STONE CITY (Shamba La Mawe)

Yes. That’s the byname we Kenyans have given to our beautiful capital city. Not because it’s a city filled with stones, rather it’s because of the hardened nature of it.

As stones are hard and don’t break easily so does our city. Those who have lived in it can vindicate the statement. Nairobi is an ever bustling city with people on the move. You might be surprised as a visitor to find no one idling around as we say in our local dialect of sheng “magithaa ni maganji” (time is money). As you get to stay in the cosmopolis, you start being accustomed to the nature and know the whereabouts of each corner and who is who.

You will also be welcomed with things missing, being duped, buying jive products getting lost and so on. You will also know when to wake up and catch the train, what routes do busses take, where are the markets and how to save money. I got this first-hand experience when I got my identity card and started being a loner. I thought being born in the city gave me a free pass to the experiences but until I got corned that’s when I knew “son, welcome to the stone city”.

And that’s how life is. Sometimes we have to undergo certain experiences in order for us to know importance of certain things. I’m not suggesting that we depricate advice that we are given, rather I’m suggesting that something’s we have to experience to know their importance. You will never know how valuable money is until you have it and loose it. You will never know how important being warm-hearted is until one day you hurt those you love the most.

I recently had taken a break from school and decided to tackle life’s bull by its horns. I thought life is just a matter of starting ideas and pop “triumph” arrives. Shock on me. That’s when I realized life is but a journey and school gives you that sponge to fall back on and perfect yourself before entering the world. Without such an endurance, I would have never known how important education is.

That is the kind of experience I’m taking about. One needs such kind of lessons in order to know the value of certain things in life and also what not to do. Yes, listen to the advice of others especially those with much more experience than you but also be prepared to learn from life.

Make that bad investment so that you know how to invest better. Lose that first love and learn from the experience so that you know how to love. Even the bible gives a story of the prodigal son.

He was upfront with his father and demanded his share of his birthright as he said “I’m ready to be me”. Shock on him. Within no time he had squandered all his birthright and he became a pooper living with pigs. At that point that is when he realized the mistake he had done. He got up and decided to change and never repeat the same mistake again.

Without such an experience he would have never known the importance of patience and planning. As the narration goes on, we see he goes back to his father to ask for forgiveness. Because he learnt from his stumble. That’s how life should be.

We need such kind of experiences to teach us lessons that will long be engraved at the core of our beings. Appreciate them and don’t be afraid to learn. As the title states “Stone City”, that is also how life is. Not an easy journey but a learning process.