“Mambo Dere?” I started.
“Poa sana,” He had responded.
“Did you read your Bible today?”
I asked pointing at an old New Testament Gideon’s International Bible that lay
where speedometer was. The bus must have
gulped its miles over. The speed and gas indicators were settled with dust. It
was an old engine. The driver, seemingly an alcohol lover by this kind of baked
lips maybe by the consequence of work nature or by my mistaking, must be a low
income earner. I watched him take the gear wheel back to speed down and up the road
to Kawangware.
He had braked the bus in front
of a lorry. The place has no bus stop. A child had repeatedly shouted ‘Shukisha
dere’ and we had all laughed in small tones.
The lorry passed with the left sit occupant looking back to curse the
driver for wrong parking. He was not moved. That is nature, he must have used
to.
 |
| Rowdy youths burn up a bus in Kawangware |
“Why is it here?” he replied with
a question suggesting that I was ignorant in asking. He is not the only one to
think that way. Sometimes it is difficult to get into people’s comfort zones.
More often they seem infringed. It obviously calls for maximum humbling and
pretense to look positively concerned to get what they think. I liked that the
rest of the words freely came from here. I nodded and made faces. I was
startled at most of the instances. What followed are his words.
“This sit has a lot of
temptations. The roads too. You cannot manage on your own. The Book you seeing
has a purpose. Just imagine the traffic cop on the roads, the Nairobi city
council askaris, accidents, the bus owner…. all in wait for you. Just you! Do
not include home and other issues. You might collapse at the steering wheel.
“Many people ask me about this
Bible. It is not easy to find drivers with one at their front. This bus can, by
its own, start hopping. How do you help? It can get off the road to buildings
or steal a pedestrian from the paves. Dead! It happens mysteriously. Or another
vehicle bumps into the bus. Without
indication; without any precedent. Sometimes
assuming small scratches. They are not
worth following after because they may have prevented you from future clashes.
“I do not like long distance
travels. It is better to operate within the capital. Those accidents you hear
of… they are not driver’s mistakes. More often the drivers get overwhelmed with
situations. Like the Mombasa bound buses. Do you think they are steered with
faith in nothing? This driver’s seat is not a one man’s place. People are
different… are you getting?
“You need to be aware. You have
not yet seen a new bus being taken someplace with only the driver and the
owner. Then exposed to paraphanalia and mystic proceedings. As a driver, it is
your job. you are in need of edonomic survival. How do you deny work? It is
better to have the job and go a step a head to believe in your God. It hapens.
These vehicles you see are not empty. They are loaded.
“At the end of the day the owner
awaits for the daily income. That is a problem. When it is less, you cannot go
to your house in peace. Sometimes he (talking in Kiswahili, I was not sure
whether the owner was he or she because the language does not masculise or
feminise pronouns) talks to you rudely making you regret as o why you chose
the job. It forces one wonder whether he has a belonging or not. The deficit may
have been caused by a breakdown or a cop who ‘ate’ some.
I was alert. Stealing looks of
his face and he doing alike. Some passengers alighted as others boarded.
Everytime we stopped other cars had to and horn. It is a narrow road. I
responded with short pauses and words, helping him to finish some sentences.
“There are instances when a
driver is sacked. Then they visit their godly advisors. No other man can seat
before the steering wheel. It is sometimes tricky to explain. The new driver is exposed to all manner of
mystic sights and feelings. The seat becomes untolerable, feeling pieced by
unseen thorns. More often ghosts are seen. Then accidents occur. Not bacause
they are careless.
“This Bible is also respected by
the cops. When they stop me and see it, their attitude change. They treat me
like their friend. I have been caught on the wrong side of the law on many
instances. But they have not sent me behind the bars yet…
He was freely sharing his
thoughts. Maybe I could have kept on traveling with him to 46- the
destination. I had a feeding programme to supervise. Maybe I could have
listened more. I had never sat at the driver’s front seat heading to
Kawangware. Maybe I will start going for the seat. And see what other drivers
are saying about the same. Of course without sounding ignorant or inquisitive.
“
“Mungu akubariki Dere”, I said
while alighting. The bus was zooming away. I gazed at it. Forgetting to master
the number plate so that I may reach for the driver some other time. Being a
diary, things will merge themselves up. No worries…
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