POWER: MY FOUNTAIN OF STRENGTH BY ROTHELI MAMELLO STEPHEN

GENRE: ARTICLE
TITLE: POWER: MY FOUNTAIN OF STRENGTH
WRITER: ROTHELI MAMELLO STEPHEN, LESOTHO
REVIEWER: COMFORT NYATI, ZIMBABWE
 
In every aspect of life, the notion of power is simply phenomenal. It is ever germinating and ever-maturing, this is why the writer of this article directs us to the concept of power by way of imagination or one of the emerging fantasies that baffles humanity from childhood to adulthood. To counter this quagmire, the writer invites the readers to utilize the power of ink and words to create one’s universe, one’s sense of purpose and one’s sense of life. In this manner, one attains certainty and assurance of his/her intrinsic power at work. Hence, to quote the writer’s words: “not a single soul shall strip away my power to create, to write…”
As the title suggests and the flow of the piece, the voice of the writer is an illustration of one who is celebrating the substance of power as an incredible channel to realize, explore and revitalize her literary aptitudes. In this context, it is quite significant to crown the concept of power as not so problematic rather as a value that one can hold with higher reverence and capitalize on it the execution of personal talents and responsibilities.

The heart of this article is in the following lines “man is the king of his own house and so is every woman a queen for theirs”-this speaks of decentralization of the concept at hand. This implies that each person in the society has a role to fulfil and is entitled to some certain degrees of power in accordance with the societal status. For instance, a guard has dominion over the gate and the properties being under guard, just as a baby has power over his toys.

Furthermore, the article also questions the childhood and elderly stages, in between lies the issue of power. A kid has little to zero power over a lot of things, so is an elderly person. It is through the act of writing where one vomits the frozen potentialities of her power bars. But this can only be actualized when an individual acquires an awareness of that power which lies within him/herself. Hence, the writer appears to have reached that level of awareness. Instead, she is also aware of the fact that her powerfulness is equalled to powerlessness in the face of a power-hungry society.
It is a society whose power can only be quenched from the political arena, outside that you are simply nothing, a crunch of bread that dances to the tune of the political elites. Africa at large appears to entertain this as the only way to exercise your innate power bar. Therefore, we cannot ignore the sarcasm that bemoans the political irony in relation to the disillusionment of power in Africa, typically to the community of African writers.