How my Hawking Stint in Kibera slum ended.

The houses bowed together ominously as if conniving in a secret deal. The little lane between them was littered with garbage.....

During the just concluded long holidays I tried to venture into small scale business to supplement my college pocket money. My bid to gain white collar employment hit a snug. Being idle at home I thought of hawking household items around estates in Nairobi.

With little savings, I rented an improvised cart attached cart attached with wire mesh. Most goods were displayed on the mesh as I moved from door to door selling my wares. Mostly I was accompanied by my two best friends Ken Korir and Joseph Wachira.

My stint with hawking though ended prematurely a month ago when I met conmen.

As I recollect, raising early and leaving my friends behind was my first mistake as there was no one to offer security. It was a beautiful Saturday as the freshness of the dawn replaced the stale night in Kosovo area of the sprawling Kibera region.

As the morn bustle and chatter chased the clinging night I arranged my wares in anticipation of a great sale. After few sales I ventured into a lonely stretch n the estate.

The houses bowed together ominously as if conniving in a secret deal. The little lane between them was littered with garbage. Ducks and pigs had a free rein in rummaging through the open sewers. I rang my bicycle bell and called out my wares.

“Thermos! Aiyaah! sufuria! Pegs! Thermos!” Cling. Cling “Sema bei kuuliza ni bure” (It’s free to ask the price, just talk)

My calls attracted a group of youths playing a game of draught and idling next to a forlorn looking scrap of a Peugeot station wagon. One, the oldest with a grizzly beard like a coconut husk called on me.

“niaje boyee (hi buddy) what do you sell?” he asked in a creaky jovial voice.

“I have the best thermos, sufuria set, spoons, knife……” I offered and realized that the all crew was attentive.

“Mama Ciku needed a thermo flask” offered a youth.

From inside a nearby dark hovel Mama Ciku confirmed the request and asked for a 1.8 liter flask.

A small boy was sent to take the flask and he dashed away into the dark house.
I murmured a silent prayer as my heart pounded with expectations.

The business spirit with a knack of a salesman bit and I quickly offered four sets of sufuria. After haggling with the youth with the grizzly beard, we settled on a price of Ksh. 850 in Mama Ciku was to take the thermos.

“I know she will love the offer, the flak was beautiful” Sid the ring leader as I parted way with the sufurias, another boy dashed in the dark house, with the sufurias in tow.

I murmured a silent prayer, again.

After ten minutes I started to get restless since the boys hadn’t come out. I pleasantly told the spokesman to tell Mama Ciku, the voice, to pay me for I need to go. I was assured of the pay and told to be patient.

Fifteen minutes later I got anxious as ideas of being conned played in my mind. I rubbed the thought off because of the good nurture of my customer.

Meanwhile the erstwhile attentive troupe ignored me and continued playing draught indifferently. I observed I could better have been Skinner, the invincible man. By now, a little alarmed I insisted on the pay.

Smiling sarcastically the coconut husk face said “I will go check on what is delaying your pay, just relax I will be back.”

To be sincere he left the draught game halfway and went in the shack. It was the last time I saw a beard which looked like it has been shaved by shears.

Now I became panicked and alarmed, I told the rest that I wanted my pay. When I got adamant about getting my business money back they resorted to ignoring me completely.

“unabore kizee, jipange ndani umsake huyo boi ukamdai, na upunguza pang’ang’a (You are a vexation, go in after the boy and stop being a nuisance)” someone told me irritably in sheng.

It was then that it dawn on me that have been conned plain and simple. I was fixed before a charging train on a bridge over cliff. Going after my pay, I had the risk of I being mugged and I would surely kiss my unattended ware goodbye.

Sweat trickled on my back and the shirt stuck on me like a second skin. I felt a jab and choked in emotions of hopelessness. As I turned away dejected the motley crew burst out in a mirthless laughter.

“Anytime you’re welcomed back and thanks a lot.” Someone called amid the din. I didn’t acknowledge it. I walked away pretending not to hear.

*Sufuria- Swahili for cooking pan

Somalia Pm Resigns, Presidents’ pleas to UN: The World needs to Act



Al Shabaab fighters in Somalia, they are a security risk to the Horn of Africa

 Somalia president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed plea for more international support to help root out insurgents in his country clearly shows fears of radical islamists not only in Somalia but also globally. Speaking at the 65^th UN council meeting in New York observed the threat in the region which also forced local leaders like Kenyan Mwai Kibaki to request more troops.

Mr. Sharif who took office on January last year is yet to establish a stable Government that would bring opposition groups on board. In a bad twist of events the Prime Minister Sharmarke had to resign following a controversy with the president over the new constitution.

Mr. Sharmarke whose father was killed in 1960 coup of Said Barre, worked with the UN in DRC making his resignation a big blow which automatically rescind the all cabinet.

This contention can make the government whose mandate ends next year to have nothing to show of if the constitution stalls

The world need to watch and come to Somalia aid to bring order since the problem of Somalia is three fold, and doesn’t only affect Somalia but also the horn of Africa and the world at large.

First, the influx of foreign mujahedeen in Somalia affiliated to worldwide terrorist network Al Qaeda has most causality in innocent citizens.

Since the fall of central governance in early ’90 the number of Somalis living in asylum is high, the ones remaining feel the full brunt of the conflict either in conflict zones or refugee camps.

Secondly, Somalia is a neighbor whose problems have uncanny ability of spilling over the border. The lawlessness offers a putrid ground for islamists to strike neighbors.

 “Today, as this assembly convenes, the security situation in Somalia continue to deteriorate and threaten peace and stability across the entire region” Kibaki observed in the UN summit.

The 11^th July bombing in Kampala which claimed 70 lives was orchestrated by the Al shabaab militants moving easily through Kenya.  Additionally, the 1998 Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombing masterminds find a safe haven in Somalia.

Lastly, the world navies are trying to curb the piracy menace at the Gulf of Aden, this week a Greek operated ship with 12 Ukrainian crew was hijacked off the waters sailing to Mauritius. Sadly the world super powers presence seem not to deter the pirates on this important water way. Last year 197 incidents were reported on the waters.

The foreign fighter training in Somalia acquire the guerilla tactics and al Qaeda network which will eventually culminate to terrorism in their countries, that is if you consider Somalis living in diaspora heading back home to fight.

This is why when PM Sharmarke resigns and regional leaders in the region cry of Somalia crisis as an agenda in Kampala’s AU summit and New York 65^th UN council, I have to be worried as an EASt African.