Alfred Kisubi (Professor of Human Services, College of Education and Human Services, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh)
Just last week Chief Fonkem introduced me to a fine poet and scholar the late Dr. Besong by e-mail. My plan was to work with Dr. Besong to start an exchange program between the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and a university in Cameroon. I already work with other scholars in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya. I was pleased when Dr. Besong sent me a positive reply. He was willing to get me started and work with me to make sure that a program is started. I even told Jenna Graaf, Director of International Education here at UW Oshkosh and she too was excited at the prospect of starting the first program in a Francophone country.
I was disheartened by the news that greeted me as I tried to reply to his e-mail acknowledging his kindness in accepting to work with me. Literary my reply to him was cut short. The loss of Profs Ambe and Besong is a loss to Africa. Such carnage on our wild roads (Wole Soyinka talked about in "The Road) has taken a toll on us and it is partly responsible for why we are poor. It seems we live in HOT WASTES! My sympathies to you, and to the late Profs' friends and relatives, especially their students and colleagues. Here is my poetic tribute to them.
IN THE HOT WASTES
(For Drs. Besong and Ambe)
In the hot wastes of home,
Village and town huddle
In tsunami hailstorm
Life,
A small niggard,
Clutches his dribble,
Death,
An incessant wind
At every window
Even cactus
Lies dormant in the desert,
Deep in the dusty loam
Seeds of sanity now dormant
Wait to grow and ripen,
When new rains pour -
To quench miserable goats,
Browsing on roots of grass
We give them dry cactus
Alfred T. Kisubi
March 9, 2007
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