Blake Rowley

Hello, my name is Abazza. I am 17 years old, which is a grown man in my village. I

work as a trader for my village which is conveniently located near the Great African Lakes. My

people are fortunate to live near the water, not all of us do. In fact, the Bantu people are one of

the largest groups of all time, we are spread all throughout Africa. Although some of us are far

apart our customs, excluding religion (some of us have Islamic faith while others, like myself,

are Christian), are very similar. Trade, pottery, weaving, iron sculpting (for weaponry and for

tool use) are all foundational to our way of life. We raise cattle for livestock and we herd

animals, we are one of the first groups of people to do this and ultimately paved the way for

farmers and settlers today.

Speaking of today, I am just waking up to start my day. Every morning when I wake up

and every night before I go to bed, I pray. I pray for myself, my family and my people. We are a

very advanced people but we do run through resources, it feels like villages are always migrating

to new locations and sometimes coming back to old ones. My village is running low on resources

used to make our porridge, or maize, so when I trade with the group near the Niger River later, I

am hoping they can help.

It’s not a long journey to the rainforest settlers near the Niger River, not even an hour

walks which is a relatively short journey for a trader like myself. This group of people speak the

same language as me, which is fairly uncommon because there are over five hundred different

languages associated with the Bantu; so, I know that today will be a good day. And what a day it

was! They needed iron, I needed resources, and they showed me how to fish! My village does

not have any fisherman, so this will be very helpful! I have a short journey home and when I
arrive, I will show my people how to fish with a net, an iron sharpened spear or with a

constructed trap like the tribe showed me. My village will be pleased, as am I, and tonight when

I lay down in my hut/on my leaves I will thank the sun and the plants for the start of it all and

God for a great day both for myself and for my people.