GRAVES of Innocence

My name is Togolai Mahimba, I am the last child of seven children of our father, Sinai Mahimba who is now deceased. Our father died three years ago after a sudden illness. His death was ruled by great controversy and even on the day of his funeral, many strange things happened that until today I cannot explain. I have many things that I would like to tell you, dear reader, but to begin with, I would like to tell you a few things that happened before the death of our father, who I was his favourite child. Before he died, our father was a very famous person in our village, Makongorosi, Chunya in the Mbeya region where we lived. What made him so famous was the divination work that he was doing where, apart from other things, he was performing rituals for many gold miners so that when they entered the mine, they could find gold easily along with other traders. My father's fame caused even us, his children to become very famous, especially me who spent most of the time accompanying him wherever he went. starting from the rituals in the forest to the burials in the mines, digging medicine in the forest to his cave where he was doing his fortune-telling activities. Many used to shorten my name by calling me Togo and that was more popular than even my real name. I remember my childhood life was very comfortable due to the way my father loved me. Even my other siblings, who were born together, used to be jealous of me for the way I was loved. Life continued well. I continued to grow while also learning many things that my father was doing in his work. Things started to change one day when we were in the forest with my father looking for medicine. My father was bent over digging the roots of the mtang tange tree which was used to treat many diseases, even those that failed in the hospital, suddenly he was attacked by a group of bats that were shouting loudly. Dad was struggling to stop the bats that continued to attack him, especially on his head. As he continued to fight them, I witnessed him doing something that I had never seen my father do even once. With the speed of the hurricane, he melted and disappeared from the area. I was stunned as if I couldn't believe it. Suddenly the bats, after seeing that my father had miraculously disappeared, scattered and disappeared from the area while continuing to shout loudly. I turned around to look for my father without success, a great fear spread in my heart. "What are you wondering Togolai," my father's voice launched me from my deep thoughts, I was shocked. Strangely, my father was standing still where he had been earlier, continuing his work of digging the roots of the mtangtange as if nothing had happened. "Dad, what…… I don't understand?" "What don't you understand anymore?" "Bats." "Bats? What have they done?" "They haven't hurt you?" "Wha don't you understand Togo?" said Father as he left the work he was doing and approached me. I didn't want to believe that my father really didn't understand what I was talking about. he approached me and grabbed my shoulder. "Are you okay?" "Yes, Father, I'm fine," I stammered a little and saw my father turning around as if he was looking at something. And we turned to follow the level of his eyes, suddenly our eyes froze in one place. I was stunned by what I was seeing, I found myself starting to tremble. Two naked men were hanging on the branch of a big tree that was a few meters from where we were, all staring at us with their red eyes. "Do you see those savages?" my father said, showing that he didn't have an iota of worry. I shook my head as a sign to answer 'Yes' I see them. "Those are witches who are bothering people in our village. I see they have declared war on me, they don't know me," said my father and as it had happened the first time, he disappeared from the area, the witches also disappeared from my sight. I heard the noise of people who were crying loudly as they complained of severe pain. "This is their medicine, and one day if they repeat it they will stop me," said my father, I was shocked again after seeing him standing where he was the first time, next to me but this time he was breathing heavily like a person who had just run. I felt like I was in a dream. "Dad, why don't I understand what's happening..." I said, but before I could finish my sentence, my eyes landed on my father's hand, which had a wound and marks as if he had been bitten by a fierce animal, while black blood was pouring out in abundance. "What!?"Father asked me after seeing my eyes frozen in his hand. "You are hurt Father, I'm sorry," I said but Father did not answer me anything other than to move the injured hand near his face, he was carefully examining the wound. He moved there to the mtangtange tree and picked its leaves, put them in his mouth and started chewing them, then shortly after, he took them out of his mouth and stuck them on his wound. I saw him closing his eyes as a sign to show how he was feeling the pain. "I'll be fine, don't worry, I'm used to dealing with these witches. You have to be brave too," said my father as he continued to clean his wound. The black blood that was coming out of him stopped, he took a deep breath and continued with the work of extracting medicine. In fact, the events I witnessed caused my heart to enter into great fear. I never thought that my father could have such dark powers, I always believed that what he was doing was treating people only with herbs, then! However, I tried to be a man and hid the shock I got. I continued to help my father and finally, we finished our work. When we were coming back from the forest, my father stressed to me on the way that I should not tell anyone about what I witnessed, not even my siblings. He told me because of what happened, he feels that there will be serious consequences in our village. "What do you mean father?" "Those witches who attacked us in the forest, one of them I hurt badly, I don't know if he can still be alive until now." "Who are they?" "Why don't you know them? Or have you not looked at them properly?"Father questioned me and started to explain to me. he told me that one is an elder of the church in our village, and when he mentioned his name I recognized him well. He was an old man called Mwankuga, who often used to get into conflicts with my father due to contesting the farm boundary because our farm and his were bordered. I remember there was a time when they were sent to the village council due to their quarrel. Because our families did not have a good relationship, we were completely forbidden to talk or play with the children of old man Mwankuga and he was the same. "So you want to say that old Mwankuga is also a witch? Isn't he a servant of God and every Sunday he goes to church and sits in the front seats?" "My son, the world has this much! You are not supposed to trust anyone, in the church almost all believers come to me for medicine. some want to be promoted, some want to protect themselves and others have various problems, and don't trust people," said my father, I was stunned. That was another amazing news for me. "Now weren't there two? Who is the other?" "Isn't that your teacher, Mwashambwa?" "Our teacher Mwashambwa who teaches us math is also a magician?" I asked in great surprise with my mouth hanging open. "Yes, even his limping leg. I hear he was hit by a magical missile that left him permanently disabled, he is not a very good person. let's go home and you will hear nothing about those two people, "Father said with confidence, a long silence fell between us, no one said anything . I continued walking with my package of medicine on my head along with a sword, my father was ahead, and he was carrying medicine and the spade we used to dig for medicine. To get to our house, you had to pass several straw houses and some tin houses on the outskirts of the village to go home. Among those houses, there was also the house of an old man Mwankuga, who a short time ago my father was telling me about him being a witch. When we got close to the old man's house, my father signalled me to stop, and I did so. we heard the voices of many people crying from the old man's house, my father signalled me as if he was saying 'Do you see?', I held my mouth in surprise. I didn't want to believe that old Mwankuga had actually died.