TAKING OUT THE TRASH Take out the trash every Saturday, mow the lawn, help the wife with dishes etc are many of the advices that the Kenyan writer who lives in fantasy describes when talking down to us the newspaper readers. Most of the times I am left wondering if these writers have a target audience or their aim is to project the lives that we the poor would one day want to live. Majority of Kenyans live in one-roomed houses in the slums of major towns. Most of them have never stepped on a lawn expect when they were cutting grass as a form of corporal punishment in the days that the 8-4-4 system of education advocated for six strokes of the cane or corporal punishment ;or both, according to the moods of the discipline master. These poor Kenyans have to answer to questions their kids ask wondering why there is no grass and fields to play in these high rise concrete jungles. The only green the children see is the raw sewage that they have to jump over on the way to cheap public schools. After lessons in social sciences and hygiene, these pupils wonder about the services that the elected government offers Kenyans. Everyday they line up for water after mingling with eighty other kids all in the effort of looking for better days in preparation of facing a future that has already been allotted to the children of the rich people they see driving past them every day. The neighbours’ wives would view helping the wife do the dishes in the communal washing sinks that we share in these one-roomed plots with looks of shock and contempt. They have been cultured to facilitate the man as he goes out to look for food while the wife waits at home after trying several times to open a grocery kiosk. Given the rising cost of living in these towns, most of these wives are already being shipped back to ushago so that the husbands in Nairobi can share the room with a friend and split the rent. Washing the dishes here will not count as men quickly learn that it is cheaper to eat in the wooden kiosks as they whisk away the flies that may spread diseases that would mean missing a working day and subsequently get lesser pay at the end of the month. This makes them wonder about taking out the trash as in these trying times the only trash you throw out is the water you gurgle after brushing your teeth with salt since toothpaste is a luxury in these areas. Close observation shows that the garbage heaps are getting smaller and smaller as the year gets older. The sukuma wiki leaves stems that used to be thrown away are nowadays cut together to increase the vegetable and roughage intake in our children’s bodies. So talk about going to ushago during the end of the month to visit the wife for conjugal rights, then try washing the dishes with your relatives around some of whom have come to see if you can lend them a few shillings for life in the country side is hard but money grows in the trees that scarcely populate Nairobi.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 15:38:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015