Week Three, My Journey as a Diasporan

On my third fertile week, almost in a row
On what I used to call home
Am still in a curious drive mode
Studying the art of living and loving
Weighing selling malimali
Getting a job at the County office
Relying on my village mama boga
Or running a motorcycle Bodaboda
Or constructing a stream of rental houses

At the horizon stands beautiful sceneries
Of our gorgeous Chyullu Hills
A hotspot for nature lovers
The bubbling Mzima Springs
Embedded deep in Tsavo Game Park
And the rising town of Voi
Reviving decades of lost glory
When lions feasted on my grandfathers herds
After the sun downed spraying amazing rays

Socialization is as sweet as a riped-juiced mango
That might be short of my real description
Visiting a forgotten relative without prior notice
Or a friend who thought you were "dead"
The surprises are a boost to my forgotten past
Shoving me around and holding me tight
A contrast from my fifteen years a broad
Where people are distant like they dont exist
Or you are only a shower or a drizzle of rain

The currencies here, are kind of mind-boggling
Their valuesa hectic and a headache for me
Struggling to equate, a dollar and a shilling
Wondering how much is goonna be enough
The difference between 20 bob and 20 bucks
A 100 bucks is NOT, a hundred shilling at all
Its good you know, we dish out more
Smaller kobores than before, even Kumis and ishirinis
The arubaini coin...a stranger never known

Our females here, already strikes new codes
Majority wear pants, I mean tight trousers
Like in American Malls, the American way
And their pumpkin chests, mesmerized between two books
Not what I expected though, not in Kenya
Let me not get there, told not to get there
Or even talk about it, else Mungiki will love me
Coughing a word, would be unpleasantly suicidal
"Hail thou that throw the first stone", Jesus once said

Wild animals still roams aimlessly
A spot of zebras and antelopes
A clutter of hyenas complaining about hunger
Ramaging through a stinking carcass
All Sharing territories with utter
Better than their Langata neighborhood
Or Ongata Rongai, across the rough terrains
Whose quarrels and squables
Are based on tribes or their regions

Congestions in "downtown" village
A busy street with bicycles and bodabodas
A string of kiosks suspended with veggies
Organic bananas, oranges and ...........
Creating an Easter and some holiday mood
All for real with a taste of goodness
Not like Macys or Sears holiday sales
Did I mention the "hotels" lined along the roads?
Mandazi na chais tasting so real
You order for more with an extra nyongezas

Attending church services is an inhirating experience
The worshippers are real with no shred of hypocracy
The hymns and sermons tell better tales
Some about heaven or a camel and a needle
The verse about the "Simba wa Juda"
And the tragedies begotten by his families
Is told with clarity like a Cindellera version
Making one feel a little closer to Him
And even a little closer when the children sings

Hawking is a businness that is there to stay
Human kiosks a choice for the Wanjikus
With padlocks swaying on the left
Handkerchiefs and hats on front
A variety of tools suspended on the shoulders
China cups warning customers of his arrival
A legal way to elk for a holier living
Without ever thinking of breaking a bank
While Mpigs, MCAs and governors loot their sweat

The language they use to describe their merchadise
Sounds foreign I may need some help
What is "Okoa Jahazi" when I gotta no airtime?
And " Yuko Mteja" when his phone is charging
How about Bamba 20, 30 or 50
Mpesa is a success story for Kenya and Kenyans
They use their phones as wallets and handbags
With an Mpesa agent every ten to twelve feet away
Making money thieves and pickpockets alike
Hate Safaricom for srewing them up

On my first funeral of a distant relative
Sombre moods hangs and filled the air
Mourning for a soul that departed this world
Was something that gave me, a sense of belonging
I mean in the real, sense of the word
The contributions were shocking that shocked me good
A hunderd shillings there, eighty shillings there
Two hundred there, some sixty bob at the middle
My five thousand shone, the smiles of many

And the saga on Matatu is the same old, same old
Some "Beba beba," " Bado watu wawili"
Apart from the drivers, putting on plain uniforms
The mkato is the same, specially on highways
If you drived on the left, right becomes a nightmare
With three twenty four wheelers ahead of you
Highways becomes a three way lanes
The oncoming traffic creating ducking on the shoulder
A scaring moment for a ex-Motor Vehicle Administrator

Where is obvious wherever you go
From the courts to the roads with obese cops
Or at the mortuaries and the chiefs camp
Its never theChai" or "Kitu Kidogo" anymore
Or "angalia maneno ya wazee hawa mjomba
Its about "Nyama" and "Nyama" alone
A country of carnivorous with neckless men
Competing with lions and cheetars to death
Result is diabetis, gouts or coronary diseases

The culture of impunity, like a cup of tea
Greed being a great or dominant factor
It germinates and thrives, on remote environments
Its not with Kamaus, Ngilus or Chirchirs
Or the our governors or parastatal heads
Or even among last nights, LIST OF SHAME
Everybody wants a Prado, or a space at the Rundas
Without ever working, or sweating for it
Kenyans are a sick, and a rotten lot

God is for real, unlike at Majuus
Where Salvation is for some, for others is sin
Where salvation is a class, for others is a crime
With the loudest so Holy, than IdaVethi the "Saint"
That you need an endorsement, from a breed of saviors
Demeaning a sheep, that goes astray
Calling it names, and baptizing with judgement
The Lord is for thee, you Saints and the Sinners
Lets say AMEN", "mashadama ramanashaada."

By J. IdaVethi

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