It is that time of the year again when all roads lead to shagz for those of us who prefer to spend this time away from the hustle of the city.
This year, I have been thinking a lot about how things have changed over time, or should I say, how I have not managed to achieve most of my childhood dreams. I grew up in Eldy where the primary economic activity was farming. Though we had several harvests of things like beans, minjis, and warus across the year, the major harvest season happened around this time of the year, when maize was harvested. You can say that this was our bonus period. Maize prices were not that good, which is something that the powers that be need to really look in to. However, the best part about this was that our parents had some loose cash on them and would buy us nguo za Christmas.
I know, this may not be something that kids born past 95 can understand because their parents buy them clothes all the time. During our childhood, clothes were only bought on special occasions. The most significant occasion was, of course, Christmas.
If your parents did not buy you new clothes for Christmas, then they did not love you enough. Or it was an indication that you were poor. For most of us, however, that was not a big deal though because we were loved enough to get nguo za Christmas. I guess this is why we grew up as well-adjusted human beings who are doing our part in making the world a great place. The ‘nguo za Christmas’ event was so huge that our parents would secretly buy us these clothes and hide them only to unleash them on THE auspicious day. The trick was to give us the impression that we were not getting new clothes only for use to be ‘surprised’ on Christmas Day.
I could also say that this ‘nguo za Christmas’ madness made us hardworking and we developed an ability to spot and seize opportunities. During the harvest season, a lot of maize and wheat would go to waste. Wheat was wasted using combined harvesters. The mechanized harvesting system was, of course not so efficient. After the combined harvester was done with the harvesting, all the village kids would invade the shamba and pick the pieces of wheat stalks that were left behind, go shell them and then sell them per gorogoro. As for maize, the mechanized system also worked in our favour. Once the shelling was done, some maize would sneak through the side that emitted empty cobs and we would go for our harvest there. The trick was to know which home was shelling its maize when and the be there when the shelling started so that we would get the fat loot before the others came. We would then dry our maize or wheat and sell it to merchants in gorogoros. At that time, a gorogoro would range between 25 bob and 30 bob. The aim was to get the most maize, make some good money and buy ourselves nguo za Christmas. This Ms Independent thing did not start with my mjengo job. Oh, by the way, we had a name for this ‘harvesting’. We called it kupiga kereiyo.
Those were good days. You can call it child labour but we never missed classes or be compelled by our parents to fend for ourselves. The more adventurous ones would even get jobs as farm labourers during the harvest season and get some good cash. I never did that mainly because Lioness forbade us from doing that.
Those were good days. Days when we knew that we were definitely getting new clothes for Christmas. We only worked to get money for new clothes, unlike now when we work to pay bills. The clothes would then be demoted to the position of Sunday best the following year until the next Christmas. Rich kids would get new clothes for Christmas and New Year.
This year, I have been feeling particularly nostalgic and I have recalled many dreamy childhood wishes. For example, I remember promising myself that when I grew up and had my own job, I would buy myself lots of nguo za Christmas. Unfortunately, these mjengo wages are just enough to pay my house rent in this Nairobi. I am definitely letting myself down. Either I am not working hard enough or I have not yet grown up.
However, I plan to ‘surprise’ myself this year like Lioness did when we were young. I want to buy nguo za Christmas and hide them in my house and then unleash them on Christmas day! Surely, I have worked so hard this year and it is only fair that I surprise myself. Pics coming soon.
Merry Christmas!
hadithicom 