CHAPTER ONE
I made my parents laugh their lungs out one time when I told them that, I intended to marry a white man when it’s time for me to have a family.
This was after dinner at our village home when I shared with them some of my secrets. Most people know me as humble girl, reserved and barely associate freely with others.
True, just because you can’t hardly get a word from me does not mean that I can’t communicate, but if you do, you will be surprised by the amount of information or to the level that I can take the conversation. I sometimes act that way to be honest. My parents know me as a quite girl.
‘Oh, you made me laugh my lungs out my daughter, you who is shy and can’t sustain a conversation for long, where will you get a white man from for God’s sake and besides white guys like free girls, girls who can associate freely unlike you’, my mother said
‘Wait and see mother, how did you get married to my father because from my books, I am a total replica of my father. He must have said some few words of substance that swept you off your feet, isn’t it Mummy’, I replied
That response made my father laugh hard, ‘tell her. It’s the weight of the words that move relationships compared to how many words you can speak in a minute’, he said
‘Okay, I lose’, my mother replied
‘Don’t mind my daughter; you will meet a white guy who will love you the way you are’, said my father
‘Exactly daddy’
‘I have lost the conversation already, I wish you well my daughter. I don’t mind whether you meet a white/ black or whatever color so long as you two love each other and want to spend the rest of your lives together’, she replied
‘Now you are talking mum’, I said
I had just finished my undergraduate program in environment sciences and was looking forward to working, luckily enough the organization where I did my first internship had promised me a job in few months to come.
I was later called and I took up the position as a climate policy analyst from inspire world organization which had offices in our region.
Barely few weeks after my first appointment, a training opportunity was announced; they were looking for young graduates in environment policy to go for a workshop in new clean energy policies outside the country. The workshop was sponsored by the Swedish embassy for two weeks and I am lucky to be the chosen among the many. I was picked to represent my organization and later pass on the knowledge to others when I return.
I was called to the office of executive director for a briefing about the training;
‘Hello Valeria, how are you doing so far’, asked my boss
‘Very good sir, thanks for the opportunity for allowing me to join you as a graduate trainee and now as an employee’, I replied
‘You are welcome. I know you could have heard about this training that is coming up in Mombasa- Kenya and I want to send you to represent us’, he said
‘Thank you sir, I appreciate a lot and thanks for the trust that you have put on me. I will represent inspire world organization very well’
‘That’s good to hear. Such trainings are for you the young people who will take from us and take this brand global. That’s the legacy of every chief executive officer to train and encourage self-development among his employees’, he said
‘Thank you sir’
‘So, I called you here to tell you to prepare and you will be given a small allowance to help you mitigate the costs there but we are informed that you will well take care off so need to worry, where will I sleep or what will I eat’
’Thanks sir;
‘You can go and prepare’
I left my boss office in good spirits and energy. Mr Tom, my boss is such an educated fellow who was trained from abroad and so he respects everyone and has great integrity. When you interact with him, you see a great difference with other people that I have come to know. It is one of the reasons why I think that I can get true happiness if I marry a white person.
I went home and shared the good news with my parents;
‘I am so happy daddy that I have been chosen among the many to represent my organization and area at large for a training with Swedish experts at a workshop in Mombasa- Kenya’, she said
‘Thank you Lord, we welcome this with open arms’, my mother replied
That’s good to hear. You go and make everybody happy especially your bosses’, daddy said
‘Thank you daddy and Mummy’, I replied
Why I am I so happy, it is because this will be my first time her to travel outside my country and get an opportunity to mingle with other participants from across the region and beyond. The workshop will attract waste management practitioners from all over the East African region.
When it was time to move, I got her bag and packed some of my nice designer clothes, two pairs of designer shoes and a few other items. I don’t want people to refer to me as that villager and I later called for a taxi;
‘Stay well everyone’, I said as I boarded the taxi’
‘Reach safely my daughter’, my mother replied
‘Journey mercies my daughter’, my father said
’Bye Maggie and josh, my little sister and brother said
‘Bye bye Josh and Maggie’, I replied
I am supposed to check in six hours from now and so it is the reason why I boarded early enough to get enough time to check in and observe the process. It is normally quite hard to check in at the exact time of boarding especially if one is a first time traveler because you are bound to make mistakes or forget some important items which can necessitate you to even postpone the travelling.
The taxi guy took me to the bus park from where I boarded the bus on a four hours’ drive to the city. Reaching the city, I boarded another taxi for a one hour drive to the airport and from where I had almost two hours waiting for my flight.
Sited at the airport after checking in, I could see incoming flights come by and just imagined the experience being my first time. Time came and we were ushered to the plane. I was offered an economy class seat.
With the plane taking off, I felt a mixture of anticipating of what is coming next, fear but also joy as the plane went up to the clouds, I just held tight on my seat.
Looking across the opposite seat, I see one male passenger who kept looking at me, tying to laugh and felt relaxed with headphones, he was as if trying to signal to me, like relax you girl, this is how we rock it. Can I get used to this kind of lifestyle, I don’t know, may be.
As the plane settled up in the sky, all I could see right through my window was clouds beneath us and the only thing that I could say was, God take the wheel. It is simply breathtaking of how great engineering has been certain things possible like this bus that I was in frying. Stories of airplanes that have disappeared from the sky were right on my mind but I had to just harden myself. If others can, why not me, It was a great experience indeed.
