It’s been a while since I showed up on these shores. I don’t know what it was that kept me away but I do know I have missed you guys.
I have wanted to share so much with you; take up a little space in your inboxes and hope you will find value.
For example, the other day I was heading towards the CBD. I was about to flag down a tuktuk when I saw one parked a few feet from me. The driver, a young man, was peeling a banana which I assumed he had just purchased from the fruit seller parked with his cart next to us.
I was about to ask if he was waiting to pick someone when I saw him calmly, unapologetically throw the banana peel down on the pavement.
I debated whether I should say something to him or even take his vehicle.
Urgency won and there I was being ferried to my destination. He was pleasant enough and dropped me off exactly where I had asked.
As I alighted and paid him, he thanked me.
And that is when I pounced on him.
“Kijana, ” I began. “I saw you deposit that banana peel on that pavement.”
To say he looked shocked, puzzled and sheepish would be an understatement. You would think I had accused him of transporting hard drugs.
But it made me happy- his look did.
Because it made me realise that he was aware of his “crime.”
If he was aware that littering showed a disrespect for our city, our health standards and himself then perhaps next time he will think twice before using the sidewalk as his dustbin.
Now I know some might say “but Mombasa is already garbage filled what difference does it make?”
Ahh, but if I hold on to my empty plastic water bottle and you to your kachri packet and him to the banana peel until we reach a place we can safely dispose of it imagine what a cleaner place this town would be.
And then there is our young ones. They are watching. Remember, they will imitate what we do; not what we tell them they should do.
On this very same day while I was headed to town we had to slow down as we reached a famous place near the cemetery where you can buy goats. For those unfamiliar with Mombasa- yep! You can buy breathing living goats right in the center of town.
There ought to be a special place in jail for people who are cruel to animals. It pains me even to write about it. A man- and I am going to go out on a limb here and assume he was sane- was tugging a goat by a rope tied around the poor goat’s neck. Its eyes were bulging out it was almost choking.
Another had a ‘fimbo’ he was using to keep the other animals coralled.
I was beyond furious and I remarked to the tuktuk driver that your character, your integrity as a human being comes through loud and clear in how you treat “lesser” creatures.
I have lost count of the number of times I have had to shout and chide young children who were mercilessly taunting and beating cats. And how, dressed the way I do in head to toe black with only my eyes visible, I have stood in the path of men and chastise them for showing cruelty – and in public, to goats and sheep. It saddened me no end that no-one else, at the time at least, saw it fit to call out that behavior.
So after I gave an earful to the young tuktuk driver I headed home.
Two young ladies were coming down the incline while I was going up.
I like greeting people.
I find passing by someone or a group of people and not acknowledging them to be rude and cold.
Finding out that the Sunnah of our Prophet may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him is to greet those you know and those you don’t made me even more determined to keep at it.
I have made friends of strangers by greeting them as we regularly, on a daily basis, pass one another on our way to work.
Not everyone returns my greetings. Not everyone even looks in my direction. Not everyone looks at me with civility. Some have even assumed I want to ask them for money.
These two ladies ran their eyes up and down my frame and I guess found me not worthy of their reply. One actually sneered and went back to her phone.
I have been told :”why do you even bother?” after they see the scowl i get after I give my salaams.
I say: “well, I have my earned my reward anyway so win-win.”
So what am I saying here, today, after being AWOL for so long?
Doing the right thing matters.
Every little thing matters. Your compassion matters. Your greetings matter.
Your outrage matters. Your speaking up matters. Holding on to your chewing gum until you can find somewhere to throw it matters.
Little things add up.
If I try and you try and they try just imagine. Just imagine what kind of world we will be building for ourselves and our children.
And just imagine how good that is going to feel.
Photo Courtesy of Unsplash.