Skip to main content

No hurry in Africa

They must be kidding, or maybe they contracted jungle fever. I do not understand it. There is no hurry in Africa. What Africa are they talking about? Maybe they are right, no one in Africa is in a hurry to handover power.

He was sited next to me. At the time, I was quite excited of the Huawei IDEOS phone, my first experience to own and play with the Android mobile phone operating system. I was seated just behind the drivers compartment and the engine of the Nissan 14 seater matatu, playing Angry Birds on my phone. On my left, he sandwiched me, a paper bag on his lap, next to the window, while she sat on left, next to the door. To have more space , I had lifted my feet and stepped on the top of the engine.

We alighted from the matatu in a hurry, it had stopped on the road, just on the entrance to the bus station, yet the entrance and most of the bus station was clear. They  could have dropped us off inside the bus station, but that was the past. My main concern was to cross the road  in a hurry before City Council of Nairobi askaris apprehend me for alighting in a non designated area. I had barely crossed the road when it hit me, my pocket was lighter. I was sure I had not left it at the office. I slowed down as I debated whether there was any point going back to look back for it. 


I had been in a hurry , I had jumped onto the next matatu without walking to the bus stop which was almost a kilometre up the hill. Near the Aga Khan Hospital, the matatu got stopped by a police officer, the driver, in a hurry, had picked up passengers on the road, and not the bus stop. We had to alight and catch another matatu to town.

A tout was calling for passengers to board  his matatu, and he only needed one more, me. The space was on a seat behind the engine. He asked the girl seated next to the guy with the paper bag to  switch seats so that I could be sandwiched between them, the girl was alighting soon. As I played with my phone, I had noticed the guy on my left exchange phones with the guy behind me. The girl  had alighted at the bus stop. That is why I was not surprised that I could not trace the matatu I had come in. It had been a setup. 3 men had made a quick Ksh 1700, a leather wallet and my identification documents. Probably the girl  was one of them , or she too had been a victim of a hurried back.

The next time, he was running next to the matatu as it went round the round about. He pushed open the window, but it took longer. He lashed out my hand, but all he grabbed was my wrist. I had heard him opening the window and the phone had moved the phone to my other hand. The matatu sped off, a missed opportunity to snatch a phone off a moving vehicle and make another quick buck.

This time round it was closer. She stood looking down, waiting for me to pay her dues for doing my laundry. I pretended to look for the money, but I knew it had been in one of the trousers in the laundry. It was not in the trousers, I had checked. Then I asked her. She admitted taking the money, her full dues, and pretended that she was actually asking for more - the clothes had been more than the usual. I wondered whether she had done it before, whether it was a reaffirmation of the thoughts on some Mondays when I was sure that I could not account for some money over the weekend. She lost her job, in a hurry to make a quick buck, which I suspected her husband demanded a share of.

Today it happened, well, it happens every day to many other people in Nairobi. A driver had stopped at the round about, but decided that the approaching vehicles were a bit slow, and gunned for the exit. The result- a collision with an oncoming vehicle that the driver could not see. Now they have to spend time at the scene, the time that they were trying to save. The blocked lanes would now result in traffic pile up.

Reminded me of last week when I had looked up from the novel I was reading to see that the road was clear. I was therefore surprised when the driver immediately stepped on the brakes. I was more than shocked as I watched a saloon car swerve by, driving on the wrong side of the road at high speed. As policemen tried to catch up with the vehicle on foot, the driver hit a pedestrian. A mob joined the chase, as the driver soon found himself in a dead end as he could not get past oncoming vehicles, ending up in a trench. He escaped on foot as the mob set upon the passenger, who was soon rescued by police. The car itself was a different story, in less than a minute, all accessories inlcuding tires  had been vandalised off the car. Makes you wonder how fast the people of Ngara can change a vehicle's tyres. The driver had probably been in a hurry , evading traffic, but ended up injuring an innocent pedestrian and benefiting those out to make a quick buck.

Matatus will not admit that they cause traffic jams in their effort to save time by stopping on the road, rather than off the road to pick passengers.

Buildings that are being built in a hurry occasionally collapse, trapping the builders.

All this happens in Africa, where there is no hurry.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why More Kenyans are Switching To Craft Beers

Dire Straits from Bateleur is one of the most popular craft beers in Kenya. High quality ingredients mean more refined flavours I have been running an experiment for months now. Have you ever considered that you could be having a much better beer than what you had last weekend? Most people don’t think so, but the many who have undergone my experiment have found this to be the case. The experiment involved trying out craft beers, and many of my friends found that they liked beers from Bateleur better. These include Dire Straits - a medium beer,  or Bila Shaka which has higher alcohol content for those looking for a punch. Even ladies, many who confess to hate the taste of beer, have found these beers to be pleasant and even drinkable. Kenya is truly in a new beer age. 

Rather than positivity, Kenya needs to face its problems

Traffic between Thika and Nairobi as a result of Highway Bumps and reliance on the road  as the sole link between the two towns. Arguing the traffic is better than in Lagos or encouraging people to use the road earlier doesn't solve the problem A fierce debate springs up every now and then on development in Kenya, or in other developing countries. There are two schools of thought - those who argue that a lot needs to be done and what is there is barely much, and those who feel a lot of progress has been made. Those who focus on the progress will point out that at least Kenya (or another country) is better than its neighbouring or other countries in its status when it comes to some aspect such as roads, or education. While this is true, it however presents a lot of danger as we will discuss shortly.

How to Make Your Own Sparkling Water

Buying your own kit means you need to carbonate it in a fridge or freezer since Carbon Dioxide best dissolves at temperatures around zero.  I have been making my own sparkling water for about a month now.  It started with a love for carbonated water, but being appalled by the price - about KSh. 80 per 700 ml recyclable glass bottle. Sparkling water is sold as a premium drink.  This got me researching into what it really takes to make your own sparkling water. 

Why Humanity Hasn't Learned From the Covid Pandemic

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic began ravaging the world, succeeding the 1918 flu pandemic.  Many found it unbelievable that despite all the scientific progress that the world has made since 1918, from composite jets to modern healthcare to going to the moon, the world was still susceptible to a pandemic.  Ironically, some of these advancements largely played a role in the spread of the pandemic. Thousands of global flights every hour and air conditioning fanned its spread like a dry wind would in a forest fire.  There was even further disbelief in mid-2020 when it became apparent that many countries were even struggling to keep a pandemic in check. Developed countries, supposed to have the best healthcare, suffered the worst outbreaks amidst disagreements on measures such as quarantines and wearing of masks.  In yet another twist, technology advancement finally came to our rescue with the speedy development of vaccines, including the safe pioneering of never-tried-b...

Visiting Watamu

Getting to Watamu: Flight to Malindi Airport. Jambojet flies here and so do other airlines from Wilson. You'll then need a Cab to Watamu (KSh. 1,700 to KSh. 2,000 - many apps are inaccurate) or matatu just outside the airport (KSh. 100) SGR to Mombasa, then shuttle to Watamu. There are about 2 regular shuttles and they charge KSh. 1,500 to KSh. 2,000 one way  Bus to Watamu. Tahmeed and other buses operate regular schedules to Total Watamu  Drive: It's faster branching through Mariakani to Kaloleni then to Kilifi. The route through Tsavo is not any faster and has park fees. Takes 9 hours  Things to do  Beach Sunbathing : Watamu has some of the world's best beaches, with white sand. The left side from Watamu Village has a bay with shallow water during low tide,  you can wade and swim in the ocean even if you don't know how to swim! Ocean is warm in July - August but very windy. Watamu beaches have lots of seaweed but this shouldn't deter yo...