By Otbatta, The Poet

Sare Dembel was once a very hardworking and well blessed village. It was also one of the most stable places on earth thus attracting many outsiders. The most prominent religious leaders like Sheikh Foday, Malam Bokari and Pastor Alberto all passed through this noble village on their famous adventures around the world and prayed for the progress of the villagers. However, the once prosperous village has suffered three major curses ever since ancient people founded it.

The first curse occurred few centuries ago when some explorers from Strange Land (Europe) settled on the village and started trading the strong people (slavery). Later on, these so-called explorers organized themselves into a loose government and ruled the people for a long time. They were sometimes good and at other times mean to the villagers during their reign. One of the good things they did was to build few schools for the children of clan heads and a few other lucky ones. Eventually, a handful of the village folk became fairly educated and started criticizing the explorers. The explorers then ran away because some of the villagers knew too much. The village finally fell in the hands of Sir Chryste, a Christian-turn Muslim.

The second curse on the village happened when Sir Chryste took over as the village Alkali (head). Chryste was a very good and respectable man. Many people in the village loved him and he was well educated by the explorers. His only problem was that he was so nice and lenient that he allowed his workers to do whatever they wanted. He built a powerhouse for the village, improved few roadways and provided basic health care for the people. Sir Chryste however stayed in power for so long thereby forgetting to provide other important services for the villagers. He also promised to turn Sare Dembel into a famous town, which he woefully failed to achieve due to too much amusement among his workers, some of whom spent weekends at neighboring cities.

Sir Chryste lost his Alkaloship when the infamous Boy Aller (the forest boy) forced himself into the courtyard and chased Mr. Chryste away.

Boy Aller led Sare Dembel into its final curse. He was a feared youth who disguised himself into a highly religious man. He also claimed to possess certain omnipotent powers, which were all flat lies. Forest boy who was also nicknamed Micaville started his alkaloship by sending many villagers to jail and exiling a few others. He would speak boastfully, threatening to kill or jail anyone who opposed his rule. He had fierce dogs and wolves that would bite any of his opponents to death.

Boy Aller also bought many golden chariots for himself, family and his close loyalists. Like his predecessor, he also promised to turn Sare Dembel into a country where neighboring villagers and townsmen would come for 'hustling'. He has two religions, Islam and Animism. He went to Mecca a few times to perform the hajj, henceforth his new name Alhaji Jakkut.

Recently, Alhaji Jakkut told the villagers that he saw a god in a dream and this deity gave him some powers to cure ailments like Yellow fever, kwashiorkor and chronic heart disease. His latest title is Dr. Jakkut. He likes to attend parties at his leisure. He also has few girlfriends even though he got married twice and he's still married.

Boy Aller is a funny looking youth who frowns a lot especially at strangers and his opponents. He is usually seen carrying a staff of bronze goat head. He keeps many slaves and pets although he's against slavery and pet ownership. Among his pets are pigs, ducks and snakes.

Sare Dembel is currently trying to survive its latest curse from a maniac Alkali whose aim is to destroy everything in the village and finally abscond to a nearby city.

Today, the only progress in this village is that it has been divided into several poor hamlets. The few rich people including Dr. Jakkut get richer while the majority poor gets poorer by the day.

BY Otbatta, the Poet