THE COLOURS OF OUR OWN RAINBOW

(For Noela at the Finance Office of the Catholic University Institute of Buea - CUIB)*

This is one of our colours

The colour is blue

Blue on the university`s artifacts

Blue on my dresses

Blue on my finger nails

If you like, call me the Blue Prad

I`m blue and proud

Here we don`t need the rainbow

Because we have our own

It`s not just because we work in the Finance Office

It`s also because

We are part of that one, big and united family

We call it the Economy of Communion

The brain child of Bishop Immanuel Bushu.

It`s not about dollars

For those who follow money live to rue

As stated in the Acts

And always end up in dark recesses

We may not speed on the rails

But we know we are spiritually well clad

That`s why we`re physically so stout

And we fly like the crow

We`re never alone

Since we`re protected by God`s giant edifice

At all times we remain faithful to our cause

Whether in or out of the homily

With these chosen colour we can communion

And that`s the crux of the issue.

*Background to this poem

A few days ago I was at the Finance Office of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB) and while I was being served by the Chief Finance Officer (Ngwatung Blasius) and the Receivables Officer (Ngole Noela) I noticed that the nails of the latter were polished blue.

I was struck by that fact partly because the colour `blue` is the distinguishing shade of CUIB and partly because it is my favourite colour. When by way of appreciation I asked her why she had chosen it for her nails, she laughed and told me that when she was getting ready for work that morning, she had also thought of the coincidence of the colour.

She went on to say, “This is one of our colours!” On the spot, I promised her and Mr. Ngwatung I would do a poem on the incident, with the first line of the first stanza being the phrase, “This is one of our colours!”

Here it is.