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Long ago in Gongoni village lived a little boy called Lima.
He was the medicine man’s son and he was always seen with his father, assisting him wherever he went.
One day, while Lima was on his way to meet his father at the king’s palace where he regularly ran checks on the ailing old man, he saw dark clouds gathering in the sky.
“This is strange”, said Lima to himself as he continued his walk to the palace. As far as he knew, it wasn’t the time of the year when it rained. Also, what looked like clouds was too dark and dense to be one.
He quickly waved the thoughts off his mind as he increased his pace, determined to get to the palace before it started to rain. He didn’t want his father to worry about his whereabouts.
When Lima got to the palace, he met his father and the king having a conversation in the king’s chambers.
From what Lima could see, it looked like it was a light-hearted conversation because the king roared with laughter at whatever it was his father had said to him. He said his greetings and sat at the far corner of the room.
“Those white men brought some more money today. They have kept to their bargain since they began their activities and they have promised even more money.” The king gleefully said to Lima’s father.
Lima guessed the king was referring to the white men that had begun what looked like oil drilling and gas flaring activities.
No sooner had he finished his sentence than a deep, loud cough erupted from him. His father quickly rushed to his side and handed him a piece of cloth.
The king coughed some more before he slumped on his chair from exhaustion.
It took Lima closely observing the rise and fall of the old man’s chest to realize he was still alive. “Thank heavens!” He whispered.
His father examined the piece of cloth the king still held in his hand. It had a black substance on it. His fear was confirmed.
All the medical rounds he had run in the village for the past year had one thing in common and it was this black substance.
What was this thing that was causing respiratory problems in the villagers? His father wondered.
Lima’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Father, what’s that dark substance?”, Lima asked.
“I don’t know, son. Whatever it is, we need to act fast before it kills us all.” His father responded.
It was morning the following day and Lima went on his normal morning walk to get some herbs. There was a particular herb meant for respiratory diseases that his father had asked him to look for.
His quest took him into the deepest parts of the forests where no villager dared venture into because it was the area where the white men carried out their oil and gas activities.
He could see huge structures with large pipes poking out and what looked like thick black smoke coming out of the pipes. There were about nine such structures with about five pipes each within the area.
The smoke from the pipes made its way into the sky and it moved towards the direction of the village.
Lima was perplexed. It wasn’t raining clouds after all. The villagers had been breathing soot all along!
H returned to the village and told his father what he had discovered. His father was angry. The white men had been giving them money at the expense of their health.
He went to the palace and told the king. The king was surprised and issued a decree that all activities be stopped.
The white men left the village and Gongoni village went back to the clean, prosperous village it once was. Thanks to Lima.
