I come from a Very Humble Background where my parents didnt have much But i Dont remember any day that my Parents Never went to work.
They always provided for me and my siblings No Matter what and even when they couldn`t give us the best that our friends had,i have clear memories of the pains they went to just to give us the “second Best” thing to the Real thing!..
My mom would even spend alot of her time sewing us Sweaters using Crotchets (mikuha - sapere) just so we looked the Part on “Opening Day” just like the other kids from my school.
If Anyone is As old as me here they will Remember the Rage that was “Rag -Suck” Bags in the 80s and all the kids at school would have Rug-sack bags to carry their books and because my parents couldnt afford them bags,i remember mu mum going to the Tailors and having the Tailor make some “Fake Rug- sacks” with Strings attached to it just to make it look like The real thing!..
(Always Brings a tear to my eyes that Fake Khaki Rug-sack)… I Love You Mom… (wiping tears from my face as i type…)…
Anywho!.. Hii Risto is About me and Fundi wa Viatu!
I ,like all the other kids my age had a habit of wearing out my shoes on the sides! …- Dont ask me How or Why!
And i also had a habit of Turning a Brand New Pair of Shoes into a (Smiling shoe) - Kiatu inacheka!.. I blame my bad habit of kicking everything in my way!
Now my dad had had enough and he wasnt going to spend money he didnt have buying a new pair of shoes at the Beginning of every School Term so me and my Siblings had Grown to form a Close Business Relationship with the Local “Fundi wa Viatu”!
All we had to do was bring our Worn out shoes on Friday after School and then Collect them on Sunday Afternoon Ready for a New week!
My dad would settle the Bill in Due Course.
I was Always Surprised at how Kim the Shoemaker would transform Old shoes into something like this in 2 days… (New Soul and All!..)
http://www.theshoesnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/oldshoes.jpg
But the Comedy of this Hekaya comes from the One And Only Day when Kim turned me away one Friday evening.
Looking back as a Businessman Now,i can`t Blame Him.
Kim must have fixed this pair of shoes so many times that i dont think there was any part of the “Original” shoe that had at this stage been left on it!
So when i walked up to him as he sat on the ground with his legs crossed and busily stitching a worn out shoe while trying hard to contain the Mucus running down his Nostrils ( Effects of Shoe Glue)… And as i pulled out my Newly worn out pair of shoes from a polythene bag; Kim took a Quick Glance at my One and Only Worn Out Pair of School Shoes and in an Instant Threw them Back at me…
“Eda uabie Mzee anunue Kiatu igine; Hii Imekwisha!”…
I wasnt old enough to Know it,but i remember Clearly Now what it Feels like to be Humiliated. I Felt Angry and Pitiful for my Parents in Equal Measure But at that very Tender Age,i promised myself that i would work so Hard in my Life so that my kids didnt have to Feel what i felt that Day!..
(im getting emotional as i type this…)
Anyway; in a New Twist of Fate, just Around this time in the History of Kenya; Moi Allowed the Mass Importation of SANDAK Shoes (Made in China)!.. Yipiiiiiii…
(That was a God-sent for many an impoverished Kenyan Parent…)
What you see here Below is Not a Leather Shoe!..
It is a Plastic Shoe Pretending to be a Leather Shoe!!!
Count Your Blessings KTalkers!.. Watu Hutoka Far!!!
I will Narrate Part 2. (The Power of Dreams… @Ka-Buda `s Unbelievable and Miraculous Mission To go Abroad)