Coffee, A Stream and Tar

Weak-end: The last three days of a week when a person’s will to work is at its lowest and the urge to party is at its highest

Fifteen minutes is what it takes me to get to the matatu stage from the house. Fifteen minutes that determine whether my day will be good or bad depending on where they fall. Should i be late by about ten minutes, the fifteen minutes is all what i will still use but am most likely bound to miss the matatu ride into the city centre. Fifteen minutes of pure bliss as i walk in the fresh, crisp morning air.

I will walk and cross the bypass that is currently under construction and past the monsters that were brought in for construction of the said bypass. They are mostly in yellow although there will occasionally be a white machine. The road may be dusty but i still have to walk and walk fast unless my fifteen minutes are over and the matatus are left. I will go past the primary school (which will soon be my voting centre – once i take up my new voter’s card [meant for next week]). Next up is a secondary school that has the same name as the primary school and a certain area made famous for its eccentric, old geezer politicians and dairy milk. That will only take up my 8 minutes meaning 7 minutes must not be expedited on anything else apart from me walking and avoiding poodles of water that have collected due to the recent rains. Should it be raining or have rained the previous night, i will soon have collected enough mud to start working on a Kikuyu traditional thingira (a hut that is built for a person who has recently hit “man” status).

Am lucky that i make it onto the stage in time since i see my “favorite” matatu pull up. We call it “ANNOINTED” since it has that huge name plastered across the back. I snuggle in to my favorite seat, pull out my phone and earphones and switch on to the radio station that plays rock all the time. I will send two or three tweets and pby then we will be outside a training college for the prison warders and pick up more passengers.

Should it be their pass-out day, the stage will be full of many matatus that are clearly indicating that people have come from far and wide to see their sons and daughters get to make a real difference in society. The college has expansive fields that are currently being used to get murram used in the bypass construction. Upto one year ago, there were no industries here until a tentmaker came and pitched their tent there and it is opposite an horticultural farm where the green houses appear as a white silhouette at that hour. One of the most shaming icons of the colonial era come up; tiny houses that were meant to accommodate African coffee plantation workers. They have white-washed walls and are clustered in one area of the expansive farm. Next to these houses there is a dam that is not clearly visible as it is shaded by the acacia trees and tall reeds. A place that you will take your lady and show her the stars even during the day #ifyouknowwhatimean. By then i will have crossed the second stream while the first one bypasses the horticultural farm and the second one feeds into the dam. On one side of that hill that is past the stream, there is an abandoned house on one edge of the coffee farm that is accessed by a small cattle track. Opposite that house on the other side of the road is one of the coffee plantations that i would say are quite big and it even gets to a point where it is intersected in two by power lines that are supported by pylons. Next to it is a river that cascades down rocks to create the best rapids with a gorge and a background provided by a maize plantation.

Coffee farms define the rest of the area that is just past a corner named after one of Nairobi’s most famous jails having hosted several famous government “dignitaries”. The most discouraging thing about all the coffee plantations is that in about five years they will all be gone and replaced by “townhouses”. We live in the bunduz, aren’t townhouses meant for the city? Savannah-like grass covers the small patch between the road and the coffee plants. >em>Mugumo trees are to be found in plenty in between the grassy knolls and they always stand so tall, majestic and green all year round as they tower over the tiny coffee plants.

Watch out for part 2 of my daily morning journey.

WORD OFTHEDAY
A word to the wise ain’t necessary. It is the stupid ones that need the advise – Bill Cosby

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