Matumbi

Hello! Good to see you! Please excuse my appearance. I was going to wear my Sunday best for your arrival, but a vulture tore it the other day when I was lying down breathing shallowly. Haha, I am sure you too have been mistaken for dead by scavenging wild animals many times! The joke is on the vulture, however, as ripping off a piece of my flesh should also take a portion of my malaria. That vulture will surely have a sore liver in the morning! Nearly as sore as mine.

Anyway, your friend sent you here again so that I might give you another word of encouragement as it still sounds like you are facing some tribulations in your life. I can sympathize. You being much older than I (I am assuming. I do not know how many years I have been alive. Oh, if only my mother and father were here to keep track), you must have seen many more days of trouble than I. Surely you have had those days, like I have, where you have had to consume handfuls of pebbles just to quell the ache in your empty belly, or have had to walk seven miles to a water source when you already have a painful asp bite. I hear you have something called “tap water” but you do not enjoy the taste of it. Haha, I too have retched at bad tasting water! Did yours have a layer of rat feces in it too?

Do not worry, my friend. The sun will shine tomorrow, and you may become lucky yet again. My luck seems to be changing as well; it turns out my tooth-loss is simply due to malnutrition, and not my advancing diabetes! Haha, my brother shed tears of joy over this. At least, I think they were of joy.

I must go now. It looks like the militia is doing another sweep of my village so I had better find a good hiding spot before they are all taken. Just remember me, Matumbi, when life is getting you down. Keep your hopes high, even though you are facing many troublesome issues in your life like I am. Perhaps one day, we will both taste meat again! Haha, it is good to have dreams.

-Matumbi

Matumbi

Oh hello. I did not see you there – due to having lost 60% of my vision to various eye parasites. Do you have many of those in your drinking/bathing water? Anyway, my name is Matumbi. What is my last name? I am sorry, I did not catch that part when my father was screaming as he was murdered before me by a drug cartel. My mother of course cannot tell me either, having been long kidnapped. That is very good that you have both parents. I hear that you dislike visiting them because they try to give you poor gifts and feed you bland food. Haha, I once did not like a gift my father gave me (it was a Pepsi bottle cap), but now it is all I have left.

Your friend sent you to this site because he or she wanted me to give you words of encouragement as it is clear that your life is troubling you as much as it is troubling me. Not every day is as good for me as seen in the photograph above; not every day do I become fortunate enough to feast on fresh garbage. Often, the garbage is many weeks old. I have heard that you can order a pizza by text message on your phone. Haha, amazing. What is a pizza? And a text message? What is phone? But anyway, let me encourage you! It does become better! For example, if I gather enough copper from discarded air conditioning units in my garbage pile, I should be able to afford another dose of my tuberculosis medication! How many pills did you need to buy to heal from tuberculosis? I bet I can heal faster than you did! Haha!

Sorry, I have to go now. I need to help my brother use the restroom. He has trouble walking ever since the land mine accident. No, no the other land mine accident. But please remember: do not let life get you down. I hear you do have many, many troubles, just like me, but I will be brave if you will be too. Keep smiling and, like me, you may live well into your twenties!

Your friend,
Matumbi