Independence

I was posted there ten years after Independence,

when I was slim, yes, a slim young boy. I was so slim

and young the people almost threw me out. They didn’t

think I’d be able to take over for the very fat old man

from that community. I was the first non-Kalenjin, see,

to be posted there. So it was politics—but not only

did the people not know Swahili, not a single one

was using the toilets. The toilets were dirty. Very dirty.  

And when I asked why, I was told the Kipsigis

by culture could not, should not clean feces.

So what to do? In my first week, I woke early

and went to clean the toilets. I did it for one week.

For one week. Until they were clean. And when they were,

when there were no more feces along the back,

people started using the facilities. And that impressed me.

So I cleaned them for the second week. On the third,

I told my deputy, a Kipsigi, ‘Now it is your turn.

Things have changed. You have been posted here

by the ministry of health, by the nation. There are no

cultural issues. You are here to run this program.

So go and do it.’ So he went and cleaned them well.

And everybody saw all Kalenjins could do it.

And Independence should come to their community.

 

A piece of documentary poetry published in Third Coast, Issue 49

Location: Kenya

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