The nation builders (LOH contest #130)

Source

Building the nation by Henry Barlow:
Stanza 3 line 10_16
Mwananchi, I too had none!
I attended to matters of state.
Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,
And friend, it goes against my grain,
Causes me stomach ulcers and wind.
Ah, he continued, yawning again,
The pains we suffer in building the nation!

These is one among my favorite poem which I tend to recite most of the times, before I go deep in relating the poem to how it affects me I would like to elaborate more on the words and it's meaning according to how the poet explained it for more understanding.

Mwananchi here means an ordinary fast African citizen ( this simply illustrates class difference), in the third line where it's states "delicate diplomatic duties" means the nature of work of the person being illustrated in the poem, in the fourth line where it states "ulcers and wind" it simply means those stomach issues where caused by skipping lunch.

And the last line where it says "the pain we suffer in building the nation" it creates an ironic effect as here the second speaker compares his stomach pains to the hardship of the nation building.

Henry Barlow's building the nation is an illustration of two builders which one is the permanent secretary and the other is a driver, the both are suffering from a calamity the secretary is own is caused by over working out while the driver own is caused by hunger and poverty.

The writer makes it clear the difference of their work to the nation, the secretary wasn't really working for the nation but the real nation builders are those who do thier job wholeheartedly be it a shoe shiner, a barber or a taxi driver they all have fair shares in building the nation.

The main point in the poem is class difference, hunger, nation building and many more.
The first time I heard this poem I felt it just demonstrated what is happening in our society today where their is class differences and the rich is been separated.

Building the nation requires different hands and all of us are required to build this nation together, though in different ways. I felt I too would have my own fair share in building the nation. We could also see the theme of hunger where the secretary is hungry even after he had a great luncheon while the driver is hungry due to his financial state which implies that the secretary is not actually hungry he is greedy.

This hunger shows the hunger we face in our present days, where things are costly and money hard to find. After reading this poem I felt there should be equality in our country and a nation where we would earn more in other to avert poverty.

This nation building needs all hands on deck contributing fairly to building the nation, trying very hard in any situation you find your self not to contribute to inequality and class difference.
Thanks for reading till the end, your comments will be very much needed and appreciated.