By Kenneth Juror | Kenya
Mtito Anderi town in Makueni County
is a must-stop for most people traveling from Nairobi to Mombasa. It is a
transit town and a mid-point between the capital city of Kenya and the second
city, Mombasa.
Mtito
Andei according to the local people it means a forest of vultures. Some
residents say it means marabou stork.
Nick had boarded a bus to Mombasa for
vacation but decided to alight at this town. Most bus companies stop here to
allow passengers either empty their bowels, fill them, stretch their bodies or
quench thirst. Bus drivers and their crews are often treated to free food and
beverages.
After
the usual stop at this town he halted his journey to the coastal city so as to
sample it. On the right side of the road on your way to Mombasa, there is an
OilLibya petrol station from where Nick heard booming music coming from what
seemed like a bar or a discotheque. He decided to go to where the music came from;
as he walked he bought airtime so that he could inform his host of change of
plans and that they should not expect him, more over to assure them not to
worry just in case they did.
It
was some few minutes past midnight. The town was literally getting up from the
day’s slumber quite literally.
Choices…
He went in and sat at a corner so as to
“acquaint” himself with the restaurant. It had a raised area which acted as its
dance floor, above the dance floor there was the DJ stand/ cubicle, on the left
there was a sign leading one to the washrooms.
A
waitress came and took his order of Tusker baridi (cold Tusker) he took two at
amazing speed. A lady who looked like she was in her 40’s or late 30’s
approached Nick. She asked whether she could take a seat after greeting him.
“Do you want to be helped?” Nick did not understand what she meant but did not
express shock; she asked him what type he wanted. Nick got curious on what was
meant by “type”, the lady pointed to the direction of a girl seated alone on
the bar stool at the counter. It was then that it dawned on him that he was
being offered a girl of the night with the cliché “type”.
He
requested the lady if he could sample them himself. The lady who we shall call
boss agreed but after an exchange of Sh300 as “viewing fees”. He was taken
towards the washroom then took a right turn just behind the DJ’s cubicle.
Voila!
There they were, he looked around but chose a chocolate, medium-bosomed one who
also had round medium derriere. She was a little bit younger as compared to the
rest who had seen tougher days. She was still natural!
Pay more
This young lady was his pick who
happened to cost an arm and a leg because she was younger. They settled for
Sh2,500 for the girl for the night with the boss. The boss left as the girl
occupied the boss’ seat. She was called Mueni once they exchanged pleasantries.
She was shy although better looking in a
well-lit place than the dark areas they were being “kept”.
They
continued drinking up to around 1:30am. They left the bar for the lodgings that
punctuated the small dusty town, they chose one and in they went one after the
other. She sat on the bed then removed her shoes which had a slant. The slant
and the ground made an acute angle.
“Do
you live here?” Nick asked. She became so wild and told him not to waste her
time with such a question; he had no authority to ask her anything apart from
what he had paid for. Nick tried asserting that he had “bought” her for the
night amid her shouting interjections. After the confrontation she went
straight for his belt saying “kama wewe ni mwanaume kamili mbona ulikuja hapa?
Mbona ulinitaka? hebu toa hiyo kitu
yako?” (if you are man enough why did you come here? after all why did you
choose me? Can you get out your organ out?) He stopped her then put her on the
bed as she was on a kneeling position.
He opened up on who he was, where he
had come from and why he was there. He then excused himself and went outside
the room. Upon his return he had bought more drinks put in black polythene bag.
Mueni
asked him what he wanted. “Who is that lady I paid?” she said that was “our mother”
who acts like our broker. She goes from village to village looking for girls
who were not attending school, she would then agree with parents to be
remitting some amount of money on weekly basis depending on the work done. “In
my case my mother is a widow; my father was run over by a trailer some kilometers
from Mtito Andei in which police said it was a hit-and-run case”.
She
dropped out of school the previous year in form two, 16years of age yet she had
a national identity card indicating her age as 21. She has sold
her body for the last six months; she narrated this as tears flowed freely from
her tiny eyes that had seen the world’s cruelty at a tender age. She has six
brothers and two sisters, one of his brothers was shot dead at Salama area
along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway after he tried his hands in carjacking.
Money
Nick
cajoled her tapping her back slowly as they talked. He gave her Sh 3,000 and asked
her whether she would willingly quit the trade for school. She said she would
quit but vehemently refused to go back to school. She wanted a job.
Nick
removed his shirt and trousers as Mueni got her’s off too. He explained to her
that he was not interested in sleeping with her so it was not important to get
into bed in her birthday suit.
He
was not a vulture who wanted to gnaw her innocence; the town is a vulture town
just as the name, men and women are vultures too.
“I have never met a man like you”
she said as she got herself in bed. Why do you do this for me? She asked as she
got to a sitting position, “why?” she insisted looking straight into Nick’s eyes.
He requested her to calm down, to get a rest as he would explain everything the
following day.
Day break
“Nick, Nick..wewe (you) wake up” it
is 6:24am. She had already taken a shower. Nick went in for a shower as well
and asked her to give up her “job” as he would help her look for a job in the
hotel industry.
After
that Nick left for Mombasa after getting her phone number as well as her
mother’s.
He
knew some influential people in Mombasa who would probably help Mueni; during
his stay he kept in touch with her.
Two
weeks thereafter, Nick sent her some money for transport to Mombasa all this
while Mueni had stopped being a night girl. On her arrival she went to the
salon at least to look impressive because the following day she was scheduled
to attend an interview for a waitress job in one of the hotels that Nick’s
friend owned.
It
was a small oral interview which led to her training the following week.
He left the city as his holiday was
over, as he did, Mueni’s two brothers got jobs at the Kenya Ports Authority as
a loader and technician which was through Nick’s influence.
Mueni
on the other hand already had a one bed roomed house in Mikindani, she indeed
had quit her previous “job” and earns a decent living.
The
poor are cured by work, the rich by the doctor Polish proverb
