Nairobi ni shamba la mawe. There goes your favorite saying everytime the going gets tough. You definitely can’t help but agree with that little voice that keeps reminding you that indeed, Nairobi is not an easy place to reside. It always props up at those times when: Caro “ate your fare”, now you are looking for her and can’t locate her, your boss hasn’t paid your salary in two years and his excuse is always vumilia kidogo tu ni serikali haijatulipa, Jayden (with a double e and single I somewhere in his esteemed name) has a side chick, two baby mothers and two children who call him daddy (no pun intended), your beloved hasn’t sent you a good morning text and now he or she has to ghost you because they “can’t tolerate drama in their lives at this point”, Offset( whose real name is Kinuthia) woke up to an M-pesa balance -Ksh7,000 and payday was yesterday.
The cycle is endless and now you are stuck between the rock and the hard place. Who is to be the scapegoat? Nairobi, the people or you? Nairobi: a place of cool waters and cool people. Waters so colorful yet so deep. Some people get to drink the purest waters of this place both literally and figuratively. There are others whose survival is the skill set to attain the purest waters. “Macartel”, who apparently are everywhere. Including you, who is using Supernova to get the latest pirated movies for free or how did you get into that concert without a ticket? Job hand-outs based on connections and when your friend asked you how you got it, the instant response was “Ni God manze”. Utaonaje ufalme wa Mungu na uliharibu macho na bangi.
Either way, Life happens to the best of us and to everyone. Nairobi is still a land of opportunities whether opportunities come easy to you or they don’t, life still happens. There, right there is the beauty of the city. The fact that life will happen whether you are averse to the people in the city or okay with the motions of the city. Whether you prefer the fast paced life or not, life will definitely have to keep on moving. Breathe life everywhere you go. You don’t have to do the most: a kind smile to the person who waved at you by mistake, a prayer to the thief in Githurai who stole your iPhone X through the window, make somebody laugh today for free, trust me they needed it. A polite thank you to that nduthi gang at the corner who shouted msupa! inakaa fiti leo! A “sorry I’ll be late today” to your boss and a loving meal to that “Master” you are dating for convenience. Finally, send that short story to manenoz, we need the power of and from community.
Life still is because you are. Whether you woke up to the pain of a hangover and a break up text saying Brayo you need to get your life in order or Kamau has his residents evicted in two weeks because his building is below the quality standard and he can’t sustain Makanjo. Life still is because you are alive, full of heart and love. Don’t let the sun catch you crying and always remember roho si ya makasiriko, ni ya kuskuma damu. Bones still dance because they have life. Live bones never die!
Manenoz 
Mahn I’m in love with this style of writing….it’s calming, reassuring yet it’s still still content. I could have bypassed it but mahn I just thank the supernaturals-not-in-space for letting me read through it. And whoever said that superior beings live outside earth has questions to answer. I mean, why then do we always think of outside earth whenever superior beings are brought into play??
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