Gods Given Swimming Pool

When I was a little girl, I used to see people on the television complaining about floods instead of  swimming in the water. After all, rain was a blessing (my very wise father who quotes the  ‘wahenga’ now and then, today thinks otherwise). God had brought a swimming pool at their  doorstep, why not take those lemons and make lemonades. Today, I can confirm to you that  ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is in fact the enemy.  

During emergencies in my family, nobody bothers to wake you up and tell you what is going on, you will hear screams and commotion, or strange sounds and you will have to probe for yourself.

It is a Friday evening, rest finally! After a hard week… I particularly do not have a hard week at  work, however, I need my rest. So I come  home at a fairly good time and make dinner for my family. Not your typical kind of meal,  because I cook ugali, beans and meat. Please… diet police. Don’t come for me, I was already in  the house and would not go outside for anything. Or so I thought.

I serve my family food, and settle down for a meal myself in my comfortable spot, my room. I  had previously finished my book so I am currently in between books, the way you can be in  between jobs, I had not picked my next book yet. I settled on watching a film. This is where I use  my school fees well. By using this phrase that the teachers always told us to make sentences  with, literally, No sooner had I settled in my bed than the commotion and strange sounds  started from my family members.

I get out of bed to find out who has decided to pass on at this time of the night and why would  they not choose to tell us gently, but as I go down the stairs in a hurry, what meets me is a pool  of water. The house is flooded! A Kenyan’s first instinct is to check whether your neighbor is  going through what you are going through. I am not less Kenyan so woe unto me if I skip this  rite of passage. So since we do not think of praying for a miracle for God to part our waters like  he did the Red sea with Moses we walk through the water, which is knee-length to find out  whether our neighbors are going through the predicament, only to confirm the obvious, it is in  fact flooded.

Panic! God chose me to be the youngest person in my family for a reason, because who will ask  me what to do when there are older people in the room. At first, we assess the level of  the damage walking all around the compound, to determine the problem. We  get to work, one with the bucket, another inspecting the manhole, the other bringing  blankets to block the waterways of the unaffected rooms.

Our efforts actually bear fruits and the house is free of water, we of course, are freezing because  all along the water has been at knee-length. Our two dogs seem to have an out of world experience as they are a time of their lives splashing water on us. Now that indoors is free of  water, we go outside to try to fix the problem, when we realize that the manhole had been  blocked by leaves of eucalyptus trees growing around, my local language terms them as ‘minyua  maai’ which translates to water drinkers, you would wonder why they are suddenly not doing  their job.

The manhole is repaired; I give my father the president treatment by holding an umbrella for  him as he works on the manhole. My mother on the other hand offers to cook us porridge to  keep warm. The most important outcome however, is that I am shaken out of my little girl's ignorance. My question on why people do not swim in the ‘God-given swimming  pools’ is answered.