My First Encounter with Cowards

The year is 2017 (refer Abel Mutua's videos). I had just completed campus after four years of being housed within campus. The life outside hostel while in Nairobi was new and an exciting affair. No sharing of washrooms and one can cook all that you want according to your capabilities. I however was missing one thing: Free electricity and water. Like we paid approximately six thousand Kenya Shillings the whole year which translated to about eight months. Life without bills was really nice I must say.

Three months after completion, I was able to secure a placement but I was required to move from Nairobi to the Lake Regions for this assignment. It really took a lot of time to convince myself that I would really move to a new place, where I had never visited before and barely knew anyone apart from my friends from school who came from the said region.

Before I got this assignment, I didn't live alone. You know after campus the expected graduates have little or even nothing and majorly, there are supported by their parents and guardians. To cut cost, you need to choose a friend that you trust to live with. This comes with an agreement on terms and conditions on how to share the expenses of the your now small house or better home.

So I was no different from the majority and I had a friend that I used to live with. Now, I'm here and I need to move. This implies that I can't keep on sharing costs because I'm not staying in. We agreed that for the months I will be away, I won't be taking part of the expenses but once in a while I can come in and visit. We agreed on this and we were good to go. 

It's May and the weekend is calling. 

"Where do I go?" I ask myself.

"Go to Nairobi, you still have a 'house'."

This was on Friday. I pick my back-pack and within six to seven hours I'm in Nairobi.

We catch up with my friend and later call it a night.

Saturday comes. We are both introverts. We value our space. We value our alone time and so we ask each other,

" What do we do today?"

"We can chill in here. Maybe watch a movie, play games, talk, cook and listen to maji and mali mali vendors advertise their goods", one of us said.

"This is cool. We have a plan for the weekend for real. Form tunayo!" One of us agreed again.

Sunday comes. We go to church, praise the Lord and ask for His guidance not only that day and week but for as long as we lived. Such a powerful prayer if you ask me.

All along, none of us knew this day would turn out to be our very first encounter ever with heartless and literally individuals who don't care about how hard people are working out here to bring something on the table in a third world country!

We eat out and spent the rest of the day outdoors enjoying the God-given nature.We later come back to the house in the evening.

"What do we have for supper?"

"Ugali, greens and beef."

As a Kenyan, this meal is to die for. This was a good idea. We went out to the nearest 'mama mboga', got the above and added other groceries and fruits. We are now back to the house and ready to make a delicious meal. 

Ooh before we continue, kula pause and let me take you back. Before we went to get the needed particulars for supper, we had a nearly full bin which needed to be emptied. The huge bins that hold the households waste in that particular apartment are based downstairs and we all know how the thought of going down and up the stairs holds the feet and you can not even move! This happened. We put the bin outside our house and said to each other that after having supper, one of us will have to go down stairs to empty the bin. For this reason, we don't have to lock the door because one of us will have to go downstairs in a few. Note my readers, at this point, we made a very very huge mistake that, personally, even in my next life, will never repeat again.

Keep it here for the next part.