"FOREVER AMEN - CHUI..."

THESE ARE VERY GOOD,CAN I PLEASE HAVE MORE?

Two weeks had already passed since Nilla started her business. She would get home, take a one-hour nap, then start making her samosas. This little business had enabled her to join a chama. Chama is a name that women in Kenya use for their small groups where they each contribute a specific amount of money and everyone has got their day for receiving the money collected. Nilla had managed to find one within the block where she lived. The affordable lifestyle in this part of the city was why anyone who came from the village and was struggling to find footing in the city would start from. The women living in such places, however, had unity and always had chamas which helped them save for their families, as most of them, their husbands were only husbands by name and nothing more. They struggled to make ends meet while providing for their children. What was sad in their situations was that they thought that all they were going through was normal. African women have been brought up to think that only a life full of struggle and pain is worthy. Nilla had joined a group of ten of these women in a chama where they would be contributing a thousand Kenyan shillings, equivalent to 6.35USD, every Monday and Friday. Through savings, she would own what she had always wanted.

On the other side of the road, opposite Li&Associates, at the Plutex Global company, the employees had already started getting hooked to the tasty samosas during break hours. Robert had just flown in that morning. Too much work was going on in four of their main branches-Kenya, The UK, Singapore and Qatar. These were the big offices for the various branches of the Plutex Global organization within their respective regions. Business in the continent of Africa was expanding and, as such, Robert would come in whenever work was extreme to supervise together with his partners, then head back to wherever his heart wanted to. He was in by seven in the morning, went straight to the meeting he was expected to chair and was done by 9:30 in the morning. Francisca, I am starving. Would you be kind enough to get me some breakfast please?" He asked his personal assistant. I will order some samosas for you." Francissca told him. "And those are...?" Robert asked.

"They are like meat envelopes, but these are made with either green grams or minced meat. The lady who makes them also seems to have added some ingredients that we don't even know. However, what we know is that nobody in Nairobi has ever made such great samosas before."

"Okay, please just ask her not to take too long"

"Sawasawa, I will make your coffee as we wait for her, already texted her, she said she is on her way."

Nilla dropped the ten samosas ordered by Francisca at the receptionist's table and left. Francisca had ordered ten of them, five for her and five for her boss. "Oohhh... these are so good! Where did you order them from? Robert asked. "There's a lady who makes them, she also delivers them in person. She doesn't have a canteen yet. Robert had left his office and was at Francisca's desk. He was a very kind boss. The ladies really liked him. Robert was tall, had beautifully long dark hair and blue eyes. He was a very beautiful man according to the ladies. The ladies were not sure whether he was married or not. Understanding a mzungu man is very hard. They are not like most African men who are mostly married by the age of thirty, so, knowing whether one is married or not is so easy. However, Nairobi women usually don't care whether a man is married or not. In fact, there is a widely used saying in Nairobi which goes "A man is only yours when you are together, as soon as he steps away from you, he belongs to all of us." So, Robert had had the ladies throwing themselves at him. There was a time he almost had a fling with Mary, one of the women working for the same company. What stopped him was when his friend from the US told him Mary had been with him for almost a year and caught feelings for him even after he had made it clear he was not leaving his wife for her. Mary was hurt but still, she never gave up on her dream of wanting to be with a mzungu, so, she went after Robert, who almost considered give things a try with her.

Robert was at Francisca's desk wanting some of her samosas after he had finished his. "For the whole week, I will be here, I want to have these daily for breakfast, they are so good." He said as he picked a samosa from Francisca's pate. "Oooh Francisca, my good friend, these are very good, can I please have more?"

Francisca had to order more, which were dropped by the receptionist's desk. That was Roberts breakfast and lunch.

Nilla was always tired because of her booming business. She had long hours working her job and another five hours from Monday to Friday nights. She was so happy that her house had food. She had even bought new curtains and was excited her life was getting better. One thing she did not realize was that her body was wearing out. She needed someone to help with the cooking, someone she would pay to enable her rest. The most difficult part of making samosas was making samosa envelopes, called manda, the manda that took a long time to make. She thought about hiring someone to help her out, so she could get enough rest. Later that day, Nilla found a helper she would pay. The lady was more than happy to start working the same evening. She would start by making the samosa manda, and then clean the whole tiny house. Nilla would come from work, cook the green grams and minced meat, then they would both do the wrapping. That night, Nilla spent only one hour preparing the samosas as her work had greatly decreased. The following day, Sarah had to caution Nilla about her business. People had started asking why, all of a sudden, she and Sarah were close. They decided that a hundred samosas were more than enough as the microwave beeps were always heard whenever Nilla entered Sarah's office. Mrs Majimbo was eager to know why the two were close yet, according to her, they were not in the same class socially in any way anyone could try imagining. Her best guess was, Sarah ran a side business and had recruited Nilla in it, and that meant conflict of interest. She was still joining the dots and once she was able to put them together, she would wreak havoc.

It was exactly one month since she had started her business which brought her so much fulfillment. At the Orange Plaza, she met her friend Robert. Francisca was not in and the receptionist told her to just take them to the office on the left wing. Nilla knocked at the door." Come in!' The voice answered. Nilla opened the door, It was Robert! "Heeey! How are you, you tall thing! Long time no see. Is this where you work?" Nilla asked, rather pleased to see her long-lost friend." Hey you! How have you been? What a pleasant surprise, what are you doing here?" Robert asked, also pleased to see Nilla.

"I am here to deliver my samosas"

"What?how? You are the one who's been making these?"

“I am here to sell you my tasty, signature samosas, utapenda! Nilla said as Robert laughed silently at how she spoke, like a performer in the theaters. “How many do you want? A hundred?” Nilla asked as she laughed in a silly way. “ I want all of them for everyone on this floor. Six for me first.” Robert had decided to promote his friend’s business. Nilla was so happy, she didn’t have to sell whatever would have remained during lunch hour. She will use that time to sleep or rest on her desk. “ You are a great friend, Robert,. Every time we meet, my value goes up. Thank you, really.”

“ Your value goes up?”

“Yes, the last time we met, you left me with very great words. They were my favorite part of my birthday. Believe your ears when I tell you, I rested on your words and true to them, the following day, I realized that the essence of my birthday was to create room for what is to grow. Your words made it easy for me to jump, however scared I was to start this my business.Whenever I am done cleaning and being a messenger at my job, I create time to make samosas. This idea had come to me before, but I was so scared, resting on your wisdom really managed my anxiety. Asante”

Whenever she felt grateful, she had a beautiful way of putting her thoughts out to the world. Robert was moved by her beautiful words of gratitude. Nilla was unique, he thought. Francisca walked in later and Robert asked her to make sure everyone on the top floor got a piece of the samosas. In the meantime, he kept talking with his friend.

“ So, you work in that building over there?” Robert asked,

"Yes, for Li & Associates. Actually, they own this plaza. They are a real estate company and own almost every business complex around Upper Hill." Robert was not even aware of who owned The Orange building on which his company sat.

“ The last time we met in the elevator, I went to clean the sixth floor, a new firm had just relocated and another was coming in.” Nilla continued. “Enough about me, what do you do for a living, you know, besides breathing in and out? And why is your office so huge dear friend?” Nilla asked her friend Robert.

“ Well…. I mostly come here, go through boring papers to check for errors and future dealings. Sometimes, I even attend meetings, but that’s just it. As for the office, believe me, I also don’t understand why it had to be this big…? “ Robert said, as he clearly avoided telling his friend whatever he did for a living. Robert paid thrice the total and a tip on top. Nilla was very grateful. This was indeed a good day for her. She bid her friend goodbye after thanking him and left. Every time Robert met Nilla, he was always laughing, she was good company.

Nilla checked her time. She had been talking to Robert one hour past her tea break. She knew Mrs Majimbo would not be pleased at all. As soon as Nilla entered the main door, her eyes met with Mrs Majimbo. She almost dropped her delivery basket. How would she explain where she was coming from? How would she explain what she was doing with a basket in her hand? Mrs Majimbo was proud that she was indeed right, Sarah had been using Nilla to run her errands.

The other bosses were involved. As it turned out, there were visitors who had come for a meeting with Mr. Li, Nilla was not present to pick them up at the gate, neither was she there to fix them tea as per the company policy. She made sure that if she were to go down, she would go down alone and not with Sarah. At the summon, she denied Sarah’s involvement in her business in any way. She even apologized to Sarah for the confusion. She turned to Sarah and said“ Miss Sarah, I am very sorry for dragging you into my mess. I really hope you find it in your heart to forgive me.” Nilla insisted that Sarah had been helping her out with her personal issues.

Nilla was paid her dues and fired. “Wait, Mrs Majimbo said as Nilla headed outside the Human Resource's door. “ We will notify the security services on all of our business complexes not to allow you in, you really embarrassed us today. We were not even aware that the visitors had stayed at the gate for long, thinking that you had gone to get them, until they called threatening to leave without seeing us.” Mrs Majimbo really wanted to be liked by the Chinese bosses. Nilla was back to square zero. Her side hustle had taken her job away from her.

Nilla had never gone back to school to collect her certificate of secondary school, which is a very important document in job hunting within Kenya. She was not able to clear her school fees by the time she was done with high school. The school had a policy that only those without fee arrears were to receive their fourth form certificate. Getting another job without a form four certificate is very hard. If only Mrs Majimbo had not been in the room, she would have defended herself. She had to think. Fast. Selling samosas in this part of the city was really great since she would sell at three times the price other business people sold theirs around the place she lived. Her friend Robert had paid her good money that day, and she was looking forward to convincing him to buy more from her, yet, Majimbo had gone above and beyond to make sure her business did not flourish. Brian would be coming home in a weeks time. That meant she had to send him his bus fare from school to Nairobi. There would be daily food expenses to be met during his term break. When going back to school, he would need personal effects shopping, and pocket money. How would she manage the money she had made from her little side hustle? How would she earn a living now that things had gone south?

Sarah called Nilla. “Where are you my dear friend? I will come find you." She said.

"I am at home, but, it is a place not fit for someone like you. Please let me come find you."

"I am coming to you, my friend. Where are you?"

"I live in Zimmerman, not the good-looking upper part of it, but the lower side of it. Are you sure you want to come to a place like this?"

Sarah did not care. She was a very kind human. She decided to go to Nilla's place.

“This is home. Been living here for the past five months. Its state is one of the reasons I really wanted a side hustle for more money.” Nilla said as she handed Sarah a glass of juice. “Thank you my dear friend. We all start from somewhere. Also, you are still very young, Nilla. At your age, I could never have thought of working as hard as you do. This is a stage, you are on the right path. What’s that thing you young people say?… one day, the result will deliver itself.” Sarah was just thirty yet spoke to Nilla as if she was old enough to be her mother. “ It has been a week Nilla, how are you coping? Did you manage to find somewhere yet?” Sarah asked.

“No, I haven’t. However, I am expecting chama money. I will use it to start maybe a diaper business or maybe a daycare or buy a laundry machine …. I still don’t know what business to start,” Nilla said.

“ This area can be a good place to sell diapers considering most people here have got many children. But, again, they prefer using washable diapers as they are cheap, and they don’t mind washing them daily as well. They are not like people from other parts of Nairobi who loathe touching soiled diapers. On the washing machine, these people don’t find washing clothes by hand such a big hustle, and this only means a laundry business will not do well over here. For daycare, it might do well. However, you will have to charge low since the larger demographic of this place cannot afford anything above 100 shillings a day. What about a food business? You are a good cook. We could also try an online delivery platform. For the clients you have already made around Upper Hill, you could have a delivery person, since that devil asked the security working for our buildings not to let you in.” Sarah was always good with her pieces of advice. Nilla was listening.

“ You said you wanted to buy a bed? I will buy it for you. You deserve it. You work so hard, Nilla. Girls your age in this city,most of them wouldn't work as hard as you do. But you are here, you struggle, you work hard and now, I really want to know your story. Is it your mum back in the village? Your siblings? What really pushes you so hard?” The two had a long talk. Sarah got to know who Nilla Jibawi truly was. She liked her even more.

“ I truly feel like I have been surviving for so long, I have struggled to keep my head above the water for so long, Sarah. When I came to Nairobi, I made a promise that I would work so hard, live a decent life, then maybe, rest once I turn thirty. My spirit is shutting down, but I cannot let it because I have a brother depending on me.” Nilla lived life like a prey being constantly hunted by predators,and now, she was becoming tired, she was becoming weary. She never knew how weary she had become until she sat in silence after Majimbo had her dismissed. All she was begging from life was rest. Only rest.

“The main reason why I had to check on you is because I will be leaving. I am getting married and he is not Kenyan. As my friend, I thought it would be good to let you know. I will be leaving for Denmark. If I had known earlier that you could use my house items, I could have given them to you. It’s sad because I have already sold and given out some. Still, I must get you a bunk bed with a mattress, a sofa for your space and a TV. How about that? I will also make sure that you have everything you need before I leave, okay?” Nilla was about to refuse this offer when Sarah told her,” Nilla, you are so used to fighting alone and that is the only way you’ve taught yourself a fight can be worth it. Allowing others to help you fight is just as worthy, provided the enemy is eliminated.”

“ Wise words, my dear friend, thank you. I will be so grateful. You have indeed done way too much for me. I can’t thank you enough.” Nilla was so grateful. That evening, after Sarah left, a bunk bed with new mattresses was brought, there was also a three-seater sofa, a fridge, a clothing rack and a TV. Nilla could not believe her eyes. She called Sarah in tears. She even offered to see her off to the airport the next day just to show her gratitude in person. Sarah had not just given Nilla material possessions.She left her with valuable life lessons. Before she left, Sarah had noticed how clean Nilla's small house was. She also made a comment on what made her really like Nilla. Nilla was always clean, extra clean. Nilla had always believed that being clean got rid of bad luck, sometimes, or maybe, most of the time. The truth is, growing up, she didn’t have access to clean clothes, she did not have anyone to do her laundry for her as a child, and when she was old enough to do it, getting soap was an extreme sport, ooohh how she hated dirt. She dwelt on it when she did not have a choice or a means out of it. Now that she was an adult, no matter what Nilla was going through, she was always presentable. She was right, because it was because of her extreme cleanliness that Sarah noticed her. She noticed that Nilla did not have much, but still, she was always presentable. So, Nilla was right, cleanliness indeed brought her luck.

The following morning, Sarah offered to pay for Nilla's taxi." Just hail from your side, I will pay little friend." Sarah said. Nilla arrived at the airport and the driver immediately left. Nilla didn’t want to bother Sarah with paying for her ride, not after everything Sarah had done for her. Sarah was going to join her fiancé in Denmark and would soon get married. The two ladies talked for an hour, after which, Sarah boarded her plane. Nilla headed towards the exit to make it home. The taxi Nilla had hailed was about to arrive. The cab driver had given her a call saying he was a minute away. Nilla had planned to go back home and think of the new business she was to start. The taxi had already arrived when a black car stopped in front of Nilla. The window rolled down, it was her friend Robert. “ Hey Nilla, how’re you? You know, I just saw a short tiny person and thought, that person looks familiar and true to my thoughts, it’s you, my short friend”. They started laughing.

“ Actually, I’m not short. Do you realize you’re the tall one, Robert? I’m very normal, it’s you who went overboard with this height thig. ” They laughed again.

“ I can see you leaving, I just jetted in.”

“ Yes, I’m leaving. I came to see my friend off…”

“ I don’t know what to do between today and tomorrow afternoon, when I will be having my meeting. Maybe we should go have dinner together? And later I could go home and wait for tomorrow if that’s okay with you?”

Nilla could use some time away from her thoughts. Besides, she liked Robert's company, they always had silly jokes to laugh about. .