I can see my birthday, as a great sparrow rests and sings high on an Acacia tree. My mother pushes me out, while my brave father gathers his brothers just outside, along with the other tribesmen for a smoke and support. The medicine-Mother receives me and gives my mother a pouch of herbs and moss to chew, to calm herself. I cry, as she flips me over, upside-down and right-side up, I stop crying instantly, and look her square in the eyes. The word is officially in, with grand smiles filling the entire hut. My huge thighs and girthy size, lets her fully know that I will be tall, strong, and a smart one. My mother's youngest sister throws back the large blanket draped over the doorway. She runs out with powerful stomps and does the tribal victory dance and screams, "Aye, ye ye ye ye yeye!!!" Everyone cheers in excitement! My father rushes in and grabs me from his mother. He kisses my mother's forehead, as they share a quick smile. Then he dashes from the grass hut, and holds me up for all the see and proclaim, "Your Prince has arrived"! They all leap into the sky screaming and hugging one another. From nowhere the sound of drums begin to pound. My father's father rushes over snatching me from his son, with a slight, reserved smile and a little shuffling dance. Together they let out a huge war-cry and begin to dance, holding one another by the forearm. He passes me to my mother's mother, and dances off with his son. My mother's mother cheers loudly, crying as she begins to dance with me. As my father's mother and my mother emerge from the hut, her father is there to greet and help hold her up. Her mother approaches with me, and hands me back to my father's mother. She grabs her daughter by the hand and her husband by the other hand and forces them both to do a lil dance with her. My father's mother holds me up to the crowd, professing that I will be the future of this tribe, as she had done for so many years, as her mother had done so many years before her. I was then passed into the hands of every member of the tribe, even the little ones that had just come before me. This was our tradition, every successful birth was celebrated in this manner. We all danced and we were all merry, and we all went to sleep that night still in good spirits. The next morning when I awoke, father and the other tribesmen were already gone off hunting in the woods. My mother emerges from the hut with me in her arms to a white skinned man, who grabs her by both shoulders and stands there ogling her. He then, with a bible in hand, looks down at me and says that he's here to "help us". Because we're "uncivilized".
My Brithday!!!
