Written piece
Threads that refuse to break
Kijika Betrian
Cameroon
About this piece
This poem reflects the absence and fragility of peace in parts of Africa while honoring cultural resilience. Through symbols like the griot, kente, and communal traditions, it shows how people continue to thread hope, identity, and a future of peace.
Threads That Refuse to Break
They say the thread is broken
from Bamenda’s hills to the Sahel wind,
where dust carries names we no longer call aloud.
But I have seen it
hidden in the hands of Mama Nkem
weaving raffia at dusk,
in the kente stretched across a patient loom,
in the Maasai beads red as courage,
threaded one story at a time.
Yes, the land remembers unrest.
The drum has changed its rhythm.
Children now learn silence
where songs once lived.
Yet still
the griot clears his throat.
The djembe answers.
And somewhere, a child named Amani
is taught that peace is not gone
only waiting to be rewoven.
Because thread does not forget.
It travels
through stories, through scars,
through markets loud with survival,
through ululations that rise
even when hope is thin.
I come from a people
who stitch tomorrow with bare hands
who gather torn pieces of yesterday
and refuse to throw them away.
So this is my thread:
not perfect, not untouched
but unbroken.
A thread of voices
that will not be silenced,
of cultures that will not fade,
of peace
not yet whole,
but still being made.