The Village Of Round and Square Houses

By: Ann Grifaconi

Alpuerto - Hello, Good day to all of you we are here to share our own interpretation about this poem. It
is About The Village Of Round and Square Houses.

But to show respect to the one who create and interpret this poem we will share how Ann Grifalconi
caught her interest by a girl who tell her a story about what happen on their village after volcanic
eruption.

Rojo - Ann Grifalconi once visited Tos, a remote village at the foot of Cameroon's Naka Mountain in
central Africa.

Alpuerto - As a result, square and round homes attracted her interest, as did a young girl who told a
rhythmic story from the viewpoint of a little girl who grew up from tos and when her grandmother tells
her the story of the day that the volcano erupted, destroying almost everything in their village, with the
exception of one round house and one square house.

Ibanez - And now we are starting our interpretation about this poem. Sit back and relax and listen about
how we explain what we understand about this poem.

Luayon – In this poem, there is this girl named Osa, she grew up in her grandmothers farm. Where she
talks about their custom of honoring the elders by giving them special places to sit and allowing them to
eat first. There are two types of houses in this African village square for men and round for women. And
for her this kind of things is normal.

Ezpinosa - On her grandmothers farm they are peacefully planting yams, corns, and tobacco. Their
village is always happy and peaceful, that’s why their place is the good place where boys and girls to
grow up.

Principe - One unlucky night, old Naka woke up from a long sleep and begin to groan and rumble.
Villagers were frightened and ran out of their houses and hid and the bushes for their safety. And there
they witness how the black night was split like a coconut.

Domingo - People cried out to Naka because of the Volcanic eruptions that we know are the most
important and dangerous natural cause of climate change.

Rojo - When the sun rose, the people lifted their head and witness everything is covered with ashes
even themselves. Everyone is trembling with fear, but they are thankful to be alive and safe.

Alpuerto – Men, Women and Children faced the mountain together, And after that they went back to
claim their homes. When they came to the burned out village they were stunned to see that only two
houses were left standing, and that is one square and one round.

Geronimo - The villagers has so many question about what happened about their homes, but the village
chief has no time for such question and called them together to rebuild their village.
Ezpinosa – And no one forgot to thank Naka for sparing their lives and giving them such fine crops from
her good earth.

Domingo - And there is where osa’s grandomother said ‘’ We live peacefully here because each one has
a heart to be apart, and there is a time to be together…’’ . She took me by my hand, And turned back to
the round house. And now that is how our way came about And will continue. Till Naka speaks again.

Ibanez - There are many moral lessons in this poem that we could learn after reading it. And one of
them is that we cannot influence natural phenomena, but we can only take care of our environment and
avoid destroying it.

Geronimo - Thank you for taking the time to listen to how we interpret this poem. We learn a lot about
this poem and enjoy reading it.