI: No, I’m not there yet. I’ll be proud when I see the book published.
105. BALA: Well, no matter what…I’ll still be proud of you. And I’m so sorry
about this mess. Can I help you arrange the pages?
106. SHURAHI: Don’t worry about it. I’ll do it later.
107. BALA: But I feel awful. Please let me help.
108. SHURAHI: Ok, if it’ll make you feel better, go ahead. Can I get you something
to drink?
109. BALA: Maybe later.
110. SHURAHI: So, what brings you to Papalanto? I’m sure you didn’t come to
discuss my book.
111. BALA: I came to see you.
112. SHURAHI: (LAUGHING) Came to see me? Me? Don’t make me laugh.
113. BALA: Is it funny? Or impossible for me to come and see you? Ok, you
tell me…why did I come?
114. SHURAHI: How should I know?
115. BALA: But I told you my reason for coming, and you don’t seem to
believe me.
116. SHURAHI: Ok, I believe you… I believe you.
117. BALA: Frankly, I don’t like the note on which we parted the last time, so I
have come to…to…well, to see if you can give me the opportunity to rectify the situation.
118. SHURAHI: How will you do that?
119. BALA: A little each day, perhaps for the rest of our lives…
120. SHURAHI: Actually, I should apologize too.
121. BALA: For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.
122. SHURAHI: Sure I did. I mean, you were pouring out your broken heart over
your dearest sweetheart, and I just gave you the cold shoulder. Sort of like…you had your chance. If you didn’t make the most of it, hard luck.
123. BALA: Well, you were a bit unkind. But anyway, all that is in the long,
forgotten past. How have you been? We have missed you.
124. SHURAHI: Who is “we”? (CHUCKLES) Don’t look at me like that. I just
want to know.
125. BALA: If you must know, I think that all the people and town of Mabudi
miss you… But I miss you most!
126. SHURAHI: Are you sure?
127. BALA: Yes, I’m sure. So sure that I was hoping you might consider
coming back…with me?
128. SHURAHI: For what?
129. BALA: Like I said, the whole village of Mabudi would be delighted to
have you back. My father The Abah is sick with AIDS…I might have to take over from him as the Abah. And I was wondering and hoping that you would consider standing by my side…lending me your support as my wife … that is if you would have me for your husband. Because…you see…I love you, Shurahi. I love you very
much. What do you say?
130. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER…
131. NARRATOR: Well, well, well, my friends. If you have ever wondered whether
greed always wins out over truth and good, you must have been relieved to see Moleke finally get what he surely deserved: the people’s anger and judgment. I always said it: Every day for the thief and one fine day for the owner! Not that I am advocating violence as a means of resolving conflict, you understand, but that Moleke really pushed it. Imagine bringing thugs to destroy the farms and cut down the trees Yohanna and others had painstakingly replanted. It was enough to provoke people to anger. Even the Abah Manu is not left out of sorrowful endings. Did I hear right that he is suffering from AIDS? You will recall that he wasn’t always sexually responsible, was he? But that’s a story for another season.
Oh, I love romances … and it seems one is in the air. Shurahi, our lovely tender-hearted agricultural officer, had finally left Mabudi because she thought her love for Bala Manu was unrequited. But the scales fell off the young man’s eyes and he went to get his woman. I just love it that these two dynamic people might become a couple. Great days are in the cards for Mabudi – so don’t count us out just yet!
132. MUSIC: THEME MUSIC UP AND FADE UNDER CLOSING
CREDITS.
THE END
Script written by Euphemia Kange Chiekyula, ARDA
Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Appendix I – Desertification Resources
If you want to know more about desertification, or if you want to direct a member of your audience to more information, the best resources are often local ones – expert farmers, herders, and other persons in the community. These individuals can often provide the most practical local solutions to a situation. But there are also times when you will want to contact individuals from further afield, or direct audience members towards external resources, including national research institutes, universities, international development agencies, and UN-level organizations.
The following list offers just a few examples of these types of organizations. The Internet is a good place to look for contact information for organizations in your region or country.
Resources for desertification:
• Local expert farmers
• National research institutes, e.g.,
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute,
PO Box 57811 Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: (254 2) 583301–20. Fax: (254 2) 583344.
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research,
PO Box: 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Telephone: +251-011-6462633-41; Fax: 251-011-6461294
Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques du Niger (INRAN),
Standard Direction Générale, BP 429, Niamey. Tel: 72-41-96.
• Local, regional, or national universities with agricultural departments or programs, e.g.,
Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Benin
Botswana College of Agriculture
University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Department of Agriculture and Forestry
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry, Mozambique
Addis Ababa University, Debra Zeit, Ethiopia
• International non-governmental organizations, e.g.,
Oxfam http://www.oxfam.org/
Action Aid International Head Office,
PostNet Suite #248, Private bag X31
Saxonwold 2132, Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 880 0008. Fax: +27 11 880 8082
E-mail: mail.jhb@actionaid.org
Website: http://www.actionaid.org/
• International research institutes who work on agricultural issues:
UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Subregional Office for Southern and East Africa
PO Box 3730, Harare, Zimbabwe
Telephone: (+263 4) 253 656/791 407
Cable address: FOODAGRI HARARE
Telex: 26040 FAO ZW. Fax: (+263 4) 703 497
Email: FAO-SAFR-REGISTRY@FAO.ORG
Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
Temporary Headquarters,
01 B.P. 2031, Cotonou, Benin
Tel (229) 21 35 01 88
Fax (229) 21 35 05 56
E-mail warda@cgiar.org
Website: https://www.africarice-fr.org/
Regional Centres in Saint Louis, Senegal; Ibadan, Nigeria.
International Livestock Research Institute
Headquarters
P.O. Box 30709 Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel + 254-20 422 3000. Fax + 254-20 422 3001
Telex 22040 ILRI/Nairobi/Kenya
E-mail: ILRI-Kenya@cgiar.org
Website: http://www.ilri.cgiar.org/
Regional Centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso; Niamey, Niger; Ibadan, Nigeria.
International Institute for Tropical Agriculture
Headquarters
PMB 5320, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Tel.: (+234 2) 241 2626. Fax: (+234 2) 241 2221
e-mail: IITA@cgiar.org
Website: http://www.iita.org/
Regional Stations in Cotonou, Benin; Yaounde, Cameroon, Kinshasa, DRC; Accra, Ghana; Nairobi, Kenya; Lilongwe, Malawi; Maputo, Mozambique; Kano, Nigeria; Abuja, Nigeria; Lagos, Nigeria; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Kampala, Uganda.
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Headquarters
United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 30677-00100 GPO
Nairobi, Kenya
Telephone: +254 20 722 4000. Fax: +254 20 722 4001
Email: ICRAF@cgiar.org
www: http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org
Regional centres in Bamako, Mali; Harare, Zimbabwe.
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Headquarters in India.
Regional Centres in Nairobi, Kenya; Niamey, Niger; Maputo, Mozambique; Bamako, Mali; Lilongwe, Malawi; Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Appendix II – Diagrams and Photos of Land Conservation Techniques Used in Package 77
Above photos reproduced from: Reij, C., Scoones, I., & Toulmin, C. (Eds.) (1996). Sustaining the Soil: Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation in Africa. London: Earthscan Publications Limited, 73 & 76.
Above photos reproduced from: Hassane, A., Martin, P., & Reij, C. (2000). Water Harvesting Land Rehabilitation and Household Food Security in Niger: IFAD’s soil and water conservation project in Illéla District. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and The Programme on Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation in Africa, Phase II (ISWC) (1/2), 17.
Appendix IV – Design Document for Package 77
The Long Dry Season: A Tale of Greed and Resourcefulness is a 13-episode radio serial for farmers and community members to enjoy and at the same time learn about the causes of desertification and its solutions. More generally, it teaches lessons about long-term respect for the land versus short-term greed.
SETTING
Most of the action is located in a fictitious, large rural village called Mabudi. References are also made to other places and neighbouring villages and cities. Jantale is one such neighbouring village. Papalanto is the capital city of the Northwest, closest to these villages.
The time of the dramas is a broad period of about 10 years. References to the previous 20 years will be frequently made.
CHARACTERS AND THEIR PROFILES
The following are the main characters that will populate this serial:
YOHANNA
Age: 42
Occupation: Farmer, Herbalist (Native Doctor), Conservationist
Family: Husband to Choliba and father of Zara and Hassan, cousin to Moleke
Character: Honest, calm, gentle, loving, wise, respected, very knowledgeable.
¬MOLEKE
Age: 45
Occupation: Scam Artist, Trader and Businessman.
Family: Cousin to Yohanna, son of Babamu (deceased).
Character: Dishonest, selfish, short-sighted and impatient. Greedy, ostentatious, charming and deceitful.
THE ABAH MANU
Age: 55
Occupation: Titled Village Head (The Abah or Father of Mabudi)
Family: Father of Bala Manu, husband of Babi, Titi and Halima.
Character: Greedy, womanizer, loves money, little ability to plan.
BALA MANU
Age: 29.
Occupation: Overseer of his father’s farms and holdings.
Family: Son of the Abah Manu
Character: Very interested in farming, quiet, introspective, respectful, humble, hard working, quick learner, loves the people and regrets his father’s disregard for their welfare.
CHOLIBA
Age: 25
Family: Yohanna’s second wife
Character: Loves fashion, trinkets, and shopping. Spoilt, materialistic, lazy and disorganized. No interest in family life – only in hateful gossip, bragging and comparing.
BABI
Age: 22
Family: Third wife of the Abah Manu.
Character: Ambitious to be the Abah’s preferred wife.
ZARA
Age: 20
Family: daughter of Yohanna and his late wife
Character: Daydreamer, romantic, headstrong, likes to argue, lazy, loves to read and sleep, wants to further her education, hates everything about farming.
HASSAN
Age: 19
Family: Yohanna’s son with former wife.
Character: Loves his family and adores his sister, Zara. Loves everything about farming, animals and rural life. Gregarious, friendly and outgoing.
SULEIMAN
Age: 50
Occupation: Yohanna’s neighbour. Herdsman (cattle, sheep and goat rearer).
Character: Stingy, authoritarian, very hard working, dedicated to his animals.
GARAM
Age: 35
Occupation: Itinerant salesman of myriad goods and every knickknack. His nickname among buyers is “Mobile Supermarket.”
Character: As a result of his travels, he is very enlightened, open-minded and knowledgeable about life and practices in many places.
SHURAHI (SHURA)
Age: 24
Occupation: Agricultural officer posted to Mabudi.
Character: Very interested in local lore and practices about farming. Respected by elderly and youth, very hard working and knowledgeable.
PLOTS
Main Plot: Yohanna’s story
Yohanna is a simple but contented farmer and part-time herbalist who lives in the small rural town of Mabudi where rainfall is customarily low and the weather is hot and dry for the better part of each year. Things were different when he was a boy. Yohanna can remember when the desert featured only in folk tales of adventure and long treks to Mecca on holy pilgrimages, and when Mabudi and the surrounding region were lush, green and fertile. He was virtually raised in the forest and grew to love it dearly, learning about each herb and tree bark, drinking from cool streams and learning the trill of each bird and the tracks of every animal.
The centre of this drama is the often turbulent relationship between Yohanna and his cousin, Moleke. Their history of animosity began during their childhood when the orphaned Yohanna went to live with Moleke’s family and was raised by his parents Babamu and Mamji. In those days, Babamu was a famous herbalist who was said to understand the language of the bush and was revered for his knowledge of nature and natural cures for illness. As a boy, Yohanna had thrived on the close attention, love and education provided by Babamu. Not so for Moleke, who had despised his father and taken off at the first opportunity. Yohanna inherited his Uncle’s respectful ways with nature and herbs, as well as the family land upon the passing of the old man in a mysterious fire. While everyone in Mabudi believes the fire was an act of God, Yohanna is convinced that he had seen someone like Moleke come out of Babamu’s room and slink into the shadows on the night of the fire. Though he has never mentioned it to anyone, he is convinced to this day that Moleke is responsible for the death of the only man he ever knew as a father. Yohanna took care of Moleke’s mother until her death and gave her a burial such as a son of her loins would, since no one had heard anything from Moleke.
Moleke reappears twenty years later, very wealthy and with no explanation as to where he had been or the source of his affluence. He throws money and presents around so much that no one but Yohanna wants to question the source of his wealth. Everyone also seems to forget Babamu and the fact that Moleke had not returned once since the tragedy, not even for his own mother’s funeral. When Moleke proposes to introduce new farming techniques for mass production of vegetable crops, Yohanna is the only one to see the plans as potentially destructive of the land. Moleke tells the villagers that there is serious money to be made in tomatoes, carrots, and other salad vegetables as opposed to the grains they traditionally grow in this region. He advises Mabudians to join the forward-thinking farmers in other towns and villages and begin to grow these commodities in the quantities that will turn them into instant millionaires. While the whole of Mabudi is agog and jubilant at the prospect of becoming rich, Yohanna cautions them on the long-term effect of the farming practices that will support such large-scale projects. His stance pits him against many in Mabudi, including the Abah, Moleke and his own wife Choliba.
Ten years later, Mabudi is a desert and most of the Mabudians are relocating to greener pastures. Yohanna is one of the few who decide to stay. These remnants do whatever they can to reclaim the land, using methods they learn about from neighbouring districts, from Shurahi and from traditional knowledge.
On a personal level, Moleke’s return opens up a land tussle that forces the community to take sides. Yohanna also loses first his wife and later his daughter Zara when she elopes with Garam, the itinerant salesman. He gains a son, Bala Manu, who walks out of a sandstorm to stay and help push the desert back.
Sub Plot 1: Moleke’s Story
This is the story of a local man, Moleke, who disappears for 20 years as a youth and returns an extremely rich and generous older man, whose apparent agenda is to enrich his fellow townsfolk. He tells them that the source of his wealth is trading in tomatoes and other vegetables and in transporting these commodities to the coastal cities. He encourages them to change their farming practices and land use system, advancing them new seedlings and inputs as loans to be repaid from future sales. The townsfolk happily buy into this scheme and use all of Mabudi’s farmland to cultivate large quantities of vegetables. He persuades them to sacrifice their forest. In ten years the land turns barren and dusty, the people are labouring under huge debts, and there is a vast exodus from the village to the city to find menial work.
Moleke had always been trouble from childhood. He gave his father so much stress that, when Moleke was 25, his father finally disowned him and declared the adopted Yohanna as his only son. Moleke left town in anger soon after, the same day a mysterious fire claimed the life of his father, Babamu. His mother died of shame and heartbreak from the rumour that Moleke had caused his father’s death.
While Moleke was away, a series of circumstances had led him to embark on the vegetable trading and transport business, and he has become very wealthy.
Moleke blames Yohanna for his turbulent relationship with his parents, whom he accuses of preferring the orphan to him. He has been jealous of Yohanna all his life and is angered over the latter’s unflappable attitude to Moleke’s new wealth, which he had hoped to use to impress and oppress him. His plan is to control everything in Mabudi and make its people realize his power, and above all to make Yohanna pay for the parental approval and love he felt the latter stole from him.
Even after the town dies and Yohanna stays behind to pick up the pieces, Moleke finds ways to trouble him until the remaining residents wise up and deal with Moleke once and for all.
Sub Plot 2: The Abah Manu’s story
The Abah Manu is the king of Mabudi. He has been king since he was 15 and is considered to be the worst king in the history of the community. He uses his position for his own benefit alone and has introduced and institutionalized bribery and graft. He is well known for his ego, pride and greed. He is a much-married man and divorces his wives on the flimsiest of excuses, a common one being that they have gotten older. He boasts that he can never have old women in the palace when girls are born every day in his kingdom. Most of the problems he has with his subjects arise from tussles over women, either from making passes at other men’s wives or from chatting up their under-aged daughters.
He has also belittled the merit-based customs of the land by awarding titles indiscriminately and to people of questionable repute, and by turning the process into a money-making venture.
He has big self-esteem issues regarding masculinity and sexual prowess. One of his recent wives, Babi, is a source of great trial to him in this regard. While publicly hating Yohanna, he still swallows his pride often enough to consult him for so-called manhood enhancement treatments.
Rumour has it that he stole his wife Halima while she was pregnant with another man’s child (Suleiman), which is the reason people tend to look for and see a resemblance to this man in his son, Bala.
When Moleke shows up throwing around gifts and money, Manu is the first to welcome him with titles and honour. He participates in the agricultural ventures and becomes so indebted that he has to leave Mabudi in shame to look for work in the city like everyone else. Even his son Bala abandons him to return to help Yohanna in Mabudi. A sickly Abah is admitted to hospital with symptoms resembling AIDS.
THEMES:
The central theme of this serial drama can be summarized in the adage, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” The emotional focus of the serial reflects universal moral values such as truth, courage, and good triumphing over evil. Another theme is the courage of individuals to make a difference.
There are many messages for the audience to learn from, plus instruction on specific skills – from negotiating with their neighbours on how to jointly combat desertification to methods of returning moisture to degraded lands. Key messages are:
1. What is desertification?
2. What causes desertification? (Covers mostly human actions)
3. Solutions to desertification
PLOT CHART AND EVENTS LIST
Main Plot Events
• Yohanna teaches his son Hassan about the importance of the forest. (Episode 1, Scene 1)
• Yohanna learns that his cousin Moleke is back in town after a 20-year absence. (1:3)
• Inter-communal clashes over grazing and land use. (1:4)
• Yohanna’s new wife Choliba shows her true colours (materialistic and selfish). (2:1)
• Rumours of coming prosperity for all who sign on to Moleke’s get-rich-quick schemes. (2:2)
• Face to face with cousin Moleke. Twenty-year-old feuds, resentments and animosities resurface. (3:2)
• Yohanna and Suleiman get help and tips from Koi-koi and Jantale’s experience with conserving their land. (5:1)
• Yohanna and Moleke tussle over family land and the forest. (5:3)
• The forest is at risk – greed grows and consumes every good thing in its way. (8:3)
• Choliba leaves Yohanna. (9:1)
• The villages plan and stage a summit to discuss and decide how to jointly combat desertification. Mabudi pulls out of the meeting and continues its self-destructive practices. (10:2/3)
• Land dies. Yohanna is right after all. Exodus to city begins. (11:1)
• Empty village. Yohanna and a few remnants stay to regenerate the land using various methods (explained in the scripts). (11:2)
• Garam, the mobile supermarket, arrives to find an empty village. Stops a while to help. Has many ideas on combating desertification. (11:3)
• Zara falls for Garam and begins a secret affair. (11:3)
• Bala Manu returns from the city and emerges literally from a sandstorm to stay with Yohanna. He wants to help push back the desert and is in love with Zara. (12:1)
• Yohanna and Moleke tussle over the once again successful farms. (12:2)
• Shurahi loves Bala Manu and her love is unrequited and painful. She tells him about her plans to go away. (12:3)
• Moleke’s trouble escalates. Uses police to try to oust Yohanna, which doesn’t work. (12:4)
• Zara elopes with Garam. Yohanna goes after them and returns defeated. He had hoped that she would marry Bala Manu. (13:1)
• Sabotage – Moleke’s thugs arrive to cut down and uproot crops. They are caught. (13:3)
• Bala Manu finds out he loves Shurahi. Goes after her to bring her back. (13:4)
Sub Plot 1 Events
• Moleke returns triumphant – courts Abah Manu and ignores his cousin Yohanna for 2 weeks. (1:2) Proposition to Abah Manu about new farming plans and the wealth to come. Excitement in town. (2:2)
• Face to face with Yohanna – wants to “impress and oppress” but it doesn’t work. (3:2)
• Denies Yohanna’s accusation about setting the fire that killed Babamu. (3:2)
• Moleke provides farm inputs to villagers, and keeps careful track of debts. Villagers are
soon heavily indebted. (5:2)
• Tussle over land and inheritance with Yohanna. (5:3)
• Moleke begins to demand payback of loans and to confiscate lands from debtors unable
to pay (7:4)
• Moleke makes more trouble and claims newly thriving farms and trees. (12:4)
• Moleke unsuccessfully recruits police to drive out Yohanna. (12:4)
• Moleke recruits thugs to destroy crops and cut down trees. (13:3)
Sub Plot 2 events
• Abah Manu welcomes Moleke after 20 years. He is excited. (1:2)
• He learns how to make much money through year-round vegetable farming. (2:2)
• Clashes with Suleiman over grazing land and old feuds. (4:3)
• Takes sides with Moleke against Yohanna in land tussle. (6:1)
• New prosperity in town for most people. Their debts to Moleke increase, but do they know? (7:1)
• Supports using forest land for new farming venture. (7:2)
• Goes in the night to beg Yohanna for herbs for sexual prowess. (8:1)
• Rejects Yohanna’s advice about ground water and soil conservation. (8:3)
• Pulls Mabudi out of the convention against desertification. (10:2/3)
• Abah Manu is heavily indebted and loses everything to Moleke, including Babi. (11:4)
• Leaves Mabudi in shame for the city. (11:4)
• Consequences: falls sick; gets AIDS. (13:4)
Acknowledgements
This package represents something new for the Network, and we are very excited with this step into the unknown!
We realize that some partners might feel a little overwhelmed when looking at this thick booklet, and wonder how they could possibly produce a 13-part radio drama with multiple characters, sub-plots and sound effects.
Don’t worry! Part of the reason we created this booklet was to help you find ways to adapt the package to your capacities, access resources, and generally make the best use of the package.
First: how was this package born? As 2006 is the Year of Deserts and Desertification, the Network asked the African Radio Drama Association (ARDA), an exciting organization based in Nigeria and one of DCFRN’s partners, to take 10 existing Network scripts on the theme of desertification and weave their content into a serial radio drama. Thus, package 77 is our effort to take advantage of the popular appeal of a good soap opera to convey some important messages about desertification.
This booklet contains the scripts for a thirteen-part serial radio drama, produced and written by ARDA in collaboration with the Network. In addition to a wonderful, edge-of-your-seat soap opera, with heroes and villains, multiple plots, fascinating characters, and lots of action and humour, there are important messages about the dangers of desertification and about positive steps farmers can take to prevent it.
I would like to sincerely thank several people for their hard work in making this radio drama package possible. Data Phido from ARDA who worked tirelessly to pull the radio drama together. The other writers from ARDA whose episodes we hope you will enjoy: phemy aribisala, Sam Kafewo, Euphemia Kange Chiekyula and Vera Fulu Adesanya. DCFRN is also indebted to the script reviewers who checked the scripts for accuracy regarding land conservation practices: Friederike Knabe, a consultant specializing in drylands issues in the context of sustainable development, and Camilla Toulmin, Director, International Institute for Environment and Development. Thanks also to Friederike for providing the beautiful images for the cover page. I would also like to thank my colleagues at DCFRN for their help – Anne Girard for the design and formatting of the package, and Diane Huffman and Blythe McKay for editing.
Vijay Cuddeford
Package 77 Editor in Chief
Information sources
• Brooke, Pamela. (1995) Communicating Through Story Characters. Boston: University Press of America.
• Center for Communications Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Entertainment-Education Resources. http://www.jhuccp.org/topics/enter_ed.shtml
• Crook, Tim. (1999) Radio Drama: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
• Crook, Tim. Principles of Radio Drama. http://www.irdp.co.uk/scripts.htm
• De Fossard, Esta. (1996) How to Write a Radio Serial Drama for Social Development http://www.jhuccp.org/pubs/fg/3/toc.shtml
• De Fossard, Esta. (1998) How to Design and Produce Radio Serial Drama for Social Development – A Station Manager’s Guide. http://db.jhuccp.org/dbtw-wpd/images/imagebas/pdf/trusa335.pdf
• McLeish, Robert. (1999) Radio Production. Fourth Edition. Oxford: Focal Press.
• Proceedings, 4th International Entertainment Education Conference, September 2004, South Africa. http://www.ee4.org/
The Africa Radio Drama Association (ARDA)
ARDA is a production and training center for interactive and participatory programs. The group produces and syndicates entertainment and educational radio programs on radio stations throughout Nigeria. Program topics cover democracy and good governance, maternal health, sexual responsibility, women’s rights and child survival. ARDA works with several community radio listeners’ clubs and has also trained and supported several women’s groups and farming associations to produce and broadcast their own programs under the award winning Development through Radio (DTR) project called “Village Meeting”.
Contact:
Dr. (Mrs.) Data Phido, Program Director
(Dphido@ardabroadcasting.org)
Or
Ekaete Dolor, Project Admin Assistant
(Edolor@ardabroadcasting.org)
The African Radio Drama Association (ARDA)
Plot 211, Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Tel.: (234) 1 4705390, Fax: (234) 1 2621930
Email: info@ardabroadcasting.org
Website: http://ardaradio.com/ardahomepage.shtml