In the midst of the frenetic chaos due to the marauding Coronavirus, I\u2019ve had my heart heavy with guilt.<\/p>\n
That rarely happens. A similar feeling befell me once in a matatu<\/em>, to town. Am sitting on the first seat, next to the door. It\u2019s a semi dark 14-seater van – as loud as they come. There\u2019s a young lady sitting in front – passenger seat – next to the driver. She has a bare elbow on the open window frame.<\/p>\n It\u2019s early, and as chilly as a witch\u2019s tit. To add pepper to an already peppered sauce, chilly wind is blasting through at a hundred miles an hour, straight to my face. (Rongai matatus\u2019 hardly follow the standard Michuki rules).<\/em><\/p>\n I lean forward and tap the young lady, on the shoulder. She has earphones on. I need that window wound up, lest my modest foundation is blown dry off my face. Or, Lord Almighty, chip my Rihanna lipstick.<\/p>\n Aside: Dear reader, how does someone use earphones in a matatu<\/em> blasting thousands of decibels?<\/p>\n Anyways, she ignores my tap. I lean forward and shout in her ear: CLOSE THE WINDOW! She flinches like a girl does at the sight of a roach, but ignores.<\/p>\n I tap her again, on the alternate shoulder. She doesn\u2019t look up – but thrusts a note in my direction, and holds. In the dim light, I can faintly see a crisp 500 shilling note. She had mistaken my tap on the shoulder as the Kenyan Conductor-Speak<\/em> for \u2018Pay up!\u2019<\/p>\n I do three things in perfect sequence: Take the note. Settle back on the seat. Look around. Half the load is napping, or scrolling their phones. I beckon the conductor (who\u2019s mostly hanging half-out of the vehicle) <\/em>to make a stop. I alight.<\/p>\n Most people riding high on the moral ladder wouldn\u2019t have taken the Kes.500 note. But in my case:<\/p>\n The guilt had almost killed me that week. I kept reminding myself just<\/em> how mean the lady had been – I mean, she hadn\u2019t cared if I went down with pneumonia.<\/p>\n Well, I\u2019ve since taken a fairly huge slice of street charity to atone for it.<\/p>\n This week, though, I\u2019ve been guilty for the indifferent manner I\u2019ve been treating Mama Mboga<\/em>. She deserves better. She\u2019s been instrumental in my survival journey as I make do in this city.<\/p>\n Each morning at 5am, I pick hot Mandazi<\/em> from her stand. Sometimes, I don\u2019t even pay. Every other evening, I pick assorted boiled foods – Githeri<\/em>, beans, Nduma<\/em> – then grab some veggies. Sometimes, she\u2019d be at her stand at 11pm, to feed our drunken bums.<\/p>\n She has aligned herself for the fight against Coronavirus. Other than scolding us to heaven-come to wash our hands at the stand, she declines cash. She prefers that we send money direct to her Co-op Bank account. She adds that it\u2019s free!<\/p>\n I sent money from M-Pesa straight to her Co-op Bank account at NO CHARGE using the Paybill number 400200. I thought its empty talk, but, yes, its free! It’s then that I got to know her real name.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the source of my guilt.<\/p>\n Mama Mboga<\/em> is actually Rosemary. Just like my mum in the village. All these years, I haven\u2019t known her real name! Ain\u2019t that incredibly messed up?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the midst of the frenetic chaos due to the marauding Coronavirus, I\u2019ve had my heart heavy with guilt. That rarely happens. A similar feeling befell me once in a matatu, to town. Am sitting on the first seat, next to the door. It\u2019s a semi dark 14-seater van – as loud as they come. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6067,"featured_media":128701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114483],"tags":[100714,107380,122393,119219,122018],"class_list":["post-128700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sponsored-content","tag-coopbankenya","tag-cooppesalink","tag-coop-bank-news","tag-coop-visa-card-news","tag-corona-virus-in-kenya-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\n