A Hero’s Journey

Could Africa think of a man who would save them from the traditional witches who used to kill male children? No one expected in the continent expected a savior even the religious heads of the tribes thought that the gods had agreed to it and were punishing people for their sins. Just at the right moment, Bozeka was born in the village of Wesuze along the slopes of mountain Emba Soira. He was born just as natural as any other baby. His parents were however fearful that they would lose him to the wickedness of the magicians. So they named him Bozeka meaning the one who never dies young. 

Just like other children that were born him Bozeka used to take herd cattle along the Emba Soira Mountains. Unlike the other children, however, Bozeka had some supernatural visitations. He could sometimes fall asleep while grazing his father’s cattle and find himself traveling in space. One moment while he was deep in the forest grazing alongside Bure and Baroki, his longtime friends, Bozeka had a nap and was carried away. For two hours, his body looked dead. His friends resolved to cry out to the villagers that he had already died. Little did they know that he had been visiting the gods who would reveal to him the hideouts of the witches and give him the power to kill them.

Bozeka was however fearful of the gods’ instructions. He knew that the traditional witches were destructive and could kill him too if he aggrieved them. After returning home that evening, Bozeka asked himself, “Arent the witches stronger than the gods? Why don’t the gods protect people from being killed and now they send me?” He felt like the gods only wanted him to be maimed. The gods were, however, persuading his soul and had already given him a map of the six witches who used to kill children.

So Bozeka rose up one morning and picked his map and sword. He went up to the mountains and searched for the first witch on his map. Against his thinking, Bozeka expected that the witch lived alone and that he was a lonely old man. But oh! He found a great army protecting the witch. He feared to engage the army of more than 30 men. When the gods noticed that he was fearful they all at once made him invisible such that the men did not see him and he walked past the men. The witch, however, had magic powers and could see him. Bozeka wrestled with the witch for hours and killed the witch. It was a win he never expected. He now knew that he had supernatural powers and faced off other five witches, maiming and killing them. 

The story was however different with the seventh witch. He was the head of the other witches; he was the king of evil. Bozeka never knew that the very day he thought he would kill the last witch and restore safety to young children across Africa was the day he would almost die. The witch was powerful than he was. He wrestled Bozeka to the ground, lifted his sword and said, “If you can’t kill the witch, he kills you!” The gods would however not allow the Bozeka to get killed; they denied the witch the power to drop his sword on his neck. Unbelievably, with his eyes red, the witch told him, “Depart and never return!” It was a terrible defeat for Bozeka; he went home weary. He had helped eliminate the witches, but he did not kill their god. It was not time for the gods of Bozeka to fight the god of the witches themselves. Bozeka had no choice but to go back and live among his people, raise a family and live like an ordinary man once more.  

Bozeka was a man who did not know his supernatural ability. He had a call to act to save his people, feared but heeded to the call. He helped in eliminating some part of the problem that faced his society but failed to make a complete elimination. Bozeka, therefore, subscribed to the heroic journey where he met an obstacle to his mission and returned to the normal state once more.