CHAPTER ONE

Babble of society on a beach. We are gathered to hear the farewell speech of the departing colonial master. A well loved man, a father to the nation you might even say. And just like an indulgent father, he was the one we could go to with our problems, he used to comfort us when his subordinate other half (the native administrator) did bad things to chastise us.

You might say that his subordinate(s) whipped us, and he gave us soothing lotions.

We loved him, but he had to go now, we were grown now and we had to make it in the world by ourselves now.

He made a fine speech. We shed some tears, some without inhibitions and others in a manly fashion. Then the governor stepped onto a pristine state-of-the-art yacht and zoomed off towards the carrier on the horizon.

CHAPTER 2

Head scratch time. We gather around what we inherited. A decrepit canoe. We climb in and set out to sea, towards the coordinates where we knew the carrier would be waiting. Within a few minutes of setting out, we see a little dot. It's the former colonial governor, still in his yacht, he is waving us on, we can hear his calls in our
hearts, "Come on! my beloved children..."

But the canoe is shipping water, too much water, and before long, it sinks. We are too far off to swim for the yacht, and even if we could, there are too many of us. It will be easier to return to shore.

So we do that.

CHAPTER 3

Our leaders gather around the blueprint left by the colonial. It shows how to build another decrepit canoe. The leader who is best at talking gets on a tree stump and talks until we are filled with enthusiasm. We commence work and build another canoe.

CHAPTER 4

Canoe finished. Looks exactly like the last one. We all climb in and set off towards the carrier. Same result as last time.

CHAPTER 5

Back on shore, out comes the blueprint again. Good thing it was printed on water-proof paper. Different set of leaders, but the same exhortations. They stoke our enthusiasms with newly minted slogans and soon, we get to work....