Honesty is a Virtue

Adulting as they say separates siblings and parents from their children. Everyone moves out of their parental home to go and hustle. Yeah, hustling! I understand that our parents might oppose the use of the term hustling and us calling ourselves hustlers. The term has been associated with indecent acts in the past. So on Friday, I boarded a matatu from Nairobi to Kisumu, to go and run a few errands. As we left the city, we felt the ambience associated with the upcountry as we cruised through the hilly areas of Nakuru County. One would tell that the view of the Rift Valley excited the passengers as each one had his eyes glued outside the window.

It took us six hours to get into the city, and the ever-dynamic Kenyan matatu culture greeted me. When you are in Nairobi, you will see many matatus operating within the city decorated with innovative graffiti. Kisumu’s public transport system doesn’t exhibit the characteristics we see in Nairobi. So on Friday, as we walked through the streets of Kisumu, a new culture in the transport system hit our eyes. Something that was a preserve of the capital city. Matatus plying the route number 44 in Kisumu are efining the matatu culture in Kisumu. Even though their graffiti decorations is nothing compared to Nairobis, they are in a better condition, and the people living in the estates plied by these matatus are upper middle class.

Journey Back to The City

As the weekend came to an end it was time to get back to the city. Unlike before, I decided to change the route and use the Mai Mahiu-Narok road on my way back. People in this area love traveling at night. The convenience of being picked up at their doorstep at 1 am has added to this preference. For this reason, we had to stop on the road to let other people board the matatu.

So a lady boards the vehicle and whispers some words to the driver. As she was seated next to me, I thought they knew each other because of how they conversed. Midway through the journey, the conductor asks the lady for her fare. The lady tells her that she will give out the money before we alight. The conductor informs her that he will alight at the next stage, but she says the driver was aware.

Unanswered Call

Now, the lady kept calling someone, who I presume was supposed to send her the money for the fare. After a while, the lady called again and the phone went unanswered. She tried it three more times and there was no response, so she decided to borrow the driver’s phone. She dialled the number and surprisingly, it went unanswered. This hit me hard.

Why would someone do that? Why would a person let you get into a vehicle, insist that he will pay for the fare, but decide not to pick up your call when it is time to pay? I saw the lady bend forward and shed a tear, then she took her phone, clicked on contact, and changed how she had saved it in her phone. I realized that she was waiting for money from her boyfriend or maybe her husband. But the husband or boyfriend decided to ghost her when she needed him most.

Around 7.30 pm, we left the lady in the vehicle, waiting for a solution. Her worried expression was evident on her face. Nobody knows whether she had a place to spend the night or whoever ghosted her was the one to host her. It would have been good if whoever promised to send her fare did so, or communicated to her earlier. Having someone trust you then you break the trust portrays your inhumane nature. I hope she had her issue sorted. Click to go to the homepage