This City has Taught Me!

As a man walking to work,

Using a matatu to get to work,

Taking a cab sometimes to get to work,

This city has taught me how to protect myself from itself,

Do not use your phone if the window of the car is open,

Do not use alleys, day or night, you will lose a lot while trying to win a shortcut,

Have lose money before getting into a matatu because most Kenyan touts and politicians are the same, they promise change but they hardly give it.

As a woman walking to work,

Using a matatu to go to work,

Getting a cab sometimes to get to work,

I wonder how hard it must be for this city to teach women how to protect themselves from itself,

Because even if they avoided alleys, walked around with lose change, kept their phones safe...

Everyday,

In a matatu,

In the streets,

On a train,

A woman, a young girl, is catcalled, spanked, grabbed, by her hand, by her bag, by her leg, by her breast, by any part of her body..

The public transport system has always been a menace to women but it has never needed fixing because issues that affect women are women issues and this is a man’s world.

So buy yourself a car, if you want to afford dignity

Get money, so you can buy a good day

Yes, as a man you are expected to work hard but still as a man, ask yourself, do women, especially in low income areas, really, ever have it easy.

Do issues that affect Kenyans directly, daily, ever get the attention they deserve.

Can we agree that our city has a lot of government buildings, towers, filled with offices, that more often than not, take from the people more than they provide solutions for the people.

And can we see what we have done,

We have made political seats become doors of corruption and power and exploitation, tribalism and abuse of everything that makes us a nation.

When you look outside, walk in the streets,

Do you see a country for the people or a country taken from the people.

Don’t you think it is easy for anyone to run for any office because we, the voters, keep running from the truth...