My long thirst for a long holiday
came to a halt in October last year after it was finally granted. Ever since I
joined Moi University Main Campus in mid July 2011, a long vacation always
meant ‘something for the others’ in my mind. It has always been a semester-to-semester
transition scenario that posed a great doubt about any possibility of an
academic rest. Rumors had it that our 2009 group would never see a long break
before that which would send us to our practical attachments and internships,
since the University’s double-intake issue affected the normal system.
However, good news came in, two
or three weeks before the end of our second year of study, in September 2012
when the official time-table from the Chief Academic Officer, Deputy Vice
Chancellor and other administrative personnel revealed something different.
According to the time-table, our group, amongst others, was scheduled to break
for the anticipated long vacation immediately after the end of semester two
examinations. However, it was not so clear about when we would be expected
back, with our top guesses hitting February, April, June and August 2013.
Just according to me, the most
important thing about the long break was not just to have it. There were
several things that I had already promised myself to undertake in the course of
the break, so what was remaining was just to fulfill my schedule. As soon as I
landed on my home soil, I began to reshuffle my schedule according to urgency
and priority of individual activities. My strategy was not only to do what I
wanted to do but also to avoid what I did not intend to do. Some of the things
that I really tried to keep myself off from were informal political campaign
rallies, petty demonstrations such as those usually organized by the Mombasa Republican
Council and the likes. My top most aim was to get a peaceful job somewhere
where I would earn something for myself.
October came to an end without
any good job presenting itself to me. In November, I decided that I should not
continue to depend entirely on my family for everything. I joined other village
youths in some casual labor works such as digging water pipe trenches and house
foundations which apart from getting me tired, gave me something to wait for
another day with.
One of the activities that took
away a substantial fraction of my body weight was digging a fish pond in a
neighboring secondary school in my small village. The Ganze Constituency
Development Funds committee had come up with a project of constructing up to
thirty fish ponds in different learning institutions that had access to fresh
water supply around the constituency. The ponds would then be used to rear
varieties of fish, some of which would be included in the schools’ meals and
others sold for the benefit of the schools. It just happened by chance that Sokoke
Secondary School was selected as one of the beneficiaries of the project on 22rd
November, 2012. A notice was then issued to the area assistant chief to spread
an informal advertisement that fourteen healthy men and women from the
neighborhood would be assigned the duty of digging the dyke for the pond for a
total pay of twenty-five thousand Kenya shillings to be shared.
The following morning, more than
fifty people lined up at the venue, one of them being myself, waiting for the
selection process. This great number of people threw some light in my mind that
unemployment and poverty are still issues that require intervention in my area.
I was just there to see how things would work, jokingly rather serious. The
selection process began and almost half of the job hunters were knocked out in
the first phase of presenting national identity cards. Illiteracy levels and
ignorance are too rampant in my area that many residents do not bother about or
even realize the importance of applying for such a crucial document. Or is it
about awareness being too low? Anyway, twenty-seven candidates and I qualified
for the next phase. In a bid to observe gender equity, the project supervisor
granted the six women who were still legible a direct nomination because they
would not even make half of the fourteen wanted. Now it was time for the
twenty-two men to battle for the remaining eight posts. Thanks to the amazing
grace of the lord, I made it through by correctly picking a highly folded small
piece of paper that was written ‘YES’ instead of ‘NO’ in the inside.
 |
| Workers digging a dyke for fish pond construction - Sokoke |
|
|
Work that had been estimated to
take us around three days was completed in six serious working days. Are we giants
to dig a dyke measuring 22 meters long, 17 meters wide and 1 meter deep in three
days? The ground was hungry for rain. It was so dry and hard that you would
wonder whether you were working in a quarry mine or stone cutting site. Digging
was not the biggest trouble here, taking the soil out of where your fellow has
dag was the smart problem. In the process, blisters developed on my hands until
they got bored and stopped. My body ached anomalously but later adapted and saw
no need of aching any more.
We did it by team work and although some of us
provided lesser contributions compared to others, and the fact that some took longer
periods of frequent resting than others, the mission was completed.
 |
| James Kombe, inside the completed dyke |
At the end of the struggle, I
felt exhausted but the 1,785 shillings that went into my pocket on December 2nd
gave me hope and was a major step towards facing the December celebrations
including Christmas and eventually New Year parties which I celebrated with
confidence and in style.
Ushering in the year 2013 seemed
so smooth but the thought of what would happen next always game me rough
moments. That is where I consulted my mobile phone book, called some of my
classmates in a bid to inquire for a possible opening date but none of them
appeared to have an idea and whoever mentioned a date was not any time earlier
than April. I was just about to confront one of our county governor aspirants
to ask for a position in his campaign team when I suddenly remembered that I
was supposed to remain a distant away from political rallies.
Early February presented a small
piece of blessing to me. My one time primary school-mate called me in the
morning, not just for greetings as some individuals always do, but gave me some
good news that one more teacher was required in the private secondary school
where he had recently secured a teaching job.
Without any further hesitation, I
quickly put my certificates together with the application letter and presented
them to the interviewing panel of the school the following day and got the job.
Wednesday 6th February, 2013 is the
day I started teaching English language and Literature in Lakewood Green Olive
High School for an undisclosed monthly earning which was obviously far much
better than the fish pond thing. My letter of resignation from teaching in that
school dates Friday 12th April, 2013 which was also the official
closing day for the first term. After all, I was expected back at Moi
University the following Monday for my third year of study.
