I don't know when exactly, I suppose I started noticing my impatience and inadequate tolerance for monotony about six years ago. And gradually as the years passed it became more important to me. I am constantly aching for a transformation, however tiny, of all dimensions of life. I'm not the guy I used to be. I think people can see it on my face.
Sometimes I catch myself trying to remember the last time I had meaningful contact with another person. It gives me a needy feeling. The need for self-reinvention. I feel like I want to start my life over again. So far I have been a rebellious teenager, unfocussed student, drug junky, struggling musician, heartbroken poet, hopeless romantic, and ... A shoe-shiner! And not necessarily in that order. I can't be this empty anymore.
[GUNSHOTS!!!]
Down. By the bullet. Gone, gone! I've lost more friends to these extra-judicial killings than I would love to count. For this particular reason, the sound of gunshots gives me chills in the stomach. Mind you, when I say that bullet sounds give me chills, that's the understatement for, "They quake my entire spine column!"
Many young men my age have perfected the art of 'Snatch and flee, catch me if you can!' It's the way of life here. What you love today, you lose tomorrow; if you catch my drift. You can't fight the urge to stand in awe at the predictability of this cycle. From poverty, to crime, to extra-judicial killings. It's like a merry-go-round. Who is left to heal society? It is a soul that needs surgery!
That said, with all these coins in my hand, I can only give just about enough change, today. No pun intended!
~Wyban Mwangi.
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Slum Story
SachbücherThe daily life and struggles of youth living in contemporary urban slums is told, through the eyes of a young shoe-shiner living in Mathare, Nairobi. This revolves around joblessness hence poverty, crime and police brutality. How can society salvage...
