My siblings and I were not always proud to tell people we were from OlKalou, but dont worry, we have since repented. With our Kikuyunized accent, we all pronounced it as OrKarau. Rough sounding you agree, right? Whenever we heard it roll off smoothly from the tongue of an educated person, we wondered if they were referring to the same place we called home. It sounded so different. Anyhow, Forget the pronunciation. Majority of people, including us, did not know how to spell OlKalou correctly. To add insult to injury, most people had never heard of OlKalou. They had heard of Thomson Falls, but not our dusty little town with a funny name.
Picture a teenager reporting to a high school somewhere in the vicinity of Nairobi, and you have to tell your fellow students you are from OrKarau. Their reaction was “where is that, Narok?” That is when I made up my misguided young mind to tell everybody I was from Thomson Falls. It sounded classy and more in line with my young brainwashed mind that believed Mzungu names were better than our local names. Thomson Falls was also well known because of the landmark waterfall the town was named after; so, whenever I told anybody I was from Thomson Falls, nobody ever asked me the dreaded question “where is that” like they did when I said I was from OrKarau. I felt good about myself and “where I was from”.
However, there was one small problem that did not cross my misguided mind: What if I met somebody who was actually from Thomson Falls and needed to know which part of town I came from? Truth be told, I had only visited the famous Waterfall on a brief hurried school trip, and another disastrous visit I had with my mother. I will tell you more about that later.
So, I knew nothing about the town, but that did not stop me from telling unsuspecting classmates I was a Thomson Falls native, and I enjoyed the awe and wonder I saw in their faces. Don’t judge me. I have since recovered and repented fully. I am now proud to tell the entire world I am from OlKalou and I have also learnt to spell it correctly. I think.
