The two boys had always found themselves in a world of their own and lived a carefree life. They were like brothers and they shared everything and hated parting at night to go to their respective homes for the night. Still they always had the next day to look forward to and start the fun all over again. However, the animals failed to see the funny side of being captured and separated from their families and worse still at risk of getting killed for food. Fortunately, the queen knew better not to kill any of the animals that the boys captured. She felt sorry for the poor creatures and made it her duty to release them discreetly every time.
The boys resolved to thinking of ways of fortifying the cage to ensure the captured animals remained captured! However, no ingenious solution was forthcoming as they thought they had done enough to secure the cage, but yet still the animals somehow always escaped. So Baka and Tyza decided to go swimming in the river tomorrow and give themselves a break from catching an animal to cage until they have devised a better plan of securing the cage.
The following morning, the whole compound woke up to their usual chores with the additional new ones brought about by the building project. The men set about continuing with building the prayer room while the others prepared the straw for thatched roofing. Some men went into the woods to cut down trees and got about cutting them into long thin and thick timber for roofing.
Some went to crush stones into small pebbles for the flooring. This task was given to the younger men, such as Makaba as it was a tough job for them to crush the stones with iron tools. The younger women also carried the broken stones in buckets and delivered them to the project site.
The stones were to be mixed with sand and clay and cow dung and used as flooring of the prayer room. It was expected to last for many years to come. Once the windows and roofing were in place, the men worked on the flooring as the very last thing and left it to set for two days before anyone was allowed to step on it.
The children especially were sternly instructed to stay away from the project site, for obvious reasons of health and safety and also getting in the way of the workmen. They found a million and one things to occupy their time before school term resumed. But somehow some of them found the project more interesting than anything else, which put them in direct conflict with the weary hardworking men, who sharply rebuked them to get out of their way or get a smack.
The kids would giggle and run away, but not for long as they would come back again watching and staring as though they were watching a movie with intrigue and excitement. The women also called the kids to move away from the project site and come home to play in a safer place, but it fell on deaf ears. The women implored Grandpa Kakupython to tell them a story and keep them out of trouble.
Trouble was Grandpa Kakupython was getting older and falling asleep mid-sentence these days with his mouth wide open. Some of the younger kids would fall asleep with him and the older ones would just get up and leave and find some other form of entertainment.
Some of the kids would run off and tease each other saying, “Look at your mouth wide open like grandpa Kakupython, how many flies did you catch in your mouth, ha ha ha.” Beko had heard them and rebuked them for being rude.
She said, “Hey, stop that rude nonsense, if I catch any of you insulting Grandpa again, I will deal with you mercilessly, do you hear me?” The kids were lost for words for once and frantically apologised to her before running off to play.
Four days later, the prayer room was completed and the flooring had been laid. An external extension had been built attached to the main structure as a toilet, with a small window. Three large wooden windows had been fitted to the three sides of the prayer room, except the door side. The windows had padlocks fitted on the inside and the same was fitted to the huge wooden door at the entrance to the prayer room. In two days’ time, the prayer room would be dedicated to the Lord.
Chapter 25
King Gama and Tamura went out to see the prayer room and to gather the people so that the room can be dedicated to the Lord before prayers began that night. All the villagers were excited and beheld the beauty of their labour in the last week. The king asked Mara to lead the gathered Goza people into a time of prayer and she said, "Lord, we come before you today to thank you for giving us this opportunity to build a house of prayer.
“A place of refuge and a place of fellowship. We thank you, Lord, for choosing us to be a people of prayer who will rid this world of evil by your power and your authority. We commit this prayer room into your hands that you will make it a safe haven from our adversaries and that whosoever will run into it will be safe. I pray that you will always be here and your angels to protect us and to keep us safe day and night. This I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Everybody said, “Amen!”
The king said, “Well, my people, I appreciated all your hard work in putting this prayer room together in such a short time. I know it took sweat and guts to complete it and for that I will be eternally grateful
