In every group, there are always some people who know a little bit about everything. Such people informed and entertained the group with local, national and International news flavored with local pronunciations. It was at those collection centers that my brothers heard news about countries our Geography teachers had not mentioned yet.
They heard about the exploding populations in Asia. One particular guy had detailed information about Asia. I am sure he did not know Asia was a Continent but that did not stop him from telling the greatly exaggerated stories. He told them that Asians were so many, their rural roads (Mufutiti – kikuyunized word for “move straight”) resembled the streets of Nairobi during rush hour. The farmers pressed their way through thick crowds of other farmers as they all headed to their individual farms. All one heard was “excuse me” as individuals reached their farms and needed to exit the crowded fast moving Mufutiti. As though that information was not unbelievable enough, he continued with further details. He said that with all the farmers carrying their jembes on their shoulders, jostling their way in the crowded Mufutiti’s, there were a lot of unintended injuries caused by the jembes. Yet, every farmer needed their jembe to work their fields, and they still had to walk these crowded Mufutiti’s every day to access their farms.
The Government had to intervene to save its population. It was declared that jembes in Asia will only be two feet long and anything longer than that, the farmer will be thrown in jail. Does it even sound real to you? First off, Asia is a continent not a country, so which one was he referring to? We can only guess. But nobody asked him to clarify because none of us knew anything about Asia, our Geography syllabus had not covered that yet.
But consider the source of this information. A man who I am certain could not identify Asia on the map, but that did not stop him from telling tales about an entire continent and its people. A healthy imagination I guess. True or not, it was rather entertaining.
