Mkenya Mgeni: A Conversation with a Senior Citizen
My papers arrived last week and now I am a resident alien. I did not see the need of sleeping on my ears, as my people say, and therefore wasted no time but immediately embarked on tarmacking. Well, call it bus-ing since I am mostly using the city bus to look for a job. Now the art of riding on the bus here is a story for another day.
All I can say for now is that you can tell the time by the city bus; it is so predictable and never fails, like the old Kenya Bus Service (KBS) that plied the city of Nairobi when it was the city in the sun. Now all that is history with the entrance of the matatu followed by the Probox and now the ubiquitous motorcycle taxis. Very soon, if it has not happened already, driving in the city of Nairobi will compare well with Bangalore, India.
The few times I have ridden on the city bus, I have not failed to notice that the windows are quite wide and low, making me wonder whether they were intentionally designed to make whoever is riding on them suffer the embarrassment of being stared at by those driving cars the size of a house. As most drivers zoom by the bus, they peek inside to see who is riding on it. I can swear that they are left to wonder who in Maili Nne, USA cannot afford their own four wheels. Very soon I will find myself at least a ’94 Camry and bid bye to the city bus. But first thing first.
I was about to tell you that it was during one of the rides that a senior citizen sat next to me. After talking to my friend, Miheso, on the phone, the elderly man engaged me in a conversation about this and that, which does not happen often here.
“I tried hard not to eavesdrop on your conversation,†he said, “but I have never heard that language my entire life.â€
“That was Swahili, an African Language,†I told him.
“Oh, it sounded so melodious. Where in Africa is it spoken?†He asked.
“East Africa and some parts of central Africa,†I answered.
“I have always wanted to visit Africa, but all the news about the wars kept me off,†he said.
As a student of History up to Form 2 Longonot, I know that the continent of Africa has been bedeviled by wars; from Biafra to Eritrea, Sudan to The Congo; Mozambique to Somalia. And we are still counting.
So there I was, seated next to a senior citizen in a city bus, and I was expected to play the role of public relations for the whole continent of Africa. The load weighed heavily on my jobless shoulders.
“I also heard terrible things about America before I came,†I said after a moment of thought. “Murders in Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities. Drug abuse and rowdy students in public schools. It scared the hell out of me before I came. But now I know that if I stay away from the trouble spots, trouble might not find me. It is the same case with Africa.†I ended my preaching.
“I will think about what you said,†he said.
I would have wanted to engage the senior citizen a bit more, but I arrived at my destination. I hoped that I had changed one person’s view of Africa. Off I went to be interviewed as a parking lot attendant. I will share in these pages the outcome of the interview.
By Mkenya Mgeni
Previous Mkenya Mgenis Blogs:
The views expressed on this op-ed/blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of Mwakilishi News Media, or any other individual, organization, or institution. The content on this op-ed/blog is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. The author himself is responsible for the content of the posts on this op-ed/blog, not any other organization or institution which he might be seen to represent. The author is not responsible, nor will he be held liable, for any statements made by others on this op-ed/blog in the op-ed blog comments, nor the laws which they may break in this country or their own, through their comments’ content, implication, and intent. The author reserves the right to delete comments if and when necessary. The author is not responsible for the content or activities of any sites linked from this op-ed/blog. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations and other content on here are original works of the op-ed/blog author and the copyrights for those works belong to the author.
Comments
"The Road," by Wole Soyinka. Mmmmmm........
uko na vituko wewe, and I'm eargerly waiting the day you will be called hiyo jina ingine ukirega rega parking lot!!
You don't need to justify or compare africa with LA, chicago.......what I learn't is that one need not be ashamed of what bedevils us but to take responsibility of both the negative and the positive. Better still play the fool, let the sleeping dogs lie......you are better of because u will get the best of both worlds kenya and usa; meanwhile, most here wallow in the ignorance that ''we are number 1''. They are many positive things you can learn here in USA, but a mzungu has no right to preach to u what is moral or not while I see daily injustices here, passed and present.
My people have a saying about this matters: "By the time the home of the talkative one crumbles, the home of the silent one is long crumbled." And that is why I write about the everyday mundane issues.
Way to go mkenyamgeni, i always look forward to read about your escapades. Reminds me about mine way back too. Just brush your shoulders off on the haters who have nothing better to comment. They enjoy the readings too, thats why they are are throwing their 2 cents.