The Blood of Stranger by Dele Charley
Characters
SANTIGI MANDO V: The King of Mando land.
MALIGU: Chief Adviser to the king.
SOKO: Chief priest of the shrine in Mando.
WHITEHEAD: The white stranger.
PARKER; A black working for the white man.
WARA: Kindo’s woman.
KINDO: The king’s son.
The Background Story
The Blood of a stranger is an African drama written by a Sierra-Leonean playwright, Raymond Dele Charley. The play reveals the exploration and the occupation of Africa by the European in order to steal the resources in connivance with some gullible and selfish Africans who made it possible for them to have soft landing in Africa.
Sierra-Leone is naturally endowed with Diamond and it is the primary aims of the white to steal this natural endowment from them but hide under the pretext of tobacco farming. The scramble for the Diamond in Sierra-Leone led to the civil war in the country between 1991 and 2002.
Plot Summary
Maligu, the chief adviser to the king of Mando receives a letter from a European, Whitehead that he is coming to Mando for tobacco farming and it is against the tradition of the Mando people to receive strangers since the last war that broke out in Mando. The belief of the people is that, strangers in their midst bring sickness, war and problems.
Maligu then approaches Soko. The corrupt priest confides in him and tells him to prophesy to the king (Santigi) and the people about the visitor. He does this because the people would be convinced as the people believe in any prophecy from the priest.
Kindo, the chief warrior and the king’s son does not believe the claims of Soko
because, the duo of Maligu and Soko are corrupt. On his arrival, the people welcome him (Whitehead). He later reveals his true mission to Maligu that he is in Mando to harvest their diamond and he makes the people believe that diamond is a devil stone.
Whitehead also tells the king that he is in Mando to help the village. He then distributes gifts to the king and the people. He gives them tobacco; hard drug and gin that intoxicate them and make them misbehave.
Parker is the right-hand man of Whitehead; he carries out any instruction from him. With the connivance of Parker and Soko, Whitehead attempts to rape Sara, Kindo’s woman but fails.
Eventually, Parker kills Soko as a result of the unsuccessful rape of Wara. Kindo also kills Parker and reveals their evil plans. Kindo is banished by king Santigi for the killing of Parker in a time of peace. In annoyance, Kindo kills Whitehead and leaves Maligu to confess his bad deeds.
He then prophesies that Maligu would be enthroned after the death of his father but his period would know no peace and that he would come back as a Prince to claim the kingdom, but if he doesn’t, the story should be told to the generations yet unborn.