I packed my stuff and locked them into my drawer knowing that any further delay would cause us wait at the entrance of the basement for at least twenty minutes. Evening traffic on Loita Street usually begins to built up by 4.30 pm and thereafter will be a struggle to get into Koinange Street. My preference then would be to drive past the Libyan Embassy and then take a right and a left by Florida Night Club at Chai House and then a right by the City Market. The Petrol Station at the Club is long closed down and barricaded with makati. This is a spot where I normally drop Leslie Mwachiro or Maalim Hassan Komesha before I head to Biashara Street before heading to Moi Avenue and down to Globe Cinema. Much has changed since my University days: Sal Night Spot changed to Acadia Night Club where Gloria Africana with Ismail Gingo and Bonny soothed our young hearts to the beats of Curtis Mayfield and James Brown every Sunday until boogies were banned by the Nairobi Provincial Commissioner for corrupting young souls. Gone is also the American and nearby Exotica cafés. You had to stop at any of these cafés on a Saturday morning to meet long lost friends, and before this you had to shop at either Woolworth or Ebrahim Supermarket to either window shop or by Old spice or some hair cream before heading for coffee and kebabs at either Jacks Pop-In Cafe, American Snack Bar or Exotica. Saturday morning was our day for the rounds with Fadhili Mdogo. We would take Kenya Bus No. 6 or 9 and drop at Hallians on Tom Mboya Streets before heading to Ebrahim & Co. Ltd. Supermarket or Woolworth Limited Supermarket before finally settling down for a glass of coke or coffee and a kebab or samosa. We knew that we would definitely bounce on a friend or two who we would also meet at Club 1900 in the evening and enjoy the latest disco grooves from the States. We all dreamt of ending up in the United States to train as pilots and eventually join East African Airways. A few of our friends had ended up in Florida where they learnt how to fly commercial planes. We envied them and dreamt of following their nyayo but this was a tall order as scholarships were hard to come by. Harvard and Connell Universities were by then out of our radars until I joined the University of Nairobi and met new friends who had different dreams of earning masters and PhDs. My dreams then changed as I became a frequent visitor to the Gandhi Library and crammed hard. I ended up in Glasgow by a miracle; an advert posted in front of the library kept attracting my attention early during my third and final year at the University. I persuaded my friend Ibrahim Kadoka that we apply. I doubt whether he did actually apply but I did and got a scholarship even though I did not secure a First Class degree. The advert demanded for one to obtain a first class to qualify for a scholarship. I obtained a conditional admission six months before I did my final examinations and boy I worked hard and dreamt of going to Europe to fulfill my dreams. I had never been in on an aero plane and this was my chance. The most travel I had done was by train to Dar es Salaam when one would leave Nairobi on a Thursday or Saturday evening and arrive in Dar two days later. There would be a long wait at Voi where we would have to wait for the train from Mombasa for the wagons to Tanganyika to be joined with ours, and then another long wait at Moshi. The train arrived early in the morning at Voi and would not leave until the evening. We would spend many hours waiting and feared to venture into the town for fear of coming back and finding that the train had left. I travelled Second Class cutesy of my brother-in-law Saidi Mwanahaji who worked for the East African Railways and Harbours in Dar. It was always a joy visiting Rukia and Saidi during vacations and looked forward to my young niece Farida who always hovered by me. We finally managed to struggle past the traffic and took a left by Loita Street and stopped by the Uchumi Supermarket to buy a few groceries consisting of milk, bread and Egyptian jam. I love Vitrac strawberry jam from Egypt and often move from one supermarket to another looking for the stuff that has become rare to obtain. I dashed into the supermarket and after security check dashed to the shelves and fridge where my groceries were to be found with Rono my bodyguard chasing after me to help his boss. I could see that he was struggling to help me but I could never understand the fuss as I was comfortable shopping on my own. Poor Rono, he was only doing what he felt was his routine. We finally ended at a counter and as I was ready to pay, there was my Mwalimu. A voice came from the other end, Yusufu how are you? It was a familiar voice that was easy to identify, a voice I have known since 1972 when I joined the History Department at the University of Nairobi as an undergraduate student. It was Mwalimu, my professor and former Chair of the department where I had worked from 1979 to 1987. Boy, was I glad to see Mwalimu who never seem to age since I met him in the early 1970s. We shook hands and asked him whether he had become a chancellor of any of the countrys universities. Yes. You have not heard? I am one at Kisii University but I still do my hold my job at the University. We then parted before he promised to take me for lunch. We exchanged telephone numbers before I dashed to the car and headed home via Koinange and Biashara streets before heading to Ngara and Muthaiga Road all the way to Redhill Road and headed for Gachie. I tried to explain to both Oyusu and Rono about Mwalimu and they all we amused that I had met my Mwalimu of 39 years ago. A few days later the sms came through inviting me for lunch at the Club but could not make it that Friday as I was headed to Manzoni Lodge for a Political Parties Liaison Committee Meeting. Mwalimu promised to look for another date for our lunch but that was also not to be as I had another lunch date with Mzee Abbas who I had not seen for many days. This was an appointment that I could not cancel for I had a lot fondness for Mzee Abbas as I did for Mwalimu. A week later Mwalimu sent another message requesting whether we could meet at 12.30 pm at the Club. I immediately said yes and blocked the Friday for the lunch date. I made final request to Mwalimu is it possible to get a copy of your book? The sms immediately popped up saying Yes. I shall bring one for you. This was a rare print on Kenyan History that I badly needed for my library after losing a signed copy to a colleague. I looked forward to the Friday and the Lunch Appointment with my mentor and a professor who had thought me the History of Kenya and in the third year the History of The United States.; two subjects besides the History of Political Ideas and the History of Latin America that I came to teach under his chairmanship. It was Mwalimu who also taught me the art of writing minutes as a young lecturer. One evening as we were driving home, I asked my driver if he knew where the United Kenya Club was and he had no idea. I thought of walking to the Club from the Anniversary Towers but then thought that I would need to go all the way to Mbugani Estate to visit my only surviving Aunty. Since coming back from my diplomatic posting it has become a ritual for to visit Mama Arusha after the Friday prayer for a sumptuous meal with my relatives. Once in a while I do miss but it has to be a good reason and my colleagues know that I have reserved the Friday for her; the only surviving old relative of my parents. The Friday arrived and I left the office to be at the United Club by 12.30 pm. I dint want Mwalimu to be waiting for me. The traffic lights at the University roundabout kept changing from red to green and back to red but the traffic policeman would not let us drive through. It appeared to take such a long time before we finally got through. I dashed out of the car and there was Mwalimu already waiting for me. To my surprise Mwalimu was not alone ; there was his wife, Njeri and their eldest son who had finished his Ph. D. Degree and was looking forward to teaching at a University. They had not aged though I had and was a graduate of grey hair. They looked the same when I had hosted then for dinner in the year 2004 at Potomac, Maryland at the Ambassadors residence. We caught up with the old times when I was an undergraduate and Njeri was a librarian at Gandhi Library at the University of Nairobi. She could not remember but I ended up reminding her how the had visited me in London in 1977 when I had run out of funds and almost on the verge of abandoning my studies at the University of Glasgow. I had become a doorman at the Odeon Cinema downtown Glasgow to make ends meet. Things had become so bad that my friends Poitier and Emanuwa came to my rescue with funds to buy clothes and have my Master of Philosophy dissertation typed. I had to find a job to make ends meet with my meager scholarship that was taxable. One evening after reading an advert in the local evening paper I headed to Renfrew Street for an interview at the Odeon Cinema. I found a long queue of girls waiting to be interviewed and as determined as I was I remained in the line for them to throw me away as the only male. The manager kept looking at me and wondered whether I was escorting a girlfriend for this only girls interview. I finally explained to him that I was desperately looking for a job and was willing even to sell ice cream. Three days later I was employed as a doorman wearing a purple uniform that included a tie. I was to work there for two years until Mwalimu found me a partial scholarship from the University of Nairobi and a two year scholarship from the Association of Commonwealth Universities. I continued with the doormans job until September 1979 when I left Scotland for home with two degrees thanks to Mwalimu. We sat for lunch with Professor Godfrey Muriuki, the author of A History of the Kikuyu, 1500 - 1900 beaming with joy that his student was a success story - a lecturer; Deputy Managing Director and Managing Director of the Industrial Development Bank; Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority; Ambassador to the Netherlands, Czech and Slovakia , United States, Mexico and Colombia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait; Commissioner of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission and Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission. I am among the many lucky students that the Professor continues to help. What a man who is simple and unassuming! The lunch was over by 2.30 pm and I headed to South C and Mbugani Estate to fulfill my Friday ritual of visiting the Old Lady ..... With Professor Godfrey Muriuki on my mind and hoping that I shall soon visit him with a cheque for him to help another needy student .....
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 20:10:59 +0000
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