When I lived in Kibera, I shared my modest crib with Onyango,Kimani,Kipngeno,Mutisya and Abdi.
Abdi and Kimani shared a bed because Abdi was new to the city. The only thing that seperated our "bedrooms" was a "leso", an old dirty bed sheet and a black polythene sheet that Mutisya had picked on his way from Industrial area.
We shared everything and we showered in shifts and on alternate Sundays. Life was hard but we were happy.
Kimani pushed mkoko at Marigiti and in the evening he will come home with a mixture of almost everything that was sold at the market.From it, we made a stew.
Everyday it tasted distinctly different and authentic even though the ingredients remained the same, the quantity varied. Sometimes the pilipili or dania will be in plenty hence the taste of the day. We listened to Kameme together and KBC salamu za hodi hodi together and shared ushindi bar soap for washing and geisha Kubwa for bathing. Played draughts at weekends.
In short we were more than brothers, and we remained so for 5 years until the elections were called.
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And how did Mutisya lose his polo shirt? That shirt disappeared the day Chris left for "the other counntry".
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago i took a certain friend of mine to see her friends who lived in the slum near Buru phase 1. The atmosphere that i saw there surprised me. Despite the bad conditions the people there looked very happy and went on their business like many others did outside the slum. Very interesting people and I had a lot of love for them.
ReplyDeleteThen i again went back in 2002. Much to my big disappointment, the people i shared good moments with before had forgotten my name and they now called me by tribe. I was very hurt and since i wanted to know why the change of things, i asked them why they were behaving like kids. After several exchanges of 'ideas' i left.
SO, why shld i care what the big people from my tribe are doing? As long as they dont interfere with my things- i dont give a shit. Why would i want to defend him for things i have no idea what happened? Even if he were to give me bread, why would i appreciate it when i know its stolen bread? That big person stole elsewhere ... when he needs to 'give' to someone else than me, he will steal from me.
So my dear ones we need to grow up and behave like we should. Few of the MP and none of the presidential aspirants will help us in anyway, we need to help ourselves. We shld look at putting the right people regardless of their tribes.
God Bless Kenya.
Does this one get recycled by election NGOs every 5 years? I saw the same in my inbox in 2002
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