Bastard

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I met him at Under The Radar restaurant where he was eating steak with his bare hands. Like an animal. Like a neanderthal man. Quirky guy with very thin eyebrows and a low forehead, he tore into the flesh, hunched forward to fully deliberate on this act that was both graphic and charming. You don’t see someone eating steak with his bare hands often. It’s the inverse of eating a burger with a fork and knife. Only much worse. He kept licking his fingers as he spoke because he was enjoying himself immensely and because he had just turned 48 and he didn’t care about norms or buttoning his shirt properly. [He had missed two buttons. Yeah, I counted]. I had already eaten but I never thought someone licking his fingers would ignite my own hunger.

When he was done demolishing his poor steak, he wiped his hands roughly on a small serviette and asked. “Where do I begin?” I said, anywhere, really.

Reaching for a toothpick, he stifled a belch with a closed fist. “I will begin with the lies my mother told me.” He said.

***

My mother told me that my father drowned in a river. That he’d travelled to the village and the river was swollen because it had rained heavily the last two days and as he crossed over a makeshift bridge he slipped and plunged into that river and he was never found. I was seven when she told me this tale. She said he had died when I was six months old.
I don’t have my father’s last name. When I was ten I asked her again what happened to my father. I asked her early in the morning when we were preparing to leave for school. It had rained outside. What she didn’t know was that rain reminded me of my father because it was rain that had somehow led to his death.

I was tying my shoelaces in the living room, she was fussing around the house, shouting at someone, rummaging through her handbag looking for God-knew-what. I said, “mom, which day of the week did my father die?” And her head jerked up from her handbag like I had sent an electric current through her. In her surprise, her mouth opened slightly, enough for a fly to pass through. I wasn’t testing her. I was a child. A curious child.

“Why?” she demanded, almost aggressively.

“Because.” I told her.

“Because what?” She barked. She looked like she was about to slap me, which wouldn’t have been weird at all because we were smacked over the head for the most minute offenses. In hindsight, I think my mom was very angry.

“Because I just want to know.” I said. I was already a bit of a smartass.

“There is nothing to know.” She mumbled, returning to her handbag. “If you are not ready by the time I’m wearing my shoes, you will remain behind in this house and do housework today.” We did not have help. My brother and I did all the household chores. We cleaned and mopped and did dishes and stuff. We learnt how to cook in lower primary. Seldomly my mom would leave for an odd weekend – for a church thing – and I would be the one to take care of my younger brother. I’d make sure he was fed and cleaned. She was always tired, my mother, raising two boys without a father.

As we stood at the bus stage that morning, she said suddenly, “I don’t know what date your father died. All I know is that he was hit by a car and he died.”

“Was he hit by a car in the river?” I asked. I wasn’t being a smartass. I was a child.

She turned and glared at me. The heat of my mom’s glare can melt plastic. “What nonsense are you asking me?” She hissed, trying not to cause a fuss at the bus stop. “Have you ever heard of anyone being hit by a car in a river? Eh? Why am I paying school fees for you to ask such questions?” Then she clicked her mouth and looked ahead, trying to kill that conversation but I was having none of it.

“But you told me he died in a river.”

“When did I tell you he died in a river?”

“When I was seven years old.” I said.

She looked at me closely, trying to remember. Obviously, she had forgotten the river story because it was a bloody lie. But kids don’t forget. They catalog these stories and keep them away.

“I must have mixed up the stories?” She looked away, suddenly disinterested in this conversation.

“So who died in the river?”

“Your uncle, Moses.”

“I had an uncle called Moses? You’ve never talked about him.”

“That’s because he’s dead.” She said with finality.

I didn’t know what to believe; did my father die in the river or was he hit by a car? I chose to believe that he’d died in the river because I didn’t want to imagine him being hit by a car. I didn’t want to imagine anyone dying like that. There was never a single picture of my father in our family albums. And we had many albums in the house; of my mom, her family and us mostly. Mom in flowery dresses and afros holding me or my brother. Mom with her siblings at a party. Mom at a teacher’s seminar, sipping a soda. Mom at a burial. Mom and her friends. Mom and her two sisters. Mom and her cousins and parents. Us as toddlers. Tonnes of pictures of myself and my brother and mom. Grainy pictures.Not one picture of my father. Not one picture of my father’s family. No paternal uncles. No paternal aunts. So I never knew what my dad looked like. I would fantasise about how he looked; big and bearded with a booming voice. Maybe he owned a loud motorbike. As I grew older, this image seemed to change. I tinkered with it at will.

My mother was a teacher. She taught at the school I went to. It was horrible. It was horrible because people made fun of me. They said my mother was a warthog because she never smiled. Yes, she never smiled but she didn’t look anything like a warthog. She went about her duties with a stern face, never one to have an amiable disposition. I guess being a single parent in the early 80s was hugely ostracising and perhaps her sternness was a defense mechanism.

If you were a student and she ran into you doing something bad, in or out of school, she’d slap you or pinch you or pick the nearest branch and cane you. These were the good old days when kids could be caned in schools. Nobody threatened to sue. She didn’t have many friends at the school. In the staffroom she’d be seated alone, head bowed, marking books while sipping tea. I avoided her in school. Whenever she’d meet me in school she’d act like she wasn’t my mother. She’d call me by my two names, like I belonged to someone else. At home she’d call me by my first name. When she was the teacher on duty for that week, as we prepared to leave the house, she’d warn me, “I will come to your class each day this week and if I find your name on the noisemakers list, I will break your arm.” One day she found my name on the noisemakers list and she broke my arm. I kid you not. My classmates were shocked. They were convinced she wasn’t my mother. I started suspecting that maybe she wasn’t my mother.

Was I shown love? Yeah. Of course. I was fed. She bought me clothes. She wouldn’t allow me to leave the house without a sweater on when it was cold. Sometimes when we were going to church she’d bend and rub my face with her saliva. Whenever there were visitors she’d let us drink soda and scones and she never shouted at us. A few times I’d find her crying in her room and I’d ask her what was wrong and she’d say, ‘you and Eddy are my world.’ Then she’d touch my face as if she was reading braille. My mother wasn’t a hugger or a toucher but she’d express her love by touching my face. I imagined that this was the greatest form of expression of love; and so when I’d grow up and become a man I would not feel the need to be hugged and touched, but I touched my woman’s face to express my deep affection. I will tell you now that I have had a long string of failed relationships. But I will come to that. Maybe.

When I got into form one, I was already 5’11” and strong. One day a boy in third form with whom I had attended primary school called me a bastard, an illegitimate child. I floored him by hitting him hard on the side of his head and creating a dent there. When my mother was called, we all sat in the headmaster’s office; me, mom, the boy with the dent on his head and his father, a well-to-do, pompous ass who wore a bowtie and glared at me like he wanted to have a go at me. It was the first time my mom stood in my corner. She told the headmaster that unless the boy could prove that I was a bastard, I was not going to do any punishment. When the boy’s father tried to defend his son my mother cut him off, ‘If you are raising a latrine mouth,” she said pointing at his son, “then do so, but I don’t want fecal matter on my son.” That was the first time I knew fecal was another word for shit. And it was yet another reminder that my mother was not scared of anyone.

But that bastard word stuck with me like a fecal smell. Bastard; an illegitimate child.

Over the holidays, because I was now knocking at manhood and craving an identity, I asked my mother if I could visit my father’s people. She said I couldn’t because he was Ugandan and Idi Amin had chased his people away and killed a lot of them. Another lie. My mother would have made a great fiction writer. But because I was almost a grown man now and I was not scared of her beating me up, I told her that she had been telling me all these stories about my father and I didn’t believe them. “I’m no longer a child,” I told her. “You can tell me the truth now.”

I remember I was doing dishes when I told her this and she was cutting meat on the kitchen counter. She turned towards me with the bloodied knife in her hand. I think she was thinking, ‘what would happen if I stabbed this boy and stopped this nonsensical interrogation once and for all?’ She then turned her back on me and continued cutting meat.

“Why do you want to know the truth now? I don’t see Eddy stressing about this like you do!” She asked evenly.

I explained that Eddy and I were different. Actually, we really were. I was taller and bigger than Eddy even though I was only two years older than him. We were both dark but our stature differentiated us. I liked the kind of contact sports that would allow me to push or headbutt someone if I had to. Eddy liked games that you played sitting on your ass, like chess. Games that involved the intellect. I once heard – from my cousins – that my father was a Luo. My mother is a Kalenjin.

“Eddy doesn’t want to know. I do.” I said, digging my heels in.

Anyway, she – while avoiding my eyes – spun a long tale about how my father had died in a ferry in Mombasa where he had gone to look for work. His body was never recovered. [So yeah, at least it was drowning]. He was Luo. His family never wanted him to marry a Kalenjin woman, etc etc. I asked her if this was the truth and the only truth. She said yes.

“Do you swear, mom?” I asked.

“Don’t be childish, we are Christians, we don’t swear.” She growled.

I asked who uncle Moses was? She asked, “who?” I said, “Uncle Moses, who slipped and fell into a swollen river?” She said she didn’t know what I was talking about.

I guess because I was dealing with my own adolescent issues, I never again broached the topic of my father. It seemed settled. He was dead. He and I didn’t share any strong connection save for perhaps, a blood group. Besides, I was battling what all teenage boys battle with; aggression, love, identity, girls, acceptance. I was an average student but a great athlete and I won a sports scholarship to go study Agriculture at the University of Delaware. My mother and Eddy saw me off. That was the first time we ever hugged her. Rather, I hugged her, she just put one limp hand on my back.

I was in America for ten years. I left behind two children, each by a different white woman. They are both men now, adding to the complication of their heritage and family tree. I told them who they are, where I come from. I told them that my own father fell and drowned in a swollen river because the ferry seemed commonplace and unAfrican. I wanted to mystify his death. I had turned into the liar my mom was.

When I turned 33-years old I had a child with a married woman. It was purely by mistake. She was 38-years old and had separated from her husband. Rather, she had moved out of her matrimonial home briefly as they sorted out their issues. She met me when she was broken and she needed reassurance. I’m not one to reassure anyone, I can tell you that. I was dealing with my own issues of unemployment and living with my mother at 33. Anyway, I touched her face and touched her breasts and the affair raged on until she got pregnant. She was already back with her husband when she got pregnant. The affair ended when I got a job and moved out of my mom’s. I didn’t want to date an older married woman when I now had many options of dating younger women with less baggage. So two years later, at 36 I think, I got this girl pregnant. She was 30. I married her. Rather, she moved in with her bags and these paper-mache models she was making for exhibitions. Yeah, an artist. I now had four children. When I finally broke up with the paper mache girl it was because of finances. She was not contributing at all to the family coffers. I was living hand to mouth, drowning in debt. We fought all the time until I left her the house with the seats and everything else. I moved back in with my mother who was greatly displeased. She said, “you are turning out like your father.”

At 41, two related life-changing things happened to me. One, Eddy, my brother fell very ill and was hospitalised. When I went to see him, lying unconscious in bed after surgery, I found a man there looking quite distraught. He was whispering with my mother. He looked like someone I’d met before but I couldn’t quite place him. My mother never introduced us. I stood there staring at him, trying to wonder where we had met until it finally dawned on me with great horror that I hadn’t met him before. Not quite. But I had met someone who looked exactly like him.

Eddy!

It turned out that he was Eddy’s father. My mother, maybe because of age and because she was tired of the secrets and lies while her son lay there dying, decided to come clean. We sat at the small gift shop that sells flowers at Aga Khan hospital and she turned my world on its head. In order to tell me the truth about Eddy’s father, she had to tell me the truth about my own father. Anyway, what’s important in this story is that my father was alive. The guy hadn’t been hit by a car. Or drowned in a river. Or died in a ferry. He was not Ugandan either. I asked her who he was and I held my breath, hoping she wouldn’t say he was Congolese because most people imagine I’m Congolese, because of my often flashy choice of clothes and love of rhumba. She said he was a Luo man. When she got pregnant he abandoned her because he wasn’t ready for marriage and he wanted to further his studies abroad. He didn’t want things tying him back at home. Things like children. “He was young, he wanted more.” She said ruefully. Besides, his parents would not allow him to bring home a Kalenjin. I asked her what he was like, my father, what kind of a man was he? “I don’t know. He was like any other 21 year old. I don’t know if he will be able to tell you how he was at 20.” She didn’t know if he was alive or dead. If he left for the US or not. If he was in the country or not. She didn’t know shit.

Because this is not Eddy’s story (he survived the health scare) I won’t get into who his father is because that’s his story to tell.

Suddenly Eddy was my step-brother and I had a real father who was living out there. Eddy never quite accepted his father. He’s the stubborn and practical type. I’m the romantic type. After his recovery, we sat down together and discussed this new development. I told him he would always be my brother. He said, ‘it matters little now. The past is irrelevant.” That’s how much he spoke of that matter. A man of few words. His own father disappeared back into the shadows he came from after realising that Eddy wasn’t keen on starting a relationship with him. Good riddance, I guess because Eddy had his own family and children. He didn’t need to start a new relationship with someone who had been missing his entire life, only to show up at his deathbed.

I, on the other hand, got onto a different tangent with this new information. Between the ages of 41 and 45 years I was looking for my father. My mother said she had not spoken to him since he had absconded parental responsibility. It felt like my whole life’s purpose was geared towards finding this man. I started off by visiting his village in a place called Kanyamwa, which I’m certain you haven’t heard of. It’s in a place called Ndhiwa which you might remember is where Joshua Ojode came from. These are places I had never heard of in my life. I didn’t speak dholuo. I didn’t have a picture of the man. I had his two names and the village he told my mother he hailed from. Off I went. On a wild goose chase.

To be continued….

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127 Comments
  1. Kids and elephants, same memory wazzup! We must be careful what we tell kids, they never forget. That’s why we shouldn’t make promises to kids that we don’t intend to keep, or lie.

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  2. I was actually sipping my tea when I read this, “She said I couldn’t because he was Ugandan and Idi Amin had chased his people away and killed a lot of them.” and nearly spat a mouthful on my laptop like that girl in the Meme!

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  3. We often underestimate the power of Family. It makes or breaks individuals. I always say that if it is the only thing one can do, then ‘Bring up a functional family’…. and to all those battling identity and family related issues, may the world be kind to you. Lets create a better society. Bring up better families when we choose to. But again, life just happens….

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  4. This is so real bana. Nowadays there are so many of such complicated/untold stories. Single parenting is what it is. Ni sawa tu borake niligrow up.

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  5. How could you leave us hanging like this Biko? I was looking forward to the hunt of the father in kanyama…..doesnt sound like a Ndhiwa name! Lesson of the day – tell your kids the truth about their dads! Killing him will not change he is the biological father! Looking forward to the continued story……

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  6. Geez! The lies made me travel too far off! I need to finish this story for my heart to settle. At 41 looking for your dad, it’s so surreal.

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  7. My mother moved in with me to a man she decided to settle with. My mom never told me anything about it. All I can remember is “From now onwards call him dad”
    My mom never liked being questioned about my father’s whereabouts. And it really hurt me. Anyway to cut the long story short, there was a time, this foster dad slapped me and called me Bastard, I have never forgotten it. Till this day, I’m trying to heal from that.
    It’s not easy outside here. It makes me ever reconsider this whole thing called marriage.
    But I’ll never question my mom’s decision but maybe, just maybe I’ll one day might want to ask. She did what she did and I’m forever grateful for this far, her tears is my strength.
    Shout out to all moms!!!!

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  8. This promises to be a great story! But the suspense, Goodness! I wish you just completed it. Anyway, looking forward!

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  9. Such stories usually leave me in a confusing state…… to tell or not to tell. I’m raising two kids with different fathers. One dead and the other not interested in his kid at all.

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  10. Ah, I had dug my heels deep into this story then I see ‘To be continued’.

    When are we continuing it Biko?

    And why is the whole story not here? Did the man refuse to finish his story until he was done with the steak? And then he never got done with the steak? Did curfew hours catch up with you two talking and you decided half a story is better than a full story and a police cell? Did any of you get a running stomach and just bolted out of there never to return? Don’t say there was an emergency calling!

    Great read regardless. I believe this is an insightful story of how the past lingers over the shoulders of families – biting them in turns.

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  11. When I spoke to my dad a few weeks before his death, he said, “I’m a world traveler now!” And my Step-mom explained they were doing online tours of countries he had never been to. He “walked” along the Canals in Venice, visited the Temples in Tokyo, The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. “We even drove down the Pacific Coast Highway!” he exclaimed! I said, “You should have told me. I would have met you in Malibu!”

    I didn’t speak to him since then up until his demise. I was getting updates from my Step-mom about how many bites of yogurt she could get him to eat. And of course I was very concerned. But I was also at peace knowing that he knew I was thinking of him, and he was incredibly strong on his own.

    We can’t truly save anyone, but ourselves. But while we are sharing this vast ocean of time, we can reach out and love one another, show respect and empathy toward our fellow humans and creatures of the universe.

    And my Dad is my Dad. And I love him! With awe and admiration for all he had to overcome in his life. For all of his graceful courage to face his particular swollen rivers. His particular monsters of the sea. And kept on swimming, as long as he could.

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  12. To be continued indeed… this guy’s mother reminded me a lot of Trevor Noah’s mother.. How exactly she came up with these stories is pure magic!!!! Thank you Biko.. it was a good read.

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  13. Now, I won’t comment on the story yet, I just have beef with the bastards who claim to be numero uno. Know what? Fuck you!!! Get a life. Be number one in something else. From all the stories you have read, the best you can do is be number one on the comments? What a waste on brain space. At the minimum aspire to be the person Biko writes about. Don’t be the footnote. Nkt!

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  14. Goooosh.. Biko I hope this story is continued next week.. I couldn’t help but laugh… And relate.. Many ladies… Very close to me.. Are living this kind of life…

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  15. Ha..haha‍♀️‍♀️‍♀️ to be continued. I hate suspense…how will I manage until next Tuesday?

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  16. It always baffled me why mothers lie about absent fathers. If a mother chooses not to be a kid’s life, they have no business protecting them.

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    1. It is not as easy as that. Many times we want to protect our children for as long as possible, from the inevitable truth that their father is uninterested in them because children often cannot process that. We believe that they will handle it better when they are older.

  17. Biko I will be waiting for the other part.

    It is bad manners to post here without permission. But anyway I dare myself.
    Please read the story.

    #Newpost: Forgiveness by rain

    Picture a guy sipping booze, on an empty stomach who then lifts his glass to clear the last shot in it to serve his thirst with the lowest of lows brew. Chang’aa. He is in a rush to leave, so he flashes the drink down the throat and starts walking home. It is somewhere in western Kenya where illicit brew is sold by the riverbanks and the madam serving has a five litre container which allows her to collect her few coins from. Save the thought of him spoiling his liver, here people soak in alcohol like that (soda is for chaps who drink distilled alcohol in the city) because drinking in a flash or in short sessions, diluted or not diluted is still a threat to your liver. Alcohol is alcohol, it is like thunder it decides when to strike so it becomes harmful when it wants.

    Read more at: https://longinuswrites.wordpress.com/2020/10/06/forgiveness-by-rain/

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  18. Well Biko, efff you maan!!! Venye tu nmeendea mzinga ya kibao kuja kupewa ma 4 1 1 you abscond your duty just like that! Are you this guys pops in diguise?

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  19. One day she found my name on the noisemakers list and she broke my arm. I kid you not.

    I just can’t understand why that cracked me up. Gaols humour maybe?

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  20. Well……
    In this story I would be Eddy…..the guy who doesn’t know who his father is….never asked….and doesn’t give a rat’s ass to find who he is or was.

    Just focused on bringing up lovely boys that make my thighs twitch from the long hours the seem to sit on them. Chao!

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  21. To be continued?? I was so emotionally invested in this story.

    Anyway, I’m refreshing this page every half hour. Whatever you do Biko, please don’t make us wait a whole week for part 2. Please. Abeg!

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  22. Ooh I would really want to know how tis story ended. Biko my guy , would have this continuation on Thursday instead of the commercial one just for this one time?

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  23. Apana bana you need to finish this,

    I remember growing up my father resented me probably he thought I was an illegitimate child, I never experienced fatherly love, The more I grew up I resembled my uncle his youngest brother, and the more I grow I look like his father (my grandpa) I’m a grown man now and I see regret in my father’s eyes every time we are together ‘rarely’ I forgave my Dad

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  24. Well. Any man who runs away from the responsibility of a child he has sired is akin to running away from his shadow right into the thunderclap of God. My advice to this guy is to aim to be a better dad to his kids than his father was to him. It is futile searching for a dad who clearly has shown zero effort in wanting to be found.
    Since this story isn’t complete, I just hope that part two has a better ending…that he met his dad, and they are enjoying getting to know each other…

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  25. 1.) I went to the school my mother taught at too, and in school she also called me by my two names(surprise surprise)unlike at home where it was just the first name.

    2.) I believe the two are half brothers not step brothers. Common mistake even in media(can’t figure out why). When siblings share one parent they are half siblings, blood relatives. In this case they are from the same mother different fathers, as opposed to step siblings who have no blood connection, and it’s usually a man with kid(s) gets together with a woman with her own kid(s). The children in this case are step siblings.

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  26. Kid’s with a memory like a dolphin are the worst. Like me.

    Read this: https://himizascribes.com/2020/10/06/be-nice/

  27. Woooi.. I was just adjusting my sitting position to see the rest of the drama unfold then booom!.. To be continued….aaah

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  28. Please some explain to me…how to do you break the arm of your child??!!! I had to re-read that part in disbelief..

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  29. The opening paragraph is just grand! And right there you know it’s going to be a good read, captivating even.

  30. Biko!!! There I was mentally in Luo land and you just stopped the journey abruptly! Hoping we’re continuing tomorrow?
    Its important for parents to be honest. Provide basic information however painful. Hope they met!!!

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  31. Weuh.. I’d not imagine a forty year old would be interested in finding their father.. Now I know.
    Meanwhile find your old man. I hope he’s not an ass don’t touch any more faces.

  32. If only I had read to be continued I would not have started reading it.. Now I cant Sleep and I am creating my own story in my head.

  33. Really? To be continued…..just as I was getting deep into this story! Biko, this better not wait till next Tuesday. I hope our guy finds closure.

  34. Parenting is challenging. One needs to get it right first time. It impacts generations. Thanks for the thoughts.

  35. “Bastard word stuck with me like fecal smell ”you see Biko, sometimes you wear other people’s shu. I’m in your shoe, or eer… I mean my shoe is in you… aahgh whatever but the shoe is one

    Anyways, I’ve heard of Kanyamwa and Ojedo. I also have a bicycle so I can cycle you around the village. For free. So continue the story

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  36. Time is such a precious thing. Enjoy life but rem time is moving.

    Waiting for part II,eagerly. Awesome read as always.

  37. Of course this is hypothetical but I’ve always thought I would be the kind of mother to cause information overload for my child. If they ask about the sun, tell them about the galaxy, if they ask about their father, bore them with minute details of our relationship etc. I can’t imagine shutting down a conversation.

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  38. 1am in Dublin, reading a tall tale that made me laugh but equally absorbed me with the sincerity of the characters. Biko Zulu…eh, you can write up a storm! Asante.

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  39. Do not underestimate your capacity to form new relationships when you feel like you are ‘settled’ with a family like in the case of Eddy. I have a friend who was introduced to his father much later on in life and their relationship developed….slowly, but helped him answer so many questions about himself…like his mannerisms, his personality, etc. These relationships can be redeemed if both parties are willing.

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  40. I hope u get to know how your story has spoken to me. I have read this story five times now. I for one am Kalenjin like ur mum with a Gikuyu baby daddy whose people I don’t know n who went MIA. Am due to give birth to a boy in December. I pray for courage to make better decisions for him.

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  41. This is relatable.
    The only different thing in my case is one, that my absentee father who was not Kenyan, died a few years after ago after i met him. And i felt no remorse whatsoever. When i went for his burial in that far away country, I shed tears for like five seconds, when his casket was being lowered back to the dirt, the dust, from whence he came.
    Two, my mom never lied to me about that man. She was very honest. But i never asked about him at all so she was lucky. Well, until one day someone who is yet from another country, texted me asking if my dad is so and so (because of the name) and i was like yes! So he laughs and he says okay i am your brother, the eldest one and i am from xxx country (different from dad’s country. whew!). Here is that man’s number. Call him. And so i call the man for the first time and the first thing, he answers with “Hello. This is XXX’s husband.” hahaha. May he continue to rest in peace.

    Atleast he gave me good looks that come with that country he comes from.

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  42. Disclaimer: Bad grammar alert

    Let me tell you Biko about my father or rather fathers, I have four men whom at one point of my life i thought were my fathers.
    Man 1: lived with my mother and was a drunk and beat up my mother like nonsense. I always thought he was mother until i grew up and started questioning (internally) why we didnt have the same surname. I never had the balls to ask my mother about this coz she would have beaten me to death. He is still in my life, although I somehow resent him.
    Man 2: Showed up in my life when i was in class 8. He used to live in Mombasa and worked for NAS. Whenever he visited Nairobi, my mother would clean me up and take me to meet him. He always bought me chicken, chips and soda which was a big deal those days. My mother always warned me not to tell anyone (man 1 and my siblings) where we went or what we did. Last time I had from him, he sent me two success cards for KCPE and 100 bob.
    Man 3: Met him in 2007 when i went to bury my mother in Ugenya. He was an old man in that village and he said he fathered me. I couldnt bring myself to accept him and I ignored his old ass after the burial.
    Man 4: Also heard about him at my mothers burial. The dude was dead. His kids and wife approached me and said my mother had an affair with their father and I was the results of that affair. They promised to take care of my education, help me find a job and all those promises people make at funerals. Offcourse it never materialized and never heard from them once we got back to Nairobi.

    Anyway mine is a long story that requires its own chapter…

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  43. I have always been baffled by men who sire children and not take responsibility for them, and am not even talking financial but emotional. You just go about your business not wanting to form a relationship with your child, not bothered by the fact that your absence makes the child question their identity? I have never understood that, I don’t think I ever will. As we wait for the sequel, I hope he found his dad but most of all I hope he is at peace with who he is.

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  44. I wish him the best in finding his father sometimes it does not give one the fulfilment you grow up thinking it would. Growing up I pestered my mother like crazy to tell me about my father she gave me all kind of stories. Finally I met my biological father when I was 31 years in 2017 he cried his head off and hugged me like he would never let me go, turns out he had eventually moved to the UK and was now married with four kids. He gave me a long sorry ass story as to why he had abandoned a 16 year old pregnant girl blah blah , I still do not know what to make of his story. We keep in touch now and then but all my love towards a father fully belongs to my amazing step father who has raised me as his own from when I was 11. Blood does not always mean strong bonds sometimes love does.

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  45. An interesting story, being that I come from the same village, I want to see how this pans out. Good luck to this brother

  46. Looking forward to the continuation.
    Lesson: when a child is ready to receive and understand information, give it to them in a reasonable way. Never give a lie.

  47. My Paps died 22 years ago and I never knew him. Mama never wanted anything to do with him in the time he was alive nor did she take to kindly to my questioning about his whereabouts. Recently I got contacts of an older step sibling I never knew I had (there are many more) and begun a curious search into his identity. Apparently, he really wanted to be a part of us but Mama never wanted to hear about it and hid us away from him. My step sibling says my mother was young and rebellious. I’m still following up to learn more about this Man that was my Father. I am 40 years Old with a family of my own.

  48. The things women do for their children….,
    I wish kids would just let their moms be.If She doesn’t say anything about him,he is not worth it.Let the matter rest

  49. That statement that “Kids do not forget” is a scary statement to any parent. I hope you finally found your dad.