I will begin from the beginning

Hallo good people,

I have decided to start from the beginning so you can have a clear picture of what life back then was like before I can come back to the current life now and do some comparison.

I was born in the countryside when babies used to be fed on chewed food from their mothers mouth, or when u got punished just by wearing shoes to school (it was considered rude as many families could not afford to buy their kids shoes) or when girls had to stay clean shaven coz having long hair could sambaza lice like crazy for the irresponsible ones, or when we used to queue for the "Maziwa ya Nyayo" during break time etc etc.

Every other day, you always woke up to some interesting stuff, e.g. on my way to school, as I pass through the same river I always pass through on a daily basis, I find apparently the small footbridge that I always use to cross to the other side of the river is gone and wonder who the hell would be this selfish as to steal it but resolve to think of some radical ways to cross to the other side, so I end up getting into the river with my dress pulled all the way up to my waist (am not worried about my panties getting wet as back in the day and at that age we rarely wore them anyway) without caring if anyone is watching and as I am about to get to the other side I step on a slippery stone and fall on my back into the water with my school bag full of my books and lunch. I get out cursing coz I am soaked wet, my books and lunch are soaked too and I am quadruple sure am late which means some serious caning by the teacher on duty who will first try to ignore my dripping clothes as they cane me and later asks what happened to me. This time I am trying very hard to control myself coz I am cold and shaking pitifully, my hands are throbbing from the canning and my brain is withholding all the obscenities that I want to scream at this teacher.

That is also the place where girls and boys in primary school hated each other with a passion.  Teachers were notorious of placing a girl and a boy in the same desk, I guess they were aware of the rivalry that was there and thought by doing so it would help. Help my foot! It made it worse to the extent where one of us would draw a line at the middle of the desk and dare the other to cross that line. If anyone of us dared to whether intentionally or accidentally, the offended one would pounce on the other with with a vengeance and with some help from his/her "followers". Then word would leak to the teachers that we were involved in a fight and more assault would descend on the two of us.

And it is also the place where I am now on my way home from school (am about 6, 7 or  thereabout now) after a dramatic day of canning, fights, playing, stealing from a neighbouring shamba, skipping class to go watch a kung fu movie at a neighbouring shopping centre etc etc and am passing through a small forest with thin scattered wattle trees and something tells me I am not alone anymore. Before I know it, my eyes fall on some couple naked up to the waste doing "nasty things" to/with each other (to me am thinking they are either fighting or killing each other). So I run in the opposite direction to call for help and enters into the nearest home and narrate what I have seen. At this point I have found not just the woman of the house but other women friends who had visited her to gossip about their mean and insensitive husbands. The women follow me in a panic and when we all arrive at the scene the women cannot believe what they are seeing and orders me to leave immediately, at the same time screaming at the couple to get up and leave.  The couple is so shaken and embarrassed from being caught and scatter away like rabbits being preyed on. Some weeks later I hear some story about the same couple going to the same forest to "fight and kill each other again" and the chick gets bitten by a snake during the exercise but doesn't realize how serious it is. By the time she is being taken to the hospital, the poison has spread way too much in her system and she eventually gives up her ghosts.

Well, that is the kind of environment I lived in though there were actually good stuff too about the place, e.g. kids from this side of the valley and kids from the other side of the valley would invite each other and find a common ground to play until dusk, or having mock weddings and insisting on "invited guests only" or dressing my younger brother in my clothes and pretending he is my sister, I know what you must be thinking, but forgive me, I mean he had this baby face and easily passed as a girl until my mother would arrive and hell would then break loose (I am the only female sibling among four boys), or cooking ugali with mud and sukuma with grass and serving it to our grandpa who would roar with laughter and appreciation (miss you grandpa RIP) or even make raggy dolls all by ourselves and knit sweaters for them (dont ask me how we learnt how to knit at such tender ages).

For this and more look out for my posts, will also feature about my life in boarding school I was later taken coz my parents got the scare that I was too much of a tom boy and that was not good for their only daughter. This is a part you dont want to miss.

Remember, when its real, you cant walk away.

Jenwaki