"When you feel down and troubled or when you are scared, just come to this house and pray or even just to sit there quietly and feel the peace of God in your heart to face any challenge. Let this be your place of refuge, and for that I entreat you to treat it as a holy place. Don’t come in here if you have anything against anyone or if you want to sit somewhere quiet to plan evil.
“This is not the place for that. Come in here if you are looking for guidance and speak to God for direction. Hear me and hear me well, since we started the prayers, I feel like a changed man. I feel the higher power of God operating in my life. More so this is happening in my own study room, how much more of that power are we going to experience in this prayer room? I speak from experience to you my people, do not take this room for granted and neither should you take your prayers lightly. Our very lives depend on it.”
The king took a pair of scissors and bellowed with his loud voice, “Therefore, my people, I render this prayer room officially opened!” The people clapped, ululated and shouted for joy as the king cut the ribbon, swung the big door open and led his people inside to take a look at the complete work. High-pitched conversations started among the people as they recited what they had to do to carry out the work. Everyone had a different story to tell as though they were working on different projects.
Teak wood was piled high outside, which the boys and the young men had collected for the last few days to carve into benches and stools for the prayer room. The men got to work on them for the next few days. In the meantime, all who went to the room to pray either stood or sat on mats that they brought from their houses as the prayer room was yet to be furnished. After viewing the prayer room, the group went to have a feast in the compound and to have time of fellowship and relaxation with each other.
They also took this opportunity to agree a set time for prayers every night, where each family was expected to attend the prayer sessions in the prayer room. Other times of prayer were up to each individual family to pray on their own in their own homes. They also agreed on who should be the door keeper and key holder for the prayer room as it had to be open at all times for anyone to use and when they needed to pray.
After much deliberation, they all agreed to make Chega the key holder and doorkeeper of the prayer room. Chega was an agile and alert young man, who had inner strength and a fearless attitude. Most of all, he exhibited a lot of maturity over his peers and that worked to his advantage. He was very pleased to be given this role and was ready to show his capabilities in it.
The key was made of cast iron and a huge padlock of the same. He tied the long key on a string made of strong bark and tied it around his waist so that he would not lose it. This meant that Chega was now to be relieved of his normal chores with immediate effect as he took on a new role. He was also expected to sweep and clean the prayer room and its toilet and to keep them neat at all times.
The king hastily told Tamura to send the young men to all the neighbouring villages with news of the impeding danger and to inform them about the need to pray as soon as possible. He also advised that they needed to get together and build a house of prayer and use it as their place of refuge. He also told them to inform them that if any of them needed help they should send someone to seek counsel. He sternly implored them to emphatically tell them to take the matter very seriously. Tamura thought of his relations up in the Nengara Mountains and wondered how he could get word across to them being so far away. He was not much bothered about his uncle, but his cousins meant a lot to him.
As if he was reading his mind about his uncle, the king said, “Don’t know if I should waste my time sending the boys to the useless Towa people. They probably won’t even take heed, useless bunch of vipers!”
Tamura said, “No, King, but they are still human beings and deserve to protect themselves. If you tell them and they refuse to take heed, then their blood is not on your hands, is it?”
The king grunted and said, “I guess you are right; it is our duty to tell everyone. You will let me know, won’t you, if there are any other people I might have missed mentioning?”
Tamura responded, “Yes, dear King, there is a case of my uncle’s household, not sure how to get word across to them.”
Just as they were in thought about this matter, there was a light tap on the door. Tamura went to see who it was and lo and behold, it was his cousin Fanu, accompanied by Kende who he recognised as he passed by the village on his way to Huru. Kende remembered Fanu when they escorted Tamura to Nengara.
Tamura exclaimed, “Fanu!” He threw himself on his shoulder with great joy. Fanu was perplexed but at the same time happy that his cousin had given him such a heart
