Mansa Musa and his 60,000 men: February 2013

Mansa Musa was a king of greatness, he was someone better than many. He saved me from a long and horrible life, bringing me to a new place. Before that though, he had assured me that my father and land would remain safe and intact because of the treasures he had given them. I was free from my gruesome life and had no regrets or fears. I had been stuck, unmoving in that place to long and that great man was able to bring me out of it. I was brought to a new home in a great world.

Freedom

     The following morning and for the rest of the king's stay, I lay low. I went to meals and returned quietly to my room. My father hadn't spoken to me since the dinner feast and I didn't plan on speaking to him. The day past and tomorrow came, I saw the king's followers begin to pack up and I watched as they all said so long. I didn't think I could go on this journey so I had made myself stay in this godforsaken kingdom. A few minutes later, I heard a knock on my door and I went to open it thinking it would be my father. It was not him, I found Mansa Musa standing at my door instead, he did not seem to be in a hurry of any kind, only stopping by.
     "I take it you're not coming," he said with an understanding tone. I nodded but did not say a word. "Well, goodbye Kemma, the King's daughter."
     As he began to walk away I caught him, "How do you know my name? I never told you." He only shrugged and kept walking. So I closed my door and went back to the window. Shut my eyes and holding my breath tight, I grabbed whatever was closest to me. Then I bolted out the door toward a freedom.

New Offers

The king led me to him chamber but when he began to open his door he stopped. At first he didn't turn around, only held his body still and watched life move. When he turned around he said to me,"Go, leave this place and stay away from harm. You are in no good place staying here. Your father gave me you, but that man down the stairs has told me that our great religion forbids us to take the daughter of a king who has offered her. This new religion of ours is very different from our old beliefs. A king once could go through kingdoms and have whatever he pleased, give whatever he wanted. Now our times have changed and the new Allah asks that we treat each other with serenity and respect. So I will not have you tonight or ever, but I do ask you to do something. I would like you to leave this land and follow me to Makkah, a place of greatness and goodness. Would you do something as radical and leave this place behind?"
I had no words for what had happened, I just stood there momentarily and stared into nothingness.Why has my life been so unfair, everything that I ever wanted was not there for me to have... a mother, a real father, and a home where I was free. This man was telling me to follow him to a place of freedom, maybe this was where I was to go with my life.

The Unhappy King

My father had decided to offer me, his only daughter, to this king hours before nightfall. During the night feast though, he took my hand and said to me, "You will not be going back to your room tonight was sweets, follow the amazing king to his corridor". I misunderstood this and couldn't comprehend what he meant, so I listened. When the feast ended, I didn't go back my normal route to my bedroom, I followed behind the King of Mali. He was delayed a few minutes though, talking to a man who was dressed oddly with long cloaks. When the king looked around the dinning room to find me alone and every one else gone, his face became unsettled and almost fear showed in his eyes. He stood up from his chair and shook the other man's hand, who left immediately. The king stared at me longingly, and then headed toward his room; I followed with my head down, confused over what I did wrong.

The Unvaluable Gift

My father was bewildered over our new riches, almost to the point where he could lose it all with the turn of a corner. He would give anything away to thank this man that came from the Heavens, even if it was worse than death. Here is how my father truly lost my trust. He had convinced the king to stay longer than planned, he was in our home for three nights. This my father did in a means to thank him for his generosity, but in the soon he did not feel like this was enough. So on the second night he of the kings stay,offered him something that should have been more valuable to him then anything else in the world, but it did not end up being that important to him. This thing had always been there for him, when it was mad at him it still went to his side and took care of him. This one thing that was much less than it should have been, was none other than me... his one and only daughter.

Gold and Food

Let's start with why the amazing king, Mansa Musa, was traveling through our land with 60,000 men. He was the emperor of Mali, a great empire that was rich beyond belief. There has been no other empires that gained as much wealth as the one under the great "king of kings". He had been traveling only a few nights when he went through my kingdom, Kangaba. It was quite a small one, it had very little, and many of our people suffered from starvation. My father would often give out food to keep them at the least bit happy, but even our food was growing low and we could no longer splurge for them. Everyone was starving and we were at the verge of the end. Meanwhile, Musa was on his way with his hundreds of follower, they were headed to Makkah, the Holy Land of our great religion. It was said that, if possible we all must take a pilgrimage to Makkah at least once in each of our lifetimes. When he reached our land he stopped to cherish us. He paraded us with gold and buckets of food, our kingdom was revived to its original state. We were so grateful that my father couldn't find words to tell him.

Before the Journey

Back many years ago I was a king's daughter, I didn't leave the home ever, for if I did I would be punished. My home was a prison in more ways than anyone could ever know. It was a brutal life where all I did was sit and watch the sun rise, then slowly go back down into the earth. My mother was no longer there for me, she died when I was young and my father soon remarried. First to an eighteen year old, then to a fifteen year old, they both lived in our home. In the upper corridor of the large house; away from where I ever went. I avoided them for most of the time that I lived there. It was demented to me how I was twelve, meaning one of my father's wives was only three years older than I. They each had two children with my father, four boys, but I never saw them they followed our father around like flies, but he didn't control them like he controlled their mothers. I never understood why men were such sinister people to women. We had rights, yes, but men still often treated us unjustly, mainly for marriage though. According to our then recently adopted culture, men were legally allowed to have four wives, while women were betrothed and stuck with the one husband; unless it was so bad that we could fight for a divorce. In my opinion, our lives in that harsh place were not fair, although it was considered a very good life for woman. Thank Allah, I found what I was looking for soon after my fifteenth birthday; days before my mandated marriage.

My name is Kemma, but most people call me Kem for short. And I am going to tell you the story of how Mansa Musa saved me.