Going Places

 

Photo Credits: JAPICHA

I am trying to establish a routine for coming up with an article on every first of the month. This month I was torn between two topics; Mental Health and A trip to the lake side city. Today the published date it's not the first. I'm trying.

I am not a therapist, nor am I planning to be one, just like every typical Kenyan right now, times are hard, the economy, COVID aftermath, people and organisations are trying to recover.

I don't know who needs to hear this but, "DON'T GIVE UP!". Suicide cases have become rampant. It's sad, it's painful. Your friends and family will mourn you for a while, two weeks tops, come together, contribute for your funeral, organize a road trip to your village, print identical tshirts written "RIP Your name", take selfies by your grave side, post them all over social media and just like that, it will be the end of you!

Let it sink for a minute..

Imagine, we've survived COVID and how we thought it was going to be end of us and the human kind. Lock downs, face masks, sanitizers, social distancing for two years and just after we are done with that phase you end your life!?

Imagine, the loss to your parents. They gave you life, took care of you till you were of age to start school, put you through school, invested in you and just when they are about to reap the fruits of their labor, you end your life!?

I'll not pretend to understand what goes through one's mind to the point they decide to commit suicide. It must be alot so let me not go deeper into it. But I'll tell you this, it's never that serious. It may seem impossible today but we'll figure something out. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but eventually. We'll look back onto these days, reminisce on how far we've come.

We'll shed some tears, maybe even alot of it with mucus, and then pat ourselves in the back, drinking the best of wines money can buy, to some barbecue, make a toast and then, write the story of our lives.

To our dearly departed, Rest In Peace.

                                *****

Now Let's talk about my trip to the Lake Side City. Ja-Kisumu.

Just some few days after Prof. Magoha EGH, MBS, CDC, GHC had announced the results for the KCPE is it 2021 or 2022? I got the opportunity to visit Kisumu. I love travelling, road trips and adventure. If travelling was free I'd live life as a pastoralist. I had never been past Nakuru and even then I visited it during a school trip to the Menengai crater eons ago. So we didn't get to explore alot.

So we left Nairobi at around 3ish and since it was in a truck the speed was somewhat limited. I sat by the window on the co-driver's seat, I was familiar with the scenery all the way to Mai-mahiu and besides settlements there's pretty not much to see.

Upon arrival at Mai-Mahiu there was the Rift valley escarpment. The view was not new to me but it was still breath taking and scary. The cool breeze, the vegetation and the clouds were heavy and dark. I think they are called Cumulonimbus, if I can remember my geography.

I had forgotten to carry a hoody but who cares, "I'm on a road trip!" I stretched my arm out of the window. I wanted to feel the cold breeze and fast moving air between my fingers.

The driver, Amos was my "tour guide". He's a nice guy but don't tell him i said that. After the Mai-mahiu stretch we got into Mai-mahiu town it was packed with trucks. The town is a fairly small, barely a mile along the highway but the activities there were alot. There was a little bit of traffic but it was moving can't complain. After Mai-mahiu as you are heading to Naivasha there's Longonot town, and the view of Mt. Longonot, which a dormant volcanic mountain, or so we were told in GHC class. There are trenches that run down the mountain, it looks like someone took their time designing it. You just got to admire nature.

After Longonot as you approach Naivasha town first you'll come across Lake Naivasha then the national park where you'll see some of the wild life. We saw Warthogs, Zebras, I want to say Gazelles but i'm one of those people who can't differentiate an Antelope from a Gazelle or a Dik-dik.

We made a brief stop at Naivasha, bought ourselves some snacks and we were on our way. By now it was around 5:30 pm, the sun was at the horizon like it was tired from shining the whole day and it needed to recharge for tomorrow. By the time we got to Nakuru it was getting darker. I remember Nakuru being the cleanest city in the country but they seemed to have lowered their standards as far as cleanliness is concerned.

Past Nakuru it was already dark visibility was limited, I didn't get to see much of that country side. I only got see the tea farms of Kericho on my way back. We got to Kericho at 10 pm but we couldn't find a safe parking spot. So we carried on to Kapsoit where we spent the night. At 11 pm for such a small and remote town, Kapsoit was lively and active. The hotels were open and busy, and the pubs? Boy! Kalenjins love to party. There was a queue of motorists the gas station in town due the fuel shortage that was across the country.

We had some tea, and retired to the cab. The music from the Pubs was so loud and irritating at the same time but from the screams you could tell they were having fun. Amos' turn boy (Godi) and I we were not sleepy so we left him to sleep and thought we could go kill time at the Pub. I was curious. There were two pubs just next to each other and a hotel at the furthest end. We went to the Pub that was loudest, apparently they even had a Dj. No wonder it was so loud. The Kalenjin songs, you can't tell them apart, they are fast, noisy and kamba like. People were dancing, I couldn't tell whether it was the music that was fun or the alcohol was doing its thing.

We shared a bottle of Gin. I'm not a gin person but it was my guy's favorite so, why not? A decision I would regret later.

After the first bottle the music started getting to me. But not the Kale playlist, the Dj switched to Amapiano.  

It was fun, the lady who was sitting next to me on the bench was I think the supervisor of the place. Waitresses were constantly consulting her and she was sitted with this guy that looked like the owner or sponsor of the place. I was wondering, "do this people work?" I mean, It was now around 3 am and it was still full, on a Tuesday night!?

So I asked her,

"Is this place normally this busy? And if this is a weekday how about the weekends?"

She told me,

"Kales love their party.."

Wait.. she called them Kales. So where are you from madam? She was a Luhya and she hated these people, for some reason she found them irritating.

We left the pub at around 4 am, rather I lost track of time. We went back to the cab for a nap. I was two glasses too wasted. How we got to Kisumu, I don't know. I was out for the count. They woke me up at 8 am, we were at Obunga, I read that on the sign post of the Obunga police station. I was sleepy, tired and still tipsy. I was nauseaous. My regret from the Gin.

I just wanted to get a comfy bed and lie-in state. I was refered to a guest house in Kondele. Just by the roundabout-flyover, it is painted with Mozzart adverts. I got a room and had my rest.

I woke up in the afternoon, I was hungry, thirsty and light-headed at the same time.

I couldn't wait to explore the town. So I called Godi, and asked him if he was busy and where he was at. We got lunch and a tour. I was craving for omena, or fish something from the lake. I was told I came in late and they had run out, so I ordered chapati and madodo which was extremely salty, I ended up just taking tea and chapati.

We took a walk into town along Oginga Odinga road, i noticed there are alot of Indians in kisumu, the top campuses UON-kisumu, Maseno University. Luos are learned people's, they are professors, doctors, engineers you name all the fancy titles. I can bet you no town in Central has this many institutions. Apart from Thika and also Thika is like an extension of Nairobi more or less. My point is my country people are business people not scholars.

There was this one building just by the round about to the ship yard, that is really well done. It looks like a building you'd see at Silicon Valley, a tecno building. You can say a work of art. The architect took his/her time designing it.

Just at the intersection of Oginga Odinga and I think Achieng' Oneko road, a gentleman was on the phone. He was officially dressed. Very smart looking guy and from what I gathered from his conversation. His daughter had sat for the KCPE exams and she had done exemplary.

Luos have a way of blending english and their tongue. He would speak in luo and then interject an english word as if it's part of their tongue.

He'd be like: "Ginne mano poro konde abi"

Recipient: ...

Him: "Otimo maber, Amor kode ma be nekapar kama." then the interjection, "Infact, mano ari mia angwen peiro angwen. I'm very proud of her."

You just want to understand what he's saying. As he's holding a toothpick and licking the fats from his lips of whatever meals he had just had from the restaurant he was coming out from.

I'd love to learn the language. Anyway, I had it nice, the Mombasa like climate, vegetation I admired Kisumu. Infact it's not even cold. The whole time i didn't need a sweater, it's humid and warm. Just like Mombasa. We shall revisit.

But until then, thank you for your time. As always like, share and subscribe.