You didn’t hear… or did you hide willingly under the bed of abstraction?

Maybe you did hear about Boko Haram and other terrorist movements in action…

But, you see, your geography professor told you as did your musician,

With all the calm and seriousness of an academician,

That Kousseri, Maroua, Mora, Tourou, Moskota, Koza, Ouzal, Mozogo,

And other localities or infrahuman countries must go,

Because their humanity index is so low, and,

They are located on an unknown planet, the land of tomorrow.

Why worry about the future

While one calmly drinks today’s culture?

Maybe you didn’t see what is happening on social media as your soul became a taro…

Because, above all, you must set your economic priorities right to beat the antihero

And accumulate as much power and things as you can carry in your empty barrow.

Your business professor told you so, with his academic sombrero.

Your financial advisor is such a genius so different from the harrow

That you gather things, things and more things, and the great dinero.

You eat power, power and more power over bones without a marrow.

Aren’t they mere keys to your success today and tomorrow?

Your eyes can’t see while you dream to be the next pharaoh

And, after all, your neighbor is just a dried arrow!

Who will cry for those who no longer have heads?

Who will become a shelter for those who no longer have beds?

Who will eat for those who can no longer smell the odor of fresh breads?

Who will bring joyous colors to lives painted in multiple reds?

Who will tell Europe, America, Asia and others, that Boko Haram spreads

Faster and deeper than the swiftest fighters and meds?

Who will act? Who will dig? Who will lovingly address the roots

Instead of relying solely on boots?

Oh! I wish you and I were the recovered triumphant shouts of the voiceless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the beautiful tears of the tearless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the real wealth of the resourceless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the reconstructed ramparts of the powerless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the regained smiles of the hopeless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the lost but found face of the faceless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the living image of the divine rock for the baseless!

Oh! I wish you and I were the real value of lives so priceless!

Regardless of our religious backgrounds, we are all humans;

Would you and I actively navigate against the currents and stop treating others as subhumans?

Moussa Bongoyok, PhD

Professor of Intercultural Studies and Holistic Development

President of Institut Universitaire de Développement International (IUDI)