✰ Crispin Odhiambo ✰

"You guy, my guy, a ka deal has just gone through like this, nini nini, they just chapad me a depo"

I lived here in 2017 between October and December. This is Pipeline Estate, Nairobi. I had become so broke that I couldn't live in Nyayo Estate, where I had rented a 2-bedroom house, Gate B. Baba had just lost an election, and on 26th October, Uhuru was re-elected in a sham "birthday party election." I had put all my hopes and dreams in Baba's victory because I knew I was going to be appointed to a plum job in government. But after Baba lost, everybody left. Baba himself was abandoned by people close to him. He was so lonely and depressed. Only Saitabao Ole Kanchori took the role of giving Baba company. The rest took off. They crawled back when Baba had a handshake with Jameson. Living here in Pipeline gave me a reality check. I had never seen such an indignified ecosystem. My Ka-small cubicle was on the 7th floor. There is no lift. The eight tenants on that floor shared a toilet and a bathroom tucked at the corner of the floor's extreme corridor. If you get to your house in the evening and forget to buy a matchbox, you'd rather drink a mug of water, accept the situation and sleep till the next morning. If you walk leisurely and casually along the narrow, wet, muddy footpaths beside the sewer rivulets, a random tenant will pour kitchen effluent on your head, and that ruins the day for you. This is an experience I will never forget. In December, I relocated to my village and started life afresh. I vowed never again would I live that life. I fixed my life; I was obese, and I lost weight, regained my health, fortified my mental frame and became the best version of myself. I took my experiences and successes and turned them into lessons for helping others out of their pain. There are Kenyans living in squalor. They smile, but inside them is a whole funeral. Unless you walk in their shoes, you will never understand their experiences. You will mock them, call them names, but the people living in these places deserve better lives. Lessons I learnt: • Politics will never change your life. It is you who can change yourself. • Politicians are buddies; it is you and me who insult each other. • There is no dignity in poverty. Every Kenyan deserve a good house, good healthcare and an equitable share of national resources. • You have massive potential. You can become the best version of yourself. Don't doubt yourself.