The Black Settler

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The Chief’s wife is also the Chief. She’s an office by herself. And if you whisper in the Chief’s wife’s ear, you have whispered in the Chief’s ear. But my Chief in the village has many wives so you just have to know which wife’s ear to whisper in because whispering in the wrong ear is as useful as peeing in the wind. [Better to pee against a tree, if you have to go]. There is a pecking order. The village has its rules.

I stumbled on the right wife’s ear by sheer mistake. I love Silver-Fish, fried with garlic and some browned onions and served with green traditional veggies that have spent a night or two. And a slice of lemon. I would have just said I love omena but I wanted to know what writing “Silver-Fish” feels like. Omena is also what our city children might call “baby fish.” It’s not for everyone, omena, so I understand when some folk say they don’t like the smell. I also understand those who might say it has a “sharp taste,” because, in general, you need an evolved palate to enjoy it. But my biggest grouse is when people say they can’t eat omena because it “stares at them.” Oh, for chrissake. As if omena is being very rude to them, infringing on their personal space. They feel objectified by the stares of baby fish. I never have anything to say to this group of people. I feel sorry for them.

The Chief’s wife sells omena, that’s how we met. I suspected she was the first wife because of how she carried herself around. And how she laughed, as someone who was used to having people join her in laughter. And how she liked to hold her arms akimbo, dimples forming on her elbow because she’s got thick motherly arms. She normally fries these omenas, boxes them and she puts them on a bus and I have my rider collect them on this end.

Last year I was having trouble with goats in the shamba. You don’t want to have trouble with goats. Goats are smelly, arrogant and persistent and they think they are better than humans just because they are better than sheep. They’d simply bend under my fence and cross through the shamba, eating and shitting on things at will. I think goats think they can do whatever they damn please because they taste good. I had the owner traced and I got him on the phone. I stood in the office balcony, overlooking an empty mosque below, when we spoke. This was before COVID put the kibosh on our lives. I introduced myself and said, “I’m having trouble with your goats, how can we help each other on this matter?” He is one of those people who pause before they answer. So that phone conversation was punctuated by a lot of long pauses; his. He sounded 50s, quite possibly in his 60s. Someone who wore the same old hat daily and went about testing the ground with a wooden staff, before he stepped on it. Like Moses from the Bible. Maybe he had a small limp and he kept half smoked cigarettes, wrapped in a newspaper strip, in his breast pocket. And he spat occasionally, while making a bitter face like he was disgusted at people who complain about his goats.

He asked me why I thought it was his goats that were the culprit. I said because the leader of the goats was a cocky white billy with dark legs and a loud clanging bell dangling from his neck. Isn’t that your goat, mzee? Unless I’m mistaken, and if so, you will forgive me. “Whose son are you?” he asked, because that was very relevant to this conversation. I gave him my father’s two names knowing full well he wouldn’t know him because I’m not from around that end of the pond. I’m what they call “a settler”, a black settler. I’m a “foreigner” and foreigners can’t afford to raise their voices in a land they have come to as adults. So, you tread carefully and integrate soundlessly. He mumbled something and said he’d call me back. He never did but his goats kept breaching my fence. I asked Boy – the farmhand- if he could just break one of the goat’s legs to send a message that we were serious and he laughed and said, that’s not how things work here.

One day I called the Chief’s wife over the matter of silver-fish and when hanging up mentioned to her my goat frustrations and she said, “don’t worry, my son, I will look into it.” She must have whispered something in the Chief’s ear and the Chief might have met the owner of the goat in their usual mabati den and over warm beers, asked him to be more hospitable to the foreigner. He’s not a bad boy, he must have said. And that was that. Goat problem, gone. No billy or his harem.

The Chief is a very important man in the village. He represents order. And you need him on your side. He knows all the bad boys in the village. He knows who is good with wood and who is good with metal. He knows who is selling the best charcoal. He will also offer character witnesses should you need to get someone to help you with something. He’s not only the government, he’s an elder. He has background. And Solomonic wisdom. And when you go down, you have to pay homage to him. His office is in a typical bland government compound with browned grass and a fading flag, flapping from a long pole. Abandoned old government cars sit rusting in a corner of the compound, now a home to rodents. Grass grows from the gearbox.

There are always people with creased brows sitting on a bench outside his door, waiting for an audience. There is a middle-man, his crony, who keeps order outside his door. You will see him conferring with someone who wants to see the chief before he lets them in. He’s like a quasi chief of staff, a gatekeeper. He has a swagger about him. He thinks he’s a chief, by virtue of the proximity to the office. He’s proud and can be a nuisance if you entertain him too much but you have to make him believe that he’s important and useful. Because people also whisper in his ear.

He doesn’t knock when entering the Chief’s office. He has his chair in that office. You sit in a wooden chair with a stiff back. It’s a crumpled office, smelling of old furniture and yellowing paper. On the wall is a picture of the President, the Chief’s framed picture in full regalia taken in the 70s or 80s when he was a young handsome fellow. A stack of aged files are piled up on a wooden table in the corner. A window opens to a hedged fence from which the sound of laughing children from the nearby village drifts in. There are always some two mysterious old men in woolen coats just sitting in the office silently or sometimes looking to be dozing off, their canes resting between their legs. They are the modern day Google in case the Chief needs a reference point; like to confirm whose son you are. They know everybody, those old men with rheumy eyes.

The rule of engaging the Chief is simple; don’t talk over the Chief, don’t be a smart ass, speak when spoken to, when asked if you’d like something to drink don’t ask for bottled water, this is not a bloody hotel, laugh at his jokes, avoid telling your own, and never have the last word. Also, have some money on you. When you say bye, you squeeze some folded bills in his warm, leathery palm. It’s the nature of the beast.

As soon as Uhuru gave the green-light I called the chief. When he picked up and I would hear people speaking in the background, like he was in a baraza of sorts. In shags, it’s not rude to pick up a call in church or a baraza. Also, it’s fine to have the loudest ringtone you can get on your phone, so that you hear your phone ring if it’s buried in the ground and a cow lies over it. He said, “wuod, Kendu, I’m in a small meeting. Let me call you back as soon as I conclude.” [He mostly speaks English, my Chief. It’s his authoritative tool of administration]

“Onge wach, Chief.” I said smiling. As soon as I conclude. That’s how you know who is sitting at the head of the table. The person who sits at the end of the table is the person who concludes the meeting. Do you conclude your meetings? Er? Don’t answer that now, take your time.

He called me back later in the afternoon and I filled him in that the farmhand, Boyi, was no longer with me. That I had let him go. ‘Hmmm,” he said contemplatively. He has an old throaty voice, filled with authority and wisdom, a voice suited for harambees. He said, “So finally, it’s done, right?” I said it was done. “Good, then” he said. It wasn’t good. I didn’t tell him how messy it was.

It’s messy to let someone go. Even if they are an ass. Of course it would be much easier to just say, ‘it’s not you, it’s me,” but that last worked in 1986. It’s even harder if they have children, innocent children whose fault is to have been born from a lazy and unscrupulous pair. Children really have it rough. They have no choice in who their parents are. Sometimes I see a guy skip a red light when he really doesn’t have to, when really the counter says 21 seconds left for it to turn green and he just zooms past because God forbid should he wait for 21 seconds. It will ruin all his life’s plans. I normally think, “that guy probably has children!” Anyway, Boyi’s children were simply minding their own business. They probably had breakfast and were now playing outside and here I was setting events that would get them in their Sunday Best clothes to journey off. Anyway, the only silver lining to this sad event was that it was indeed Sunday when I made that call.

You probably haven’t fired anyone but it makes you feel like a turd. I stared at his number for a second longer before I made that call. I had had four months to prepare for the call but once Boyi picked I realised I wasn’t even prepared. I wasn’t angry enough or disappointed enough. I thought I had figured out how to strike the perfect balance of firm but compassionate but that wasn’t coming out as planned. The timbre of my voice didn’t project the emotion that I wanted that call to possess. I sounded tired and hungover. I wasn’t tired, but I was slightly hungover it being a Sunday morning. I left the house and walked up towards the gate, or as I hear people say, ‘keep it moving.’

I started with a tiresome speech. I read somewhere that it’s always good to start with a compliment and I wanted to tell him that I thought he has excellent biceps. That I have been to gyms and seen many biceps but that his guns were truly something special especially because he doesn’t do dumbbell curls, he just hoes. But I forgot. Instead, I told him that we had had a good run but he had dropped the ball too many times over time, he had also stolen from me once, something I just couldn’t get over even though I had let it go but it was very evident that he wasn’t just cut for the job. Of course he was speechless.

He tried to explain things but I just kept saying, “Boyi, ni sawa, ni sawa, tumefika tamati.” [Si tamati is the end?]. He tried explaining that the flowers were fine, that the grass was growing and the trees were doing well. I said it wasn’t about grass or the trees anymore. It was about integrity – rather, I said uaminifu when I meant to say integrity. I didn’t know what integrity was in Swahili. It’s hard enough speaking swahili, now try letting someone go in it/ with it? I said I didn’t have any more imani in him, which I know is trust because I had googled some of these words before that call. I sprinkled words like starehe, jukumu, unyenyekevu, in that trite conversation and of course my all time favourite, dhamira. I realised that I’m 42-years old and I have never used the word ‘dhamira” before. If you are wondering, dhamira means conscience. I said, “Boyi, mimi sina ubaya na wewe, hakuna kitu nimekunyima hii wakati yote tumefanya kazi pamoja, na dhamira yangu iko safi kama matako ya mtoto.” (My conscience is as clean as a baby’s bum). I really wanted to clap for myself. I really should have, in hindsight.

Anyway, he contested it. Bitterly. And his wife, Evelyn, called me and I told her that I didn’t think she was a good person and told her why, giving her five reasons. She contested it. Everybody was just contesting me. Then my neighbour’s farmhand, a sneaky two-timing serpent, called me to stand as witness for Boyi. The same guy who had convinced Boyi to f*k me over. The nerve. I told him to keep his nose out of my business. Then his Boyi’s brother in law – his wife’s brother – called me and I gave him reasons why Boyi’s goose had already been cooked ages ago. And he said, “my sister has really messed this guy up. She controls him and his job. Let him stay, I will advise him to send her back to the village and so that he can remain behind and do this job well.” I said no use. The fat lady already croaked. And then his wife called again and again and then she started sending aggressive written messages in bad spelling, invoking the wrath of God on me, saying “mungu halali,” to mean I will sure be smitten by forces from heaven before the sunsets. I said it was done, please stop embarrassing yourself. She wanted to save him like she did before. but now now I knew who she was and where she hid her flying broom. Then Boyi eventually called and said gracefully, “Bosi, kama nilikukosea sana hivyo basi naomba msamaha.” I said, I was cool, “safiri salama.” And that ended was that.

I thought I’d feel relief or even some level of triumph after I let him go instead I felt a keen sense of loss and pity. There was no joy in it. The end came with no novelty, no achievement, no aplomb. I didn’t have the last laugh, it was all very humourless and draining. Fine, I won’t miss him but I didn’t feel lighter like I thought I would, instead I felt jaded as if I was carrying half his burden because after all he’s a fellow man, barely 30, two kids to feed and a complex wife who had him on a some weird leash and now he was out of a job.

Later, I secretly wished he was a prick about it. I wish he’d said, “Oh, keep your stinky job you big foreheaded, large footed jaundiced chimp. I will do better. Keep your rubbish grass that has kwashiorkor anyway, and your trees that have dwarfism and inferiority complex. They will never grow past your own IQ …come to think of it, nothing will in this half-assed shamba. Now, I have a bus to catch. I would have told you to kiss my ass, but I respect my ass.”

But he didn’t. He was all grace and shit. And that doesn’t help.

But really, the only good thing that came out of that messy situation was that I used the words “dhamira” in a sentence.

***

Registration for the Creative Writing Masterclass is still ongoing. This is sponsored by Safaricom but it’s not ati free. There is some little cost. To register please email [email protected].

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104 Comments
  1. Today I wanted the first to comment cookie but missed that boat!! So let me read and comment like a reader.

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  2. Firing people is tough…. But in this case what was your alternative? Keep on a guy who would keep stacking up offences till the Chief comes down on you? Cheer up… It never gets easier

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  3. Thank god you called on a Sunday. Imagine if you’d called on a Monday with said best Sunday clothes on a clothe line behind the semipermanent structure they’ve called home for a while, what then? You’d not have lived with yourself Biko. What with those kids standing at some bus stop with a steady stream running under their feet

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  4. And here I was thinking that omena is sardines in English. Oh well, it sure is the Queen’s language!

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  5. Things I hear! One of my relatives had a househelp who operated a thriving business from their shamba. The househelp and Boyi grew all manners of vegetables and took them to the market. My relatives had no idea until one market lady asked them how the shamba was doing and if they were aware Boyi was building using the proceeds. The firing drama that followed only rivalled Nollywood scrip writers!!

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  6. But really, the only good thing that came out of that messy situation was that I used the words “dhamira” in a sentence.

    *** dhamira yako ilikusumbua pia.
    Always a good read.

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  7. Biko! You are a patient man. I was wondering when you’d realise Boyi wasn’t gonna change. Firing is hard but you gotta put yourself first always. Stop beating yourself about it.

    One lesson I have gotten in life is that you never ever see another person’s problems if they can’t see them. You will pity, forgive etc but guess what… They will still not see they have a problem. If they do, which is a rarity, they will change and thank you and grow too.

    Please submit another article in the evening coz this one has elicited a meeeehhhh ending!

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  8. If this was me being fired and Biko drops that phenomenal ‘dhamira’ line I’d be laughing my guts out like nobody’s business…safi kama matako ya mtoto…Anyways no form of letting go is easy especially if you’ve been fired before. We all want to be better humans, considerate of fellow humans, sometimes just sometimes some humans push others too hard.

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  9. This was really fun to read even though it had a sad twist. I had moments where I was laughing out loud. I have witnessed my share of firing whether it’s a house manager or an employee.It’s never pretty but has to be done.

  10. Lesson 101: This man lost his earnings because he had a bad woman. Men be weary of the women you allow into your life. If a woman does not uplift and participate in your growth cut her loose.

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      1. “And his wife, Evelyn, called me and I told her that I didn’t think she was a good person and told her why, giving her five reasons. She contested it.”
        @Kimmy read to understand, stop running your mouth here and policing people. Her brother asked for her to be sent back to the village.

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  11. This is such a nice laid back read on a cold day.

    Also, I emailed for the masterclass gig last Tuesday. So I just wait for a response or how does it go? Let us know.

  12. Very interesting! An enjoyable read, sprinkled with a generous helping of msamiati! Surprised though you didn’t find a Swahili translation of Silver-fish for even greater effect! And yes, tamati is one of the translations for ‘the end’!
    Too bad you had to let someone go but hey, it’s nothing personal. Haven’t you once told us you have been let go at some point in your career? Are you the worse for it? I think not! May be this is the kick in the behind that Boyi needed and one day he’ll look back and thank you for it, perhaps even send you a ‘Thank you’ note and assure you it was the best favour anyone ever did to him!
    Hey, please ask the Chief’s wife to add me to her subscription list, if you don’t mind! Shukran.

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  13. Wueeeeh dhamira zangu zi safi kama matako ya mtoto and silver fish is what i have learnt today.I really look forward to speaking fluent swahili kama ya insha in primary school.

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  14. So many laughs! I love the way you write. Never tried omena before but my mouth watered as you described it :).

    1. Still, his intention to fire Boyi was safi kama matako ya mtoto. There was no ill intention as Boyi had asked for it.

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  15. I said, “Boyi, mimi sina ubaya na wewe, hakuna kitu nimekunyima hii wakati yote tumefanya kazi pamoja, na dhamira yangu iko safi kama matako ya mtoto.” The swahili has managed.

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  16. Finally biko, you fired boyi. ‘The reckoning’ arrived earlier than boyi expected. He was oblivious to the passing of time, he never realized the boat had sailed, that you were actually done with him.

    I don’t know whether I will fire someone in the near future, but if i do, I’ll have to come back and re-read this, maybe pick up some tips on how I should go about it.

  17. I think you and I have a very different opinion(s) about the village chiefs,…I feel for Boyi though,its tough out here and losing ones job isn’t making shit any less stinkier(if there’s such word).. I did an amateurish piece on our village chief some time back. https://xerophytestribune.wordpress.com/2020/05/06/in-the-era-of-the-village-chiefs/

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  18. That’s just the beginning. When you go back to the village, you will be surprised by how much he tells people you are a bad person.

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  19. Don’t feel bad Biko, you can give someone so many chances and they’ll still take it for granted. Only few won’t. I think people forget and get comfortable, me being one of them, only to realise later what an opportunity I had.
    People will forget the hundred times you were good to them when you wrong them once. Even if you had the right to. Hope he doesn’t take his next job for granted.

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  20. A quick check at Silver fish in wikipedia and i found this: “A silverfish is a small, primitive, wingless insect in the order Zygentoma. Its common name derives from the animal’s silvery light grey colour, combined with the fish-like appearance of its movements.”
    Omena is an insect wadau 🙂

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  21. Sent an email last week for the Master class but no response yet. Hoping someone will get back to me.

    Thanks very much

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  22. I have laughed so many times…. My sons are wondering what’s wrong with me…. Finally… Boyi is gone…. And you got to use dhamira… hehehe

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  23. Biko I hope you are as funny in person as you are in/on paper!
    It’s sad that it had to come to this but then he will do better in future, I hope…Boyi bye!

  24. “This was before COVID put the kibosh on our lives.”…pwahahaha..new vocabulary alert. *Googles fervently.*
    Boyi had been given a zillion chances. Okay, hyperbole much. I wouldn’t waste too much sleep worrying about him. That’s just life, and he should do better in his next jobs. Otherwise the only thing you’d have done was to consider him a charity case, and continue sending him pay for lazing about.
    About omena, it’s not the tiny eyes that put me off. It’s the bitter aftertaste and the feeling of sand grinding against my teeth. Give me bigger fish to fry or grill, like Nile perch and I will be game, but I try to avoid omena as much as possible. Some ‘so called experts’ said that it has been prepared all wrong for me, that they can win me over. Give it a shot, I said. Same old same old. No can do..yep one has to have an evolved taste for it, and I simply don’t..

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  25. Now, I have a bus to catch. I would have told you to kiss my ass, but I respect my ass.”, now if my shamba chap ever uses these words in any language or to a insinuate them he gets his job back so that I can fwaya him live….

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  26. Mikai- First WIFE.( chief’s first wife in this case -NyarKendu-
    This reminds me of the Great MARGARET OGOLA’S novel ‘The RIVER AND THE SOURCE” about chiefs wielding their powers willy nilly.
    ‎I find it amusing how the chief’s wife can influence his decision but the farmhand wife’s influence on his job is questioned..??

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  27. “wuod, Kendu, I’m in a small meeting. Let me call you back as soon as I conclude.”

    Hahaha! I read that sentence with someone’s accent.

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  28. I saw dhamira in Swahili high school set books but never knew the meaning until now.
    Thanks for elimu ya bure.

  29. I seldom eat omena. I could have any other kind of fish but it, I have to have no choice or simply be a guest somewhere they are serving. Then, I eat it because sitaki kuonekana mbaguzi kwa wenyewe.

    When should we expect the response for the Master Class?

  30. Biko, You are hillarious. I simply love you or rather, I simply love your writing skills.
    Sorry for Boyi but he laid his own death bed. His wife’s thiking is wanting. I know too well this kind that manipulates people yet they are on the wrong.

  31. Hilariously interesting. As a HR practitioner and especially during this COVID period, letting go of staff is emotionally draining. It never gets easier but has to be done when circumstances call for such choices to be made.

  32. How dare u fire person on this pandemic? ur grass won’t grow past your IQ lol I bet you think that the earth is flat too.

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  33. Dhamira has it.. Safi sana. I had a friend who would chop off all the heads of omena before cooking them just to avoid the stare!

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  34. Ha ha ha. hilarious read this. Now, let reflect on ourselves…,“Oh, keep your stinky job you big foreheaded, large footed jaundiced chimp. I will do better. Keep your rubbish grass that has kwashiorkor anyway, and your trees that have dwarfism and inferiority complex. They will never grow past your own IQ …” waah !

  35. Ha ha ha. Cant stop laughing i ati”“Oh, keep your stinky job you big foreheaded, large footed jaundiced chimp. I will do better. Keep your rubbish grass that has kwashiorkor anyway, and your trees that have dwarfism and inferiority complex. They will never grow past your own IQ…. …’ Imagine what people can say about you

  36. Late read but this article had me cracking up.. Probably because I could see my village in this article. Nice piece

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    1. Nice piece.
      I too didn’t know the meaning of the word aplomb.
      Dhamira pia, I couldn’t figure out how to put it in English or even vernacular.

  37. I’m not sure how clean a baby’s bum is, but it is smooth. So, as smooth as a baby’s bum. But why should a baby’s ass show up in a serious dismissal conversation?

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  38. Dhamira it is…..
    “mungu halali,” will sure be smitten by forces from heaven before the sunsets. LOL
    why do people do bad things to us then try and make us feel bad for firing them??

    Great read, cant wait for the next one after your trip.

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  39. “Boyi, ni sawa, ni sawa, tumefika tamati.” [Si tamati is the end?]
    Hehehe who even uses tamati in a sentence.
    Good read as usual.

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  40. This is amongst the many best pieces, laughed several times and still not sure whether Boyi left or he hunged around the village waiting for forgiveness, “dhamira yangu inanidhibitishia kuwa hakwenda popote”

  41. “…..the only silver lining to this sad event was that it was indeed Sunday when I made that call.”

    That took me all the way out! LOL

  42. I have only fired one person in my life; my house help of 5yrs. She was very good with my kids but was extremely lazy. She’d wake up at 6am make tea then go back to bed until 8am; after having breakfast she’d go outside to bask in the sun until 11am. clothes would be washed as she wished, and house cleaned on alternate days, and she’d sleep at 8pm leaving me to sweep the house before we sleep. I’m at fault for entertaining this laziness and still found it extremely difficult on the day she left. I felt sorry for her children who relied on the Ksh. 10,500 salary I paid her.
    She recently called me and I kept the conversation short and sweet. I can’t take her back!

  43. Ha ha I feel your pain Biko it is tough and there are so many two timing serpents in the village and as for Boyi so called humility they always try to guilt trip employers after misbehaving although we do need some sort of insurance to help workers survive job loss especially as social protection is non existent in Kenya

  44. You know how I know when I’m reading something good?! I usually have to stop myself and do something else because I am like, this is too good for me to read and feel all at once!! Biko, that book biko, please oh, a solid collection of these stories, two copies pre-ordered asayi 😉

  45. I am reading this in 2022, at my office desk with chest as these youngins are now saying and that dhamira line has just taken me out! I am talking shaking shoulders, tearing eyes and splattering hot cocoa if I had taken that sip I paused on to read how to use dhamira in a sentence. Wow Biko, wow!

  46. Reading this at the end of time, and across the Victoria. Just had meetings with our local Chief over land issues with our neighbour. It’s like the Ug Chief and Ke Chief were born of the same mother, right down to the office description, human Google and the wives. Except, in my case, I was the alleged culprit, accused of tearing down a man’s home out of greed for land [no such thing happened]. That neighbour – never seen a man so scared of a woman!