First of all,Fridays are officially my most inspired days. Just putting it out there.
Part 2.
We are a peculiar lot! Kenyans! Why I reiterate this point? It just started raining,after weeks of clouds teasing. Time to trade in the sandals for gumboots! I can imagine all the people whom the rain has caught offguard. Fortunately enough I am safe from the unexpected visitor. A lot of us curse when these unpredictable rains pour on the one day we left our umbrellas,wore our bright coloured vetements etc. Even worse,at the onset of rains it’s as though cars germinate on the roads,marking the beginning of traffic jams that extend well into the night,ruining our Friday evening plans. Dare I mention the mud that’s gonna be come tomorrow morning?
This is particularly so in Nairobi. I imagine the number of curses that go on upwards to the sky. If the clouds cared for what people thought of them,Nairobi would never see a drop of rain! Lol. Here’s what I wonder though, is it that we prefer dust to mud? Because,in Nairobi it is an either-or situation with the two. For the past two years I have lived next to bypasses in this city,so I am well familiar with the two siblings:vumbi na matope. Moved houses a couple of months ago,and in some twisted fate, I live right next to a bypass,yet again. I have digested copious amounts of dust in my day!
I wanna understand this simple fact. Is it that we prefer the dust? We have given up on the authorities and their responsibility to make good roads and sidewalks. I used to write to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority almost weekly,trying to seek an answer as to when these bypasses would be completed,putting an end to the nuisance of excited drivers leaving storms of dust behind! I mean,they’ve avoided major traffic on the main roads,so why not show that excitement by inconveniencing anything and anyone along their path?! What does it matter if the road’s only worsened due to erosion? Si they’ll just purchase new shocks for their cars…or not…or hustle to buy a 4×4 car?!
What is the matter with us?! Our problem-solving techniques are so warped,it’s almost hilarious. Are we ok with brown trees and dust-filled air to breathe? Not even Nairobi’s most ‘posh’ suburbs are exempt! I dare not think about all the exhaust fumes from the grossly unserviced cars on Nairobi’s roads that make up the oxygen we take in on a daily!
Again I ask,what in the world is wrong with us? We hate the systems,yet we hardly try to keep them accountable, at the very least by voting in sensible people to run them. One of these days we have to realize that the weight of it all is borne by us at the end of the day. I still write to KURA. Their faux promises come coated with the sweetest words. I am only but one person. Sometimes I am ready to pack up and leave altogether…but since Nataka Kuwa Mkenya, I swallow my pride and put away that resolve. Running from the problem never did solve it.
Food for thought,lovely Kenyans. What are our problem-solving techniques and how effective are they?
