Wajenzi - builder
This is how life goes, an eternal ups and downs. Sometimes pretty, then again ugly. Bert Brecht already wrote it: 'Nothing stays as it is.' And there is nothing to add to that.
The monster is in my ears, she wants to build a house. I am not convinced that this is the right decision. A house means that I always have to be in the same place, I can't decide overnight that I want to leave this place. I have to sell a house, rent it out, I just give it back an apartment. Much easier and without a headache.
I object, she listens, pretends to understand.
She is looking for an apartment. It's too tight where we live. Which is not really true, because after the party we were - I think there were eight people - in the house and slept there. I have to accept the narrowness, there is nothing else to do.
An apartment will soon be found. Bigger than the current one. Not far away. Pleasant for Jigsaw because that's where she goes to school. Rent is fine, 10,000. We look at them. Not bad. We go again, the caretaker will talk to the owner and then let us know. We'll get word the next day. The owner demands 20,000!
I'm not surprised why, I was expecting something like this.
The monster says: "The owner must have found out that you are a mzungu and has doubled the rent."
Maybe it is absurd, whether I can believe it that way?
In short, the apartments have their pitfalls. Everything doesn't work out, something always comes up. There is always something that doesn't fit.
After weeks of searching, it is clear: a house is needed!
I mentioned it before, a foreigner, a damn, crazy Mzungu, a white man is lost in Kenya.
We are looking for a house, a place to stay for all of us! I have to repeat, we are two adults and two children.
The search is not that easy. The size has to fit, what is still important is the price!
The monster says: "The boy is big, in a short time he is going to university, then only the little one remains and I send her to my sister in Nairobi."
Simple. Plain and simple.
I know her, I know that there is a lot of talk, most of it is said to make me happy, satisfied. It therefore has no special meaning for me. A 3 bedroom house is a must! End and end.
We are looking for in Nairobi and the surrounding area. We drive around, inspect, search. We find some houses that we would like. One thing must also be said here that some houses do not even exist, we only see a construction site, green around us.
I'm not rich, contrary to the Kenyan belief that all whites are rich. Maybe we are rich, not in money, maybe rich in experience. What do I know?
If you have enough money, you can choose it, that's true, there is only one thing I don't know whether a foreigner can own a house at all. The real estate agents who try to sell don't say anything, they don't care, the money matters to them.
We come back unsatisfied. Still no house, no view. The monster makes a long face. I notice, but don't say anything.
I am worried. Take a pencil, a piece of paper and start to put my thoughts on paper. What is written can be better analyzed. Soon I come to the conclusion that I can save half of it if I build the house myself. This has advantages, but also disadvantages. The advantage is that I can build a house the way I want and not a house that is a standard house. Downside, I have to take care of everything. It doesn't matter, I'm retired and have enough time.
Shakespeare wrote it in Hamlet when he had the gravedigger say: "No sooner have you been born, death begins."
It is true that our life is like a house with two doors, we come in through one door, we go back through the other door. Our lives are far too short to play around with. On the other hand, people need a home, the only question is: 'where is my home?' Here I am a white man, a mzungu, a stranger. Don't speak the language. Can I be assimilated here? A white man in Kenya? Without money? Without future? Why should I build a house at all? A little story about it. Alexander the Great, of Macedonia, had subdued the world as far as India. In India he met a guru. He introduced himself. "I am the ruler of this world." That did not impress the guru. "You don't just own the piece of earth you are standing on." That was the guru's answer and he was right. We don't own anything possession is a superstition. Possession does not exist. Only in our imagination.
Man's great fault is that he has the freedom to repent every day and does not choose it.
These are my thoughts.
A building site has to be found. Not easy either. When the blacks hear that a white man is looking for a building plot, this building plot suddenly becomes gold.
There are phone calls, questions go around, all of which takes time. The monster is in a hurry. Your mood has improved noticeably, that pleases me and calms me down too. Her scowl was not easy to bear.
To cut it short, the aunt has found a reason. Not that far from where we are now.
The next problem is the builder, Wajenzi or as the monster says Fundi. (I don't actually know the expression Wajenzi, everyone says Fundi.)
The monster knows him. "I met him when we were building here, and he was overseeing the building project."
"You built? Who built?" I ask, strangely touched.
She tells me a story, it can be true, but it doesn't have to be. I leave it, there is no point in asking any further. Dear God, let the Fundi come!
And he's coming!
We're sitting in the bar, I'll have a cold beer, that's good. It's late afternoon. The sun is still shining, but soon it will disappear behind the trees.
The fund is coming. The monster introduces him. The Fundi has a folder with him. He puts them on the table. He introduces himself. His name is Innocent. (I hope the name is spelled correctly). I have to laugh. He looks a bit strange, maybe confused because I laugh when he said his name.
"Innocent!" I yell out, "I'm not innocent!"
The Fundi has to laugh too. He sits down. I explain to him why I am laughing. "Innocent has this meaning for me: you are free from guilt or sin especially through lack of knowledge of evil: blameless, an innocent child. And the Bible also says: let the children come to me, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven . "'
"Yes, I know, a strange name, but I have it."
"Never mind, mine is no better."
The Fundi brought a plan of a house with them. He takes it out of a torn envelope.
"I've just come back from a building negotiation," he explains.
The house on the blueprint is not what I want, the monster also has objections. But that doesn't matter, because we are looking for someone who can carry out the construction project, we can create the construction plan for it ourselves or announce our wishes.
So far so good. The first step is taken. We have a fund. Now we can take action.
At the end of a short story.
One died in Nairobi. He knocks on heavens door. Nobody open. He knocks louder. God heard it, calling Moses.
- Moses, what's going on, who is knocking on the door?
Moses is checking it. He came back.
-It's a Nairobi man, he wants to enter the heaven.
- Let this poor guy in and give him something to do.
The Nairobi man enters heaven. Moses give him a trimur instrument to play on a cloud.
The Nairobi man got cloud number 7 to sit on and the play music and to sing.
- Hallelujah, the man sing very lite.
- Hallelujah, again, he sing it very lite and then he hear for an echo or answer but unfortunately he couldn't hear anything.
- Hallelujah, this time louder.
Again he hear but no answer.
He becomes angry.
- Hallelujah, he cried out. 'Hallelujah again! Dawn hallelujah! ' No answer.
God hears that shouting.
- Moses, who is so much making notice?
Moses is checking it.
- It's the Nairobi man, my master.
-We must give him another job to do. That's good, actually I have one important task to do.
The man is called to God.
- Nairobi man, I have something important to do. This is a letter for the president, he's waiting for it. Go to him and deliver it.
The man takes the letter and leaving heaven. He's flying down to Nairobi. On the way he is passing some bars. He can smell the bear. He thinks, 'Let me have a beer.' And he enters a bar. He orders a bear. It is fresh and cold. He enjoys it very much. He thinks, 'OK, I should deliver this letter but I guess it can wait for some minutes more.' And he orders a second bear. He looks around, everyone is happy, smiling, laughing, drinking bear, enjoying life. He orders a next bear. He starts to sing. Other people sings with him. He orders a bear after the other. Life can be so nice! And he drinks one bear after the other .... And he forgot the letter, the advice from God to the president. And so the president is still waiting for the heaven advice.
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