The Mission of Peace

‘Friends, I travelled Home, I travelled with the mission of Peace’

I was emotional throughout this journey; Co-driver and I took the back seat as land cruiser cruises to Nuba Mountains. I could remember all the moments and memories of the village I was going to. There was also a pleasing feeling of familiarity and a sense of a warm welcome in everything I could think about. I saw people greeting me warmly. I saw them reminding me of the length of my absence and thousands of miles I had traveled. I saw the tears on their faces and heard my cousin sisters crying in my arms. I heard them telling me how I had been missed. I heard my grandmother calling and talking to God in our local language, I heard her saying, “God, you are great; God, you created heaven and earth,” and she then said, “Things are better now; I have returned.” I could feel tears flowing down on my face.

I was both tensed and emotionally happy. When this became uncontrollable, I put on my AirPods and started listening to my Amapiano playlist; unfortunately, this did not help. Tears once again started flowing down my face unknowingly. The co-driver asked, “Are you okay, son?” quickly with my both hands, I wiped away the tears on face.  As we travelled, I could see through the car window and remember all the hills and rocks we used to climb and jump over. All I could see, was the trees and falling leaves welcoming me. When I reached home, my grandmother yaya couldn’t believe that I arrived.

Very weak in my feet I got out of the car, everyone around me became emotional. I couldn’t hold back my tears, unbelievably my grandmother hugged me tied and started praying for my safe arrival. My stepmother emotionally asked, “where have you left your aunt?” she was referring to my late aunt who passed away at MP Shah Hospital in Nairobi. My cousins Almina and Siwa kept weeping over my shoulders. At long last, the long journey, and all the emotions came to an end. At night, I couldn’t take away my eyes from the sky, I saw stars, all the stars my grandmother used to show me when I was young. I didn’t feel lonely anymore, I felt at home. I could look up at the moon and not remember seeing it in all the countries as I restlessly journeyed through. The stars in the sky, I never remember them looking the same as I viewed from my own home village.