Samba Diallo is a student at the Glowing Hearth religious school in the Diallobé region of West Africa. His teacher, Thierno, punishes him for not reciting the holy verses correctly. Although Samba does not understand the meaning of his recitations, he does his best to speak them with the utmost correctness, and in doing so “master[s] his suffering” of his beatings from Thierno (4).

While Thierno gives Samba the impression that he is severely disappointed with Samba, Thierno’s inner monologue reveals that he has never encountered another child who “waited on God with such a spirit” (5). Thierno is one of the most respected men of the Diallobé region, since he focuses his life on “the work of the spirit and the work of the field” (7).

Thierno recalls his first meeting with a young Samba, Samba’s father, Samba’s cousin (the chief of the Diallobé), and the school principal. In this meeting, the men discussed the presence of a new foreign school (the word “school” in their language is the same as “wood”), which they all worried about sending their children to. In particular, the men were concerned that future generations of the Diallobé would lose their way from God if they attended

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