My Lusaka

A city tale

A City TaleLike finding an oasis in a desert land, so my life felt when I met this girl. She wasn't your average Lusaka girl who puts on makeup and dresses fancy to feel good about herself. She was authentic, real, and preserved. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with putting on makeup or dressing to kill as our slay queens call it, but I've always found inner beauty more appealing."There really is a lot to like about this city Chimani, trust me, and I don't just mean the beautiful high rise buildings and the amazing lights at night. I mean the people themselves. Just give it a chance." This was the third time this week I was trying to convince this girl I had met 9 months ago not to leave the city.You'd think that everyone in the country would want a life in Lusaka, but it seemed like this wasn't the case for Chimani. In the past few months we had been talking, she told me how she had big dreams for her life, and the hustle and bustle of a Lusaka life wasn't what she accounted for a dream come true. Quiet an unconventional way of thinking, but I liked it."You've grown up in Lusaka Sai, you don't know the peace and serenity that lies outside this city. Besides this place is also very dirty, I don't know what you people even see." Said Chimani on one of our late-night calls."Chimani, are you saying that Lusaka isn't even half as good as you thought it would be? Can you compare it to farmlands you came from" I responded jokingly."Don't get me wrong, Lusaka is an amazing city. There is so much life here. The eating places are great, the malls are always so busy and the traffic, yoh! I've never seen this many cars in my life. But after all, that what next Sai? I've been here for 3 years now, and I haven't done anything for myself. My uncle is always telling me to stay home with the kids all day, yet his wife does nothing but press her phone and take pictures of herself. Is this the life that I left my parents' farm for? My experience here has been contrary to the stories my uncle would tell us when he visited the farm. He made Lusaka sound like a place where all dreamscome true, no wonder my father sent me to come and live with him. Now every time papa calls, I have to pretend that everything is okay..."