Volume 1, Issue / January 2009
After the disturbances of the previous year, I felt the need to recapture the spirit of the year’s most anticipated holiday, Christmas. It was another perfect excuse for me to travel and go outside the camp.
December is that month of the year when I just get lazy and I usually do not feel like waking up in the morning—especially when I realize I have to go to work. I did not like the fact that I had to work until December 20th, when the office was closed for the holidays.
I had already packed my stuff ready to travel to Nairobi, so I did not have to go through the hassle. The fares were hiked and I had to pay an extra 400 shillings. My traveling document was safely placed somewhere in my luggage in case some cash-thirsty policeman asked for it.
I was surprised to find that I was not the only one traveling. There were many people from my place of work who were in the same bus as me. This was quite comforting because I got people to chat with and did n0t have to be bored throughout the journey.
My reason for leaving was the persistent dusty weather that we experience in Kakuma. The thought of celebrating Christmas in the camp with all that dust did not cross my mind. I opted to travel so that I could at least take a breath of fresh air.
The journey itself was not what I had expected. The highway out to Kitale is a nightmare. The roads are arduous and the journey was very unpleasant. The bus that I used was overcrowded and overloaded. With a food crises facing Kenyans, many people buy food from refugees who are willing to sell their rations. The boot of the bus I traveled in was filled with such food.
I got scared at one point of the journey when the bus had to lean in order to escape a pothole and I thought it was going to roll down a sloping hill we were passing. The fact that there were some people standing for lack of seats made the air so stuffy I thought I would suffocate. I only had a bottle of coke all through the journey for fear of eating unhygienic meals.
After spending twelve hours on the road, I finally arrived in Nairobi. Being a Sunday, I had a good rest before embarking on preparations for the big day.
I usually do not care about having new clothes for Christmas since I always get new ones every month. I just concentrated on having some friends around for that day.
After spending my days lounging and watching a lot of TV, Christmas finally came. My new friends and I wasted the day eating, drinking, and playing video games. I have come to the conclusion that the people who enjoy Christmas are children and drunkards and not conservative people like me. For young kids, the thought of having new clothes and toys excites them. The drunks enjoy the fact that they will go out with their friends and grab more than fifty bottles of beer and roast meat.
After all that fuss, it’s a rough road back and I am ushered into a new year with the same old stuff.