Friday 11 July 2014

#MasenoDays: The Dark Pits



Sometimes we forget how good we have it until life so diligently decides to remind us. This was a lesson the great school reminded me of on more than one occasion. But the one that I will never forget was the pit latrines, before joining Maseno my perception of pit latrines was associated with ancestral homes so during my first week as a mono imagine my surprise when I asked for the washrooms and I was directed to a red iron-sheet far removed from the sleeping area.

At first I thought it was a joke but the moment reality dawned on me and I realized there was no other option, that was a dark day. I made my way to the dark pits situated at the edge of the school where the natural gas of human waste was all you could smell. Now given that this was all new to me, I didn't know the most fundamental of rule, You always take off your shirt. It sounds simple enough but yet people still forget. I learnt why people do this after I returned to my seat in class and my desk-mate curled up his nose as if to waft away the smell. All I could do was stare blankly ahead and pretend to be highly fascinated with what the teacher had to say.

Now the beauty of learning is that its a continuous cycle. Given that I now knew to take off my shirt before getting to "business" I made sure to do so next time. It was a normal day like any other as I made my way to the pits tissue in hand. I set my shirt and sweater on the designated "Coat hanger" (this was basically a pole placed outside the pits) and proceeded to enter the pit. Now my neighbor to the right it would seem had come unprepared, he proceeded to ask one of the most awkward questions I've ever been asked

"Wewe msee, ukona TP ya kutosha" *insert puzzled look* 

"Niokolee leaf kaa nne hivi"

Of course I couldn't say no, didn't make the situation any less awkward though. I continued returning to dust what came from dust without little care of the happenings around. When I finally exited the dark pits all I found on the pole was my tie, carefully placed like a handkerchief on a tux. I started frantically searching the surrounding areas in the hopes that maybe the shirt had been blown by a strong wind but to no avail. So here I was shirtless with at least 300m between me and the dormitories.

I peeked around to make sure there was no teacher around and slowly started making my was back to the dorms. Now following Murphy's law this was not going to be that simple, as I approached the dorm, a teacher appeared from no where, I had to run to the back side of the dorm. So my options were two, stay and get caught which would result in punishment no matter my explanation or climb in through the window and change into a new shirt. I chose the latter, I was almost done changing into the new shirt when I heard the teacher walk into the dorm. I rapidly flew out the window without a second thought and made my way towards class via numerous deviations of course, couldn't afford to be caught after all that.

The anticipation as I watched the teacher complete his rounds almost killed me but it seems I had eluded him for the moment, it would seem my luck would hold. 



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