Nonfiction
Metamorphosis
Hajaarh Muhammad Bashar Nothing ever really goes away. It just changes into something else.
1. Mother tongue You cannot take the mother tongue from African children but you can try to take anything else. The cadence of our heartbeat is our mother tongue The principal tried to snatch our mother tongue. He was a burly Nupe man whose English exuded Nupe accent. He ruled out speaking native languages. English and Arabic were the only languages to be spoken in Islamic Training Center Madallah. The consequence of being caught speaking Hausa, Nupe, or any other language, was ten strokes of cane and a fine. Students became detectives. They were assigned by senior prefects to catch anyone whose mother tongue rolled out of her mouth like a broken secret. Names were secretly written. You wouldn’t know when you’d have your name on the list and they’d come with their cane made of animal skin to flog you, enjoying the sound of your scream. We were careful, but we didn’t stop. It was in our blood. And we could not let anyone take it from us. My friends and I were sitting on our bunks in the hostel, talking about the ridiculousness of the law imposed by the principal a month ago because of lack of good English orientation in the school. He said the students hardly spoke English always speaking Hausa. And he wanted to change that. Aisha snorted and made a face. “Imagine o, they want us to speak English and Arabic only! They’re delusional to think it is going to be possible.” Khadijah giggled at her expression. “No mind them. Like say na our Mama language.” She looked around as she said this, careful not to be heard by anyone outside the circle. “Don’t forget that Pidgin English is also prohibited.” Maryam chuckled. Aisha hissed. She never liked to speak English unless necessary. “I don’t even care, I shrugged. Let them do whatever they want. It’s not like we will ever stop. Su suka sani!” We laughed. We found ways to break the rules. We began to speak Ingausa – a combination of Hausa and English, derived from the Hausa version of the word English spelt as Inglishi. We switched between languages when we noticed prefects coming. We spoke little Ingausa during school hours
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