You have many big dreams but I want you to know that the
world will not present them to you on a silver plate.
That is what my hard working mother would say back in
Gaturi, Murang’a whenever I voiced out what I want to be when I grow up. In
spite of her having very little formal education and the fact that she had not
travelled far away from home since birth, she somehow understood intricacies of
the world systems.
On my first day to a boarding school after registration, she
looked straight into my eyes and said words I will never forget. I have helped
you nurture some of your dreams by offering you what I could but from now on,
you are on your own. At the school gate as
she wished me well, waved bye and disappeared into the horizon, tears started running
down my cheeks because I knew I was no home-bird any longer.
My four years in secondary school were to be a turnaround.
It caused a paradigm shift of how I viewed things. I learnt how to live with
people who were different from me either by the way they talked, ate, lived or
reasoned. I was to learn how to love and care for people who blatantly did
things just to annoy you-oh yes hell-bent to make your life hard.
When I entered British Airways flight 0064 headed to
Heathrow from Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta in the night of September, 26th
2010 I knew I was opening a new chapter of my life.
As I sat down and fastened my safety belt and
placed my table tray in the upright position as required the Captain made an
announcement.
Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to British airways
flight 0064 from Nairobi to London Heathrow Airport. Our aircraft is the Boeing
777 and our flying time is about 8.5 hours. The cabin crew will be coming
around shortly after take off to offer you a meal and beverage, and the in-flight
movie will begin shortly after that. I'll talk to you again before we reach our
destination. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.
Seated next to me was a young lady who could not calmly
handle take off and landing without covering her ears and eyes with everything
and anything available. Yes that was my first encounter with someone who
suffers from aerophobia. Coincidentally,
on the row in front of me was an old friend who was headed to America. With an empty seat next to her I joined her
for the rest of the flight. She wore an American accent and seemed a little
disconnected with Kenyan life. I hope she will not hate me after reading my
book when I finally publish it!
I was a bit apprehensive because I did not know what awaited
me on the other end of the earth.
What happened after
my late arrival at Heathrow was to mark the pace in which my life was to flow
the rest of my stay here. Having lost several minutes due to delay on terminal
5 meant I had to literally run towards terminal 1 in order to catch the next
flight for my final destination. We
hurriedly wished each other and left.
As
I frantically ran towards my plane, I heard my name called for one last time through
the airport sound system. I had to up my
gear to beat the grace period.
That is how I was welcomed to this land! My mum wise words came
alive yet again that it was not going to be easy but I have to always keep
seeing the bright side of things.
Follow me in the next release to know what happened to a
rural Kenyan boy after being thrown to the deep end. The boy who always liked ‘well
cooked’ vegetables and now having to feed on green and raw salads (yes my mum
cooked everything), one who was used to very hot meals to an environment where
most foods would be different and cold. Will
he survive? Find out soon!
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