Zama zetu shule zikifungwa we used to devise our own games, there were no video games and VOK tv ilikua yafunguliwa 4pm on weekends and 6pm on weekdays, infact we used to hate the holidays coz it was work work and more work, time ya kucheza ilikua limited, asubuhi even before breakfast ilikua uko ndani ya napier grass ukishugulikia chakula ya ngombe and after it had been milked you had to deliver the milk to the neighbors who had made orders, then after breakfast unaingia shambani to water the vegatables and uproot the weeds, we used to long for the day schools would open tuhepe mateso as we called it.
But we also had fun, lots of fun with our home made toys like the “nugi” a jiko made out of discarded kimbo tins where we would roast sweetpotatoes and “thonjo” (weaver birds) and also the “kurukurus” and cars we made from any material we laid our hands on. We were also experts in cha baba na mama. Movies tulikua tunaona on the 3rd and 23rd of every month when the Tazama mobile cinema and The Kenya Film Corporation vans used to visit our village, zilikua za gojewa kaa chakula ya msaada and by 2pm tulikuaga tushafika kwa kiwanja. It was here that we watched a ninja movie, Enter The Ninja, and fell in love with “Ninjaism” . we made our own ninja suits from black pullnecks and pullovers and crafted wooden swords, we even used to carry ashes to use as a smoke screen as ninjas do when they want to disappear but we used to throw it on our opponents face.
Sasa in 1985 after the great famine where we had eaten yellow maize from the US, the gava ya baba na mama had given everyone lots of maize seeds to plant na juu kila mtu alikua anakumbuka hio ukame tulikua tumepanda mahindi hadi kwa road reserves, mvua ilikua nayo imenyesha vizuri and everyone looked forward to a good harvest. But this was not to be coz early one morning in april we woke up to find “Gunga” Army worms had landed. These things appeared mysteriously as if by magic in their millions, they had covered everything, even the footpaths and you can guess our predicament as we used to walk barefoot. Army worms are slimy hungry green worms the size of @uwesmake s quadrajoint and within two days they had laid everything bare, from the grass in the fields to the leaves on the highest trees and then as mysteriously as they came they malaysiad. Infact the age group that got circumcised that yr is known as “Rika Ria Ngunga”
Serikali haikua na budi ila kupeana mbegu zingine watu wapande janga la ukame lishitushike tena, this crop was harvested kwa wingi in mid October na kila mtu akaweka kwenya “ikumbi” ili ikauke. Nobody wanted to sell akikumbuka “gathirikali” as the yellow maize had been christened. Come the December holidays na mahindi yote ilikua imekauka vizuri sasa kazi ilikua “nikuichapa” from the maizecob na kuweka kwenye gunia. I don’t know who devised that all young men and women in the village be visiting two or three homesteads in a day and ganging up on the work, (many hands make work easy) siku za kwanza tulikua twamalizia by 7pm but as days dragged by tukaanza kumaliza as late as 11pm. Guess you know what was happening as we were escorting the girls home, slices were being eaten by the roadside right on the grass.
The noisy mob of about 100 teenagers used to walk slowly to give the slice eaters ample time while singing songs and making as much noise as possible and one night me and my naughty Ninjas decided to show them our ninja flying tricks.
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Our plan was simple, along the path we used every day there were some low lying “mikinduri” trees and that is where my ninjas in our black clothes climbed and waited for the unsuspecting mob, all we wanted to do was to scare them a little.
It was a pitch black night but we could hear them and see their torches from a kilometer away as they inched closer, once the group was under the trees, we swung into action and dropped down on them and like real ninjas we were very silent. Walizima makelele juu ya kustuka and for a moment time froze, nobody moved, then pandemonium bloke out na kila mtu akaamua mguu nisaidie. They ran in all directions screaming, wailing and shouting at the top of their voices. We fell down in laughter coz of the success of our mission and went back to our homes still laughing.
Kufika nyumbani tulipata another story, Lord have mercy, watu walikua wameumia, some had very bad gashes caused by barbed wire, two had broken legs, and several had arm fractures and some people were even missing. Story was that they had been attacked by leopards. A search party was organized and by morning everyone was accounted for. Thank God nobody died. One girl had fallen in a shallow well and got stuck in the mud. She couldnt dare scream or call out for help due to the fear of the “leopards”. I went round looking for my ninjas and told them “ichio kimi” (mtu asiseme chochote coz tungejulikana nisisi tulifanya hivo ata sijui what our punishment would have been. We also discarded our ninja suits in pit latrines.
The KWS was called and spent a week in the area hunting for the leopards but as you and me know they were nonexistent. Across our two ridges, from Ruthimitu to Mutuini nobody dared venture out at night due to fear. Gradually after several months life returned to normal and after a few yrs tukiwa wakubwa sasa ndio tulipeana hio story over a kinya of Muratina and like you nobody believed us, tukaambio tupeleke hekaya hukoo ----------------------------------------------------------------> na tuache upuss. Some guys ata waliapa vile hizo leopard zilikua na madoadoa na vile ziliwakimbiza.
Am going home for x-mass and I will revive that story niskie watasemaaje sasa.
Hekaya iko poa. Nostalgia. Sikuishi ushago but rumors spread like wild fire there.
My dad tells me stories of giants and I’m like really ni*** you expect me to belive that shit?
Back in the day when mtoto alikuwa wa kijiji, vinyasa fulltime…kuvaa trousers ni sunday tu, mom kunigwara na paper ya white kwa shingo ama sgwembe kuona kama nimeoga poa , btw did you guys sing “Kanyoni Ka Nja”?
:D:D:D:D
One girl had fallen in a shallow well and got stuck in the mud. She couldnt dare scream or call out for help due to the fear of the “leopards”.
Nakumbuka hizo days… Kutengeneza rally cars na wire za hangar, mud flaps na bladder ya kifagio na tyre unakata slippers unachapwa na mathe. Pia gari za mikebe za kimbo. Good old days.
you wanted a toy, you made it for yourself. hakuna mtu angeharibu pesa na toys.
another thing, kitu umejitengenezea was well taken care of, haingelala inje. siku hizi wanunulia mtoi kitu and after 4 days waipata inje ya gate usiku.