I have always been fascinated by intellectualism and intellectuals. By this I don’t mean the heavy thinkers in university common rooms who write mumbo jumbo in peer reviewed journals.

That kind only speaks to itself about things the rest of us have never heard of. The thinkers who interest me are the earthy men and women the at the grassroots level whose words are of such profound depth that they leave you dazed for days.

The beauty about these village scholars is that they give you solutions, unlike the guys at university who only complain about problems.

They will consume 60 pages reviewing literature, telling you about research methodology, then whine about challenges, problem statement and I don’t know what. Then at the end of it, they reserve half a page for recommendations. Half a page!

But the village thinker is not this kind of paper tiger, but a tiger in every sense of the word. If you ask him where to locate a pit latrine, he will raise up from his chair, take one look around the compound and point at one spot.

Master’s degree

It is not a random decision. He will factored in so many things you would never even think of. Like how your son’s shy teenage girl friend can sneak from the boy’s hut for a leak without being seen by all and sundry. He will also ensure that the pit doesn’t stand where you are supposed to be buried.

Now, if you give the same assignment to university thinkers, they will spend three months doing research. They will insist on testing soils, gauging the direction of the wind and interviewing a bunch of nosy neighbours. They will want to find out how much food each member of the family consumes and how many visitors they receive annually.

Then they will demand for something called environmental impact assessment, which is common sense, pocket a fat cheque and then point out the exact spot an old man would in two seconds. For heaven’s sake, do you need to pay someone with a masters degree to tell you that road construction emits dust and so the contractor must water the road twice a day?

Village ‘jogoos’

That’s my problem with scholars. They intellectualise about things that are so far removed from us. And then they write a report in tough English and colourful graphs, going round and round in circles. But my grandfather’s generation talked about things they had seen, or done....


My Opinion tho.


What do you think?