That night Mateso did not sleep well for worry. When he went to bed he kept on tossing about worrying about something terrible that was going to happen at the Mbane Village. He had been praying to God to stop that thing from taking place. Unfortunately, now it looked as if God had not heard his voice.
The problem was that, in a few days’ time, a big business man was arriving at the village carrying the most dangerous instrument the human being had ever invented. It was the power saw. For when you hear its sound break the silence of the forest, you are sure that in no time that forest will be destroyed.
The man with the power saw was coming to cut down all the big trees from the Buffalo Farm. He would make big timber business out of the giant trees. The remains of the trees would make charcoal. It was estimated that he would make not less than one thousand begs of charcoal, which he would transport with his lorry for sale in the city.
Mateso’s family was the one to be most affected by the destruction of the Buffalo Forest. Their small farm bordered with the forest. Mateso’s father, like many other villagers, had many successful beehives in the forest. His family had heavily depended on the earnings from the sale of the honey harvested from his beehives. The money supported education of the children. Now Mateso saw the coming end of the livelihood of his family. For that reason, he had done his best to mobilize your people to take a stand against the destruction of the forest.
Mbane villagers had a long story about the Buffalo Forest, which had been reduced Buffalo Farm. In the old days the Buffalo Forest was a favourite place for buffalos and other wild animals. If you wanted to see every kind of tree and the oldest trees in that part of the world, the only place you could see that was at the Buffalo Forest. It was the place where all healers went to collect herbs for illness treatment. It was where people went to pick every kind of wild fruit. In those days all kinds of animals and birds used to live there. Families of monkeys lived in the forest. The forest was a big natural treasure to the community.
However, over the years, human beings began to destroy the forest and all those things began to diminish. The destruction arrived when people learnt that you could make money out cutting down trees and selling them as firewood besides making charcoal. They realized you could kill animals and go to sell the meat in town.
Eventually the forest became more and more open. Animals felt insecure to live in the place. They started going away one by one, or they were easily hunted down for meat. The story was that the last family of monkeys disappeared shortly after Kenya got its independence from being colonized by the British.
By that time the Buffalo Forest belonged to the government. It was after independence that the forest was subdivided and given to people for settlement. But one part of it, nearly three hundred acres, was bought by a rich man. Eventually, he subdivided it into three parts out of which he sold two parts and was left with one hundred acres. All the other parts were made into farms except that one, which remained with the original wonderful forest. It was renamed and called Buffalo Farm.
The Buffalo Farm was partially divided by a small river. In those old days that river was never dry. But today that river had only water during rain seasons. It dried up quickly after the rains went.
The river started somewhere up the ill. But that ill had been cleared of the forest by farmers. The riverbanks were made bare. The wells couldn’t hold water long. The water level in the ground dropped deeper. Today, when rains came, the water would flow downwards fast and pass to join bigger rivers toward the Indian Ocean.
Finally, the Buffalo Farm was bought by one businessman called Thomas Wanga. He was an extremely wealthy industrialist, who was also a great farmer of soya beans. Now he was destined to clear the whole forest and establish a soya bean farm. He owned tractors; transport lorries and a small single-engine airplane that he also used for spraying crops with insecticide. It would be the biggest soya bean farm seen in that of the world.
Somewhere up the ill he had identified a place for building a soya beans processing plants for export market.
The news of that rich man coming and what he would do stormed the village with excitements. Of course, majority of the villagers were happy because that kind of development would create jobs for them. Soon, Mbane Village would have a town.
However, there were some people who felt very threatened. The disappearance of the remaining Buffalo Forest would bring many bad things. The forest had been their remaining natural sanctuary and shrine. They cried, “How is this place going to be without that forest? Losing the forest would be like some kind of death. ”
“Where shall we go to look for treatment herbs?”
“How can we afford to lose our beehives and the honey we harvest from that forest?”
“The wonderful birds we see will be no more,” others said.
“No more wild fruits.”
“This place will look like a desert.”
Other people warned, “Do you know what happens when that factory is established at the appointed place? This river will catastrophically be polluted. God, how shall we breathe?”
Indirectly, the Buffalo Forest was the source of employment for many villagers. It was their natural industry. It was the fire with which they did their cooking. It offered the material with which they carved beehives and useful domestic objects. It was their place of recreation. Those were the reasons which made foresighted villagers get engaged in a fierce campaign to stop the farming development. They mobilized demonstration of protest.
But ambitious Thomas Wanga wouldn’t hear of that. He fought back with one important question, “Who are you to demand that I shouldn’t develop my farm?”
“It’s terrible thing for us to lose that forest.”
“It’s not your forest but mine.”
“It holds many natural treasures for us. The forest has indigenous trees some of which are hundreds of years old. Where on earth can you see trees of the kind you see there?”
The tycoon replied, “Forget them all as you would forget someone who has died. I have already sold those trees to timber manufactures and charcoal makers. I have already committed that money to paying for sinking a borehole. I’ll employ many of you, not to mention that you will start drinking clean borehole water for a throw-away price. I’ll raise the village from captivity of poverty into prosperity. You people should praise me instead of cursing me.”
“Please, we implore you, listen to us.”
“In any case, why do you think I should listen to you?” he asked angrily. “This is my farm and I must do with it whatever I want. In fact, people who are opposed to this are both stupid and primitive. As it stands out, the forest has never made any one of you rich. Wake up!”
When the villagers sought help from the government, the government said, “Unfortunately we, as a government, cannot interfere with private property. Our duty is to protect people’s property.”
The community went to the Member of Parliament with a new proposal. The leader of the group said, “We request you to advance a proposal to the owner of the Buffalo Farm that the community should be given time to raise money to buy the farm.”
When the Member of Parliament presented the proposal to Thomas Wanga, he hit back, “I would accept if I was given double the price. Why? Because I have already spent a lot of money on the initial development.”
“How much would you ask for?”
Thomas Wanga gave a bloated figure in order to scare them away. He knew they would not raise that kind of money.
When he reached a frightening point where, he thought, he might lose his rights, he took further steps of hiring some people to terrorize the organizers of the protest. The worst of them was Mateso backed by the youth. They had composed songs against the development.
When elders found themselves on the losing end, they called the youth and cried, “We have been defeated. The government says its hands are tied and that it can’t help us. For that reason, we seek your intervention. Please, do everything in your capacity to stop destruction of the Buffalo Forest.”
One day Thomas Wanga arrived at the village driving a black Range Rover. He stopped somewhere and was mobbed by begging people. They knew he had a lot of money for buying his supporters. In fact, his money had split the village into the middle. The ones he had bought wanted him to settle down and those who had refused being bought were opposed to his settlement.
It was during that meeting when Mateso distinguished himself from the crowd by shouting, “Get the hell out of here with your dirty money!”
When he heard that the young man was the protest leader of the youth, he decided to have a private word with him. He had heard of his name and the aggressive protest campaign. For that reason, Wanga had been looking forward to meeting him one day. Mateso didn’t want to talk to him that day. However, he was advised by his close friends, “Just go and hear what he says. Tell him categorically why we are against his development. May be he would listen to you.”
He invited Mateso for a drive and Mateso accepted. As soon as they were out of sight of the people, he stopped the car somewhere. But Mateso jumped out saying, “I shouldn’t have accepted getting into your car. So, go away and leave me alone.”
“Wait a minute young man. I want to talk to you. I know you don’t like me and you have already told me to take away my dirty money. Young man, now that we are only two of us, let’s have men talk. Let me give you an excellent offer if you can avert the youth protest.”
“What excellent offer?” asked Mateso.
“I’ve been told you love education. I can pay for you to study as much as you want. Even if you’d want to go to study overseas, I can stand for your cost. I hear you’ve got two unemployed brothers. I have got a job for them. There’s not much you will get from fighting for the Buffalo Forest. It’ll leave you and your family perpetually poor.”
“Oh, is that your thinking?” asked Mateso after listening.
“Sheer progress,” said Thomas Wanga.
“Progress for whom?”
“For me, for you, for the village and for the future generations of this village. I want to turn this village into an industrial town.”
“Do you know how much the community gets from Buffalo Forest? I’m sure you don’t know because you only think in money terms. I really don’t want to talk with you for a long time because, I’m sure, you are not prepared to listen to anybody. You have made a god out of yourself and you want that god to be worshipped. However, listen to this. This forest was given to us by God. So, nobody should take it from us. But since the only ambition you have is to use your tractors to turn the forest into a soya beans farm, I want you to go home with the awareness that if tomorrow we see any tractor entering the forest we shall set it on fire.”
Wanga lost his temper and backfired, “Do you know what I can do to you?”
“Many bad things, I know. I am aware that you carry a gun which you can use to kill me. But if you kill me I will die for a noble course.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“I’m a Buffalo Forest monkey. Okay?”
“I can have you castrated,” he increased the threat.
“Go ahead,” said Mateso and walked away angrily.
When Thomas Wanga discovered that he wouldn’t go far without government support, he reported at the nearest police station and explained his problem. The officer on duty promised, “We shall give you enough police protection to make sure that nobody comes near your tractor.”
“I would also need that help when cutting down the trees,” he said.
“How long will it take for you to cut them down?”
Thomas Wanga knew it would take months for him to clear the forest. So he was told, “Unfortunately, we do not have enough police force to help you for that length of time. We can afford supporting you barely for a week. Even for us to support you for that week would be overstretching our personnel.”
But Thomas Wanga was a brilliant businessman who knew what he wanted and how to get it. When he was assured police protection for a week, he replied, “I appreciate that decision. So, give me some time to get organized. I will report to this office as soon as I am ready.”
He returned home highly inspired, only to come back to office barely two days after to report, “I have solved my problem. I have decided to use more money to fasten the work. I will hire fifty men with fifty power saws. You know how one power saw, only one, has the magic of clearing a chunk of forest.. So, fifty men with fifty power saws will accomplish the job fast.”
“Great,” replied the officer. “All that you will do it for you to mention the date and put your request down in writing. Bring the letter here for processing. I suggest you give us a fortnight in order for us to look for the right officers.”
That day Thomas Wanga walked out of the police station as a happy man. He returned to the office after two days with the letter. They made a short discussion and the officer said, “In that case, give us ten days. Report to this office on the ninth day for instruction.”
Information leaked to the youth group from the police office regarding the appointed date. It was shocking for them to hear that Thomas Wanga would hire fifty men with fifty power saws to devour the Buffalo Forest. Consequently, Maseso called for an immediate meeting in the forest. It brought more than one hundred young men. They were all excited to be involved in the struggle.
They started the meeting by a short prayer after which they sang, “We, we the youth of the Mbane Village we will overcome saving the Buffalo Forest.”
They talked for a long time regarding how to protest. But the more they talked the more they realized how vulnerable they were before a police force. Information had already leaked that fifty armed police men would be dropped at the Baffalo Forest early in the morning.
“My people,” one of them asked desperately, “how can we fight against people with guns when we are empty handed? Instead, I suggest we take the demonstration to the Police Station.”
“What if we are chased away with tear gas?”
“Men, listen to me,” Mateso said. “An excellent idea has just dawned on my mind. If we can’t save the Buffalo Forest we’ll have nobody else to blame but ourselves. The youth of the Mbane Village is also a big forest. I suggest that on the material day we bring all the youth here exactly at seven o’clock ready for the confrontation. Upon our arrival we shall go round marking out all the big trees targeted by the power saw. We shall then let everybody choose his own tree, climb and settle at a safe place then wait for them. Having occupied all the big trees, we shall declare ourselves the new Buffalo Forest monkeys. When they come with their power saws supported by police, they will find a crying monkey in every tree. They will not dare cut down any tree because it would fall with a monkey and kill it.”
The grand idea was met with screams of jubilation and clapping of hands. So, as they had planned, on the material day, the youth occupied every important tree. The only person left on the ground was their commander, Mateso. The person group to arrive was the police people brought on a truck. As they jumped down from the truck to take positions, the hired men also arrived on a truck.
The forest was completely silent. The hired men were getting ready for the work when Mateso emerged from the forest and, speaking loudly, he cried, “Good morning gentlemen. I am a monkey from the Buffalo threatened forest. I am the spokesman of all the monkeys in the forest. Therefore, I am here to let you know that every tree you want to cut down is occupied by at least one monkey.”
One of the police man didn’t buy that nonsense, so he screamed at Mateso, “Get the hell out of here before I grab you.”
“No Sir, you will not grab me. I am the spokesman of the Buffalo threatened forest. Watch out; there’s a monkey on every tree.” Having said that he then turned to face the forest and screamed, “Monkeys of the Buffalo Forest, are you ready in every tree ready to defend your territory?”
The roar of voices from the forest shocked them all. Mateso ran into the forest screaming, “Monkeys of the Buffalo Forest, are you ready in every tree to defend your forest?”
“Yeeez! Yeeez!” the forest echoed.
Some police men walked into the forest to confirm what they heard. It was true. They returned and made a quick decision to the hired men, “Go back home. Surely, you can’t afford to fell any tree.” He jokingly said, “Go and tell Thomas Wanga that he had been outsmarted by the monkeys.”
When the successful protest reached the government authorities, a quick decision was made to tell Thomas Wanga to abandon his project. “The government will compensate you,” he was promised.
The Buffalo Forrest was permanently saved and the youth was praised for the cleverest and peaceful protest that had ever been heard of in the country. The Buffalo Forest was nicknamed, Buffalo Monkey Forest.
October 31, 2016
