It was a bright sunny day, the sun shone extravagantly on all of God’s grandiose creation; the birds were singing lovely mellow tunes that echoed across the entire cosmos. It was a beautiful day. In a little known hospital somewhere in the land that Winston Churchill famously called the Pearl of Africa, a bouncing baby boy was born, his first gasp of air filled his frail little lungs with excitement as he cried out as if to announce his grand entrance into the universe.
That little boy stands before you 24 years later to metaphorically break the ice.
The last of four children, it was quite surprising, infact puzzling to find out that the biological distance between my three siblings was at most 2 years, however between me and the nearest sibling, stood not 1,not 2,not 3 but a staggering 8 years of inactivity, surely this was no coincidence. As is often the case with some families, some things are just not, planned for and as such I was rightfully labelled Tashobya which in my mother tongue means God’s work is never erroneous because he doesn’t make mistakes and consequently I was not as a result of an unplanned nocturnal adventure but the product of God’s timely dispensation.
Crawling around in my diapers with siblings old enough to use me as a soccer ball was no easy task because believe you me, I became a source of entertainment for my older brothers who figured that it was more interesting to kick around a ball that could make some sort of sound.
I grew fast and quick and sought solace in my school mates. The formative years of school were nothing but bliss as we ran helter-skelter and played from dusk till dawn. The number of people beating me in the name of discipline increased exponentially since now it appeared to me that between my school and home, there seemed a grand conspiracy to reduce the size of my sitting equipment and fine tune my audio receptors as if I was partially deaf.
As the beatings increased, I toughened, my skin became taut and almost totally oblivious of the pain inflicted by the sticks and sometimes stones. It was fun. I really miss it.
Boarding life came as a much anticipated relief and break from the humdrum of school-home, home-school and with it came a refreshing sense of freedom like never before. I was thrown into the deep end of a Seventh Day Adventist Institution that among many other things taught me that Saturday was the day of rest. This I found quite exciting because it meant that the weekend started early no classes Friday afternoon, songs of praise and worship in the evening and a serene, calm almost heavenly ambience that ensured that we all rested regardless of class, denomination or urgency of exam preparation. It was fun, I miss it.
The years went by pretty fast, O-Levels done, A-levels came first and silent, 2 years to digest why Napoleon and Hitler should have lived long enough to be punished. I could not fathom why on earth they had us studying about dead unpopular men but this I was not at liberty to decide so it was while here that I developed a voracious appetite for the written word and this held me in good stead as I traversed the country debating, arguing and trying to convince everyone why I am right and they are wrong.
As if on cue, I was sent packing to the one place where I could meet like-minded people who were bent on telling me why they are right and I am wrong. Suffice to say that battle still dwells on.
I studied, wrote and travelled extensively. I went to Lowood to meet the gracious Helen Burns, went to Thornfield to have tea at Rochester’s palatial abode and flew to Ireland to meet Peter the mayor and his effervescent brother Dr. Stockman, a true friend of the people. I went to West Africa where I met Ousmene Sembene as he fought for God’s little bits of wood. I travelled far and wide and on one of my many expeditions, I met a very famous Kenyan writer who had this to say to me, “When a bird in flight grows weary, it perches on the nearest branch.” And to honour him for this wonderful observation, I decided to perch here in Nairobi where I have been for the last 2 months working with the Agakhan University.