REJECTION BY DESIGN

In the beginning

I was born in March 1980 in Nairobi, Kenya. My earliest memory is from the age of 5. We lived in an apartment block in a small suburb of Nairobi called Banana. What a funky name, right! I lived there with my two brothers Ronny and Bobby and my mom. We lived in a 2 bedroomed apartment on the third floor. Occasionally, my dad used to showed up unannounced. And when he did show up he stank of alcohol, slurred in his speech. He never really stayed for long.

My earliest memories are were childhood adventures coupled with struggles in innocent guise. At the age of 5 to 6, I used to walk to and from the kindergarten with my younger brother Ronny to the. During those days it was normal for kids that young to have some responsibilities which would currently be considered as adult responsibilities. Simply because it is a way to promote teamwork within the family . 

My mother worked for an insurance company in the city. She we would commute daily. The relationship between my mum and dad was always tense and quarrelsome for the majority of the time. Mainly due to my father's heavy drinking and lack of financial support. Occasionally when my dad was drunk they were physical and abusive. She was basically a single parent by the sporadic default occurrence of the man that was my father. I never knew the guy enough to care! My mother had struggles from all angles; low incomes, lack of support from my father, parenthood and much more.

As a result of our family's circumstances. The had a number of nannies sometimes aunts or uncles who would be on hand to look after us. Some of the nannies left suddenly without any notice and a few were unscrupulous individuals. I really enjoyed when uncles or aunts would stay.

It was around this time that I my mom was introduced to Jehovahs Witnesses. A time that she was struggling financially to raise four children single handedly. She started studying with them and eventually got baptised. Now I find this really strange! All of my mothers side of the family are devout Catholics. Therefore , in order to be recognised as a Jehovah's Witness member. She had to denounce her membership to the catholic denomination. Leaving the catholic denomination,was despised by a number of relatives.