Upon finishing High school, my kuka (grandpa) from my mom's side, Japhetha Makokha left for the coastal city of Mombasa with a school buddy and his buddy’s girlfriend. The boys were looking for work, determined and optimistic, they rode on a train in third class for two to three days.
Despite the uncomfort of stiff chairs, the lack of beds, and banal food, Makokha recounted that, instead of complaining, “We took it as entertainment.” Once they arrived, they went to their housing, mere shacks that only costed ten shillings to rent, equivalent to ten cents.
After a while reality hit home, the conditions weren’t conducive, they had no relatives, and finding a job was extremely hard. Many more factors than they had initially considered came with obtaining a job. For one, all employers required visible school living certificates to show that they had actually gone to school, not to be confused with exam certificates. He interviewed at a bank and East African Community organization but was denied at both, even being told that he had ‘failed.’
Both young men continued to be met with constant rejection. Another factor was the treatment from the locals. “ It was a very bad time, at this time the people of Mombasa were very repulsive to people from upcountry, “ He said, “You would find that you would be stopped at the gates [Of workplaces] being asked for money.” He remembers lying to those people at the gates just so he could actually get to where he was going, only left to hope that he wouldn’t encounter them afterward. They had the mentality that those from upcountry were coming to steal their jobs. “They were uneducated themselves. I think they were just messing with the system to get something out of it for themselves.”
Time, food, money, and all other resources that they had come with were running out. No longer able to live this way, Makokha’s friend and his girlfriend chose to return home. This left him alone, money-less, and job-less to the point that he couldn’t even afford a trip back home himself. Despair slowly crept in and found a home in Makokha.
Finally, he reached out and wrote to an older brother in hopes that he would be able to assist him, send money or something. Astonishingly, he refused saying that he was older and shouldn’t be sent by a younger brother to do something. This was heartbreaking news and was the last straw, it almost finished him completely. What was he to do? He began to have thoughts of suicide. “ I had been thinking of just dropping in the ocean and vanishing because I would die the way I was going!” He was so close in fact, but something stalled his actions. “ If I did it, how would I help my mother?”
Makokha grew up in a polygamous home, his father had many wives. His own mother had given birth to over ten children and he was nowhere near the oldest, but he remembers that he was the only child of hers that thought in this way, to give back and help the two younger brothers living at home as well, even when he didn’t have much for himself.
By this time, his situation was quickly deteriorating. From the little pocket change that he still had from home, he would rise in the morning, amble around, then go to a street vendor in the evening and buy either a small cone full of groundnuts for ten shillings (less than $0.10 USD) or one or two pieces of Kaimati (crunchy dough dumplings coated in a sweet sugar syrup the size of ping pong balls) for five shillings. Afterward, he would walk into town, the soles of his shoes worn completely off from miles of walking in the sweltering heat. Here he would get free water from a hotel, washing down his only “meal” of the day before going to sleep.
Through all this turmoil, one day a miracle occurred. He had already gone without food for three days and was loitering around a ferry station when he spotted a working man that looked familiar. Both came to each other, greeting warmly as former neighbors. Makokha told him of his situation and the man gave him money and agreed to house him. “I was very happy, I thought that I had been resurrected almost,” he remembers, “ He really saved my life and I was very appreciative.”
Eventually, after three months in that house, Makokha returned home. His first mission was to retrieve his certificates then take up the job hunt again in his home city. Within no time he got his first and lifelong job accounting in the judiciary department. His job also offered him access to a government-sponsored college.
Then, when land was being distributed in the family, the same brother who had denied him assistance, refused to allow him a share, jealous that he was working and could buy his own land. This experience taught him how important money is and from going through the motions he says, “I learned that people don’t care about you, so you should care about yourself and take care of yourself first.”
Now, he still maintains that belief but in a modified sense. “Don’t be too quick to assume how much others care about you.” Later on, as he raised his own ten children he didn’t want them to have to think in that way because if they did, they would become selfish & resentful. Instead, he pushed them to work hard knowing that, “Once they attained knowledge they wouldn’t acquire such difficulties. That’s how you get your own position,” he says, “you create it.”
Kaimati pictured
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