My Experience in Nakuru Town at 3am in the Morning

I’m typing this at 0322hrs as I take some steaming hot tea. As I sit on a sack full of potatoes, I notice that the chill that was biting starts to fade away. The morning is as fresh as you can paint the picture. No chirruping of birds here as could be the case in the village. A few guys are roaming the streets.

So, you think people sleep as you do? Not really. Opposite Kanu house, things are happening. Money is changing hands very fast as people go about their businesses. Some are running up, others down. At the extreme end of the street, just before the roundabout, a young lady's business is booming.

I’ll call her Mary. There is an above-average sufuria on a coal jiko. In it some tea boiling. Beside it is a table. The table has KDFs, boiled eggs, some burns, mandazis, and a few more things. People flock the table to be served.

These are mkoko guys among others, energizing themselves ready to hit the road with sacks of Irish potatoes, mangoes, oranges, bananas, etc. “Hyo itafika matyme bro,” one shouts. “Mimi nacheza league yangu, wanafikiria nilifika Nakuru kwa SGR? Hawaniwezi,” another responds. I hear another shout but can’t see him, “hizo milango zitakaa hapo, kwani nani ataiba?”

I quickly realize that they have already made some cool cash. They don’t care much. “Mwenye shibe hatambui mwenye njaa.” These guys transport the goods to mama mbogas in different parts of the town. “Budaa, ebu wacha hizo avocado, tukishukisha kwa gari si ulikuwa umesimama pale?” One mkoko guy gives a stun warning to the other.

Just a few meters from where I’m taking my tea, several passengers are waiting for a bus. Most of them have been here for the last three hours. These are people from the Western and Nyanza parts of the country. It’s not Christmas yet, but they’re travelling in large numbers.

“Is it possible they’ve also come from Egerton University graduation ceremony?” Maybe, but not really. Why are they heading in the same direction anyway? I don’t know.

Hawkers are moving up and down. Selling their merchandize to the passengers that now looked stranded. Nduthi guys are also trying their luck. A few street kids are sleeping on the corridors. Touts are shouting all over the place. “wapi huyo mama ya watoto tatu? One asks from the other end. “Yule mzee wa Chwele ameenda wapi?” Another asks immediately a Climax bus pulls over. It’s 3 o’clock in the morning for God’s sake. But for everyone around this place, it’s like 5pm in Nairobi City.

I’m forced to shift from where I’m sitting by the mkoko guys. I move a few meters, say three, from in front of Burhani Locksmith & Glaziers hardware, and sits on a piece of luggage that I don’t know its contents.

It’s almost 4am and activities seem to be calming down. Most of the passengers are now gone and lots of sacks cleared from the place. “I’m supposed to be leaving now for Nairobi,” I remind this guy, my guy. A stranger that had now become a temporary friend. I’ll call him Mike.

Mike has been instrumental. First, he helps me get the right vehicle to Kitale for my parents. Second, he’s actually the one who ordered tea for me and paid. Third, he ensures that no one causes trouble for me.

I’m perplexed by how people are aggressive in making money. I think I’m motivated and inspired. Hustle is hustle provided you can put food on the table.

“My friend, ile gari yetu ni kama haifiki. We fanya hivi, teremka pale Mololine uchukue ingine.” Mike tells me as he organizes his stuff.

I bid him goodbye and leave. After three minutes I’m sitting in a shuttle. It’s, freezing but I don’t care. What I want is to get to Nairobi and rest. The vehicle is full by 0425hrs, and we’re off by 0430hrs.