Packing Cool Metal Heat
“Packing heat”: That’s what guys say about me.
Maybe you’ve never met one of us, but here in South Sudan we are everywhere. My owner happens to be a young boy, no taller than the shoulder of a cow.
I’m an AK-47 assault rifle. People say I am the perfect killing machine.
Did you know that I was designed by a man in Russia named Kalashnikov? I am an Automatic Kalashnikov, designed in 1947. Hence my name.
He made me so lightweight that I can be used even by small children. That’s the best thing about me! No wonder I am the most popular weapon in the whole world: 70 million of us are now being used in over 90 countries. Impressive, right?
So, as I was starting to explain, I belong to Deng, who received me as a gift from his father when he was about nine years old. I am just guessing his age: no one really counts birthdays here. Oh, you should have seen how excited Deng was on that day! I could tell he felt very proud and grown-up.
For sure, Deng loves me more than anything else. How do I know? Well, he carries me everywhere. He slings me over his shoulder when he’s watching the cattle and he keeps me by his side even when he sleeps.
You’ll never see any dust or mud on me, not even during the long sloshy rainy season or the months when sand storms blast their grit into every orifice and crevice.
First thing each morning, without fail, Deng polishes me with an old torn tee-shirt.
Then he carefully cleans the cartridge of real bullets his father gave him: ten rounds. Deng hasn’t fired those bullets yet, but he often brags to his friends about how he will certainly use them some day, when another tribe tries to raid the cattle he’s been entrusted to guard.
To be completely honest: I’ve noticed that most women and girls cringe when they see me. They don’t seem to like me as much as the boys do. I’m not sure why.
Maybe they don’t appreciate the power and conquest that I make possible. Maybe they don’t like violence. Who knows?
Here’s what I do know: I feel “at home” and powerful here in South Sudan. And I’m certain that I make Deng feel powerful, too.
