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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Caught in a Valley Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Clovis, Uganda Jul 25, 2006
Poverty   Short Stories
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Here we are, down in a valley, and the way seems to be non-existent. On the surface, the circumstances that brought us to the valley are not clear. We can only see ourselves surrounded by a mountain so high that no one can risk climbing it. Life in this valley is empty, it really sucks, and it is meaningless. There is no one coming to our aid and our screams seem to be falling on deaf ears. Time is moving and if we cannot do anything about this, we may have to stay in this valley for the rest of our lives.

Several questions run through our minds like:

If we stay in this valley, are we not going to die?

Are we going to wait for an Angel to come and rescue us?

If we continue screaming, will someone here us and save us?

Then the answers start coming in:

This mountain is so high and no one will hear our screams.

Maybe this is where we are meant to be, and you never know many more people could be coming to join us.

Maybe we are paying for the sins we committed when we were young and when time comes we shall get out.

The list of questions and answers is endless.

We reach a point where the answers are not in our favour and the mountain does not change. It is the same; a high and gigantic mountain. So we reach a conclusion that this mountain cannot be climbed and we are doomed to stay in the valley for the rest of our lives.

So what?

We have to look for our basic needs: food, water, shelter and clothing!
As we walk around in this valley, we come across a mango tree, what a blessing! We start enjoying the mangoes. As we walk further, we see some kind of a crater lake but the water is dirty and kind of salty. "This is better than nothing," comments one of my buddies.

As we continue walking, we see a cave. Could this be our new home? Okay! These are miracles, let us have fun here. We could be the happiest dudes around!

Day one ends and we go to our cave for the night wondering and confused about what tomorrow has for us!

It is the second day. More questions this time from what I can call a "different angle" or from the other side of the brain bombard us: What if the mangoes get finished, what shall we eat? What if it rains and the cave becomes wet and cold, where shall we sleep? What about climbing the mountain and leaving the valley?

As usual and in a natural way, answers come automatically. They go like this:

This could be a special species of mangoes and the tree keeps bearing fruit.

When it rains, what can we do about it? It is natural and it will have to rain, you can't control nature, we shall bear the coldness until it starts shining again.

As for the mountain, we shall climb when things worsen here.

Answers just come and nothing seems to be changing, and eventually we become comfortable with our new home.

I tell these buddies that this mountain can be climbed, there is a better life beyond this valley and if we are to get to that side we have to climb this mountain or else things will get worse; say, if one falls sick, if we get attacked by a lion, what about snakes? We need to find partners, get married and produce children.

Every time this comes to our mind, the mountain seems to be speaking to us that it cannot be climbed. It is too high. We have never climbed a hill, who do we think we are to climb such a high mountain? What if we die along the way while climbing the mountain? What if we get blown by the winds and fall off to the rocks and break our ribs?

All these thought forces make us fear, doubt our strength and we resign. We look back and say it is better to stay in the valley than to risk and climb the mountain and face all those challenges and hard times. We are resigned and comfortable to stay in the valley as long as our cave is still there, we can drink dirty water from the crater and chew some mangoes.

On the third day, we look at the mountain from a different perspective. What if we motivate ourselves, get positive, inspired, determined and focused to climb this mountain? For surely there must be a way and better life on the other side of the mountain! For conditions here in the valley are getting worse, the mangoes are tending to get finished and the clouds are gathering over our heads and there is a likely possibility of rain in just days or hours. For sure if we are determined, we can get out of this valley. Why not?

We decide to climb the mountain and reach the top, even if it would take us days, but all we want is to reach the top and escape the valley. There is a lot of uncertainty in the valley. So we plan to start our journey the following day. As we get up very early, one of the buddies claims he is tired and we should wait and may be stay one more day, but this time the rest of us are so determined and inspired with all our efforts, he finds himself alone and he has no choice but to get up and move with us.

Half way up the mountain we meet scary snakes, thorns, thick bushes and forests. We feel frightened for we cannot see any path, we start doubting our strengths for no one wants to lead us into the unknown, we are discouraged, we condemn ourselves for wasting our time and energy to walk a path that never existed. We suffer the pain; we can not get the dirty water because there are no craters in this area, no fruits to feed on. Since I am the one who had brought the idea of leaving the valley, all insults, accusations and guilt come to me. I feel rejected for there is no one to defend my cause. I am called all kinds of names: liar, cheat, murderer, you name it.





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Clovis


My Name is Clovis, am 23 years old and have just finished my first degree in Population Studies in Uganda.
I am one of those guys who likes exploring the role of the human mind. I look at man as a creative being, an entrepreneur, a warrior, a hero and above all one of greatness. I like advocating for equal opportunities and I know that if the world is to become the change it desires, man should look at his values and appreciate them, use his power and change the world. I am a man of possibilties. There is no wrong answer or right answer for the questions and challenges we meet in life; it is how one goes around the challenges that can make that person make a conclusion and say this works for me or this is better than that. After that you choose from the variety of methods you used to overcome the challenge. This applies to all conditions of life; and as usual, it is subject to debate for I know, there are those who do not agree with my way of looking at things.
The following quotations keep me setting the bar of my life and rising it higher and higher every day:
1) "All men have fears, but the brave put down their fears and move forward, sometimes to death, but all to victory." 2) "Thoughout the centuries, there were men who walked down new paths, armed with nothing but their vision."

Clovis the Man.
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