THEM DAYS

STUNNING GIRLS AND EM' MILESTONES

For the girls it was more of skipping rope, playing “kati or stopu" and “blada". The word ‘kati’ in Swahili means ‘between’ or ‘to be in the middle. Kati is quite similar to the game dodgeball in the United States. Kati was made from pairs of socks or plastic bags.These materials were found easily and so made the game easy to play anywhere.Two teams are needed to play the game. Each team has to consist of at least four people. All members of one team move to the middle of the playing field. The members of the other team divide themselves into two groups and stand on either sides. The purpose of the game is for players on the team in the middle of the field to evade the ball being thrown by the team on the outsides of the playing field. The players on the inside have to strategize to ensure that the ball does not touch them. Once the ball touches a player, the player is eliminated. The game ends when all the players in the middle of the field are eliminated. There were varying versions where you would be required to build a tower from soda bottle-tops, aim for a certain total number or take out as many opposing team members to emerge as the winning team and many others depending on where you were from. For “ blada" it was made from cutting out an inch wide, extra-long tyre tube and linking it to make a complete cycle that was then used as the main star of the game to challenge our flexibility. This was a game that was played at home and in school. It involved at least two girls, or one girl and a grill that represented a spot on each side of the blada (or elastic as it is now known).There was also Mzungururuko. The game entailed of several girls turning around with their eyes closed. Only two girls were to keep their eyes open, their role was to pinch and slap the girls simultaneously after they had turned around as many times and laid down only left to guess who had pinched and slapped them. If they guessed wrong they'd go to hell.There were also games played by both gender. Brikicho was one of them.This was a version of hide and seek that involved kids shouting “brikicho, bantura” and kids dispersed into different hiding places trying to stay hidden for as long as possible. Three sticks was also played by both boys and girls. Nowadays known as “hop-step-and-jump”, this game tested the limits of your ascension into the skies, only to land where your little feet could carry you. We referred to the people that jumped the furthest as “daddy longlegs” (like the spider). There were times one could jump and really lose balance while on air which really hurt on reaching to the ground. You'd really be laughed at. I can also not forget start! and stop! also referred to as “Animal kingdom”, it was a great indoor game reserved mostly during power rationing during the heavy rainy season. It involved pen, paper, and proper knowledge of all things alphabetical ranging from names, cars, and countries.There was also draughts. This was primarily “chess for dummies”, though it required serious skill to ensure that you entrapped your opponent at your earliest convenience. All it needed was a cardboard square with a coloured grid carefully marked onto it with a ruler and a biro pen. We used bottle tops for pawns. Amongst Zack age, there was football made from plastic paper and sisal rope. There were pros who'd really make an awesome ball. But when it came to play the owners would run the game completely. If you wronged them you were chased away leaving those who were complacent with his terms playing. When he was also hungry he would go with his ball at home and the game would be assumed to be over until the next day which it would resume lol! Fishing was also there amongst Zack's age. This was really interesting. It was two in one. There was the fishing part and “duff mpararo" swimming in a river which mostly was dirty . For fishing one needed a medium stick, a hook "ndoano" from buying a safety pin?, a worm “mnyongororo" and an upholstery thread which one would purchase from Mr. Abdallah. For duff mpararo the requirement was a mandazi plastic bag which was used after swimming because it was oily hence it served as body oil. Fishing was done in a place called “carwash" and the main fish was mudfish. For duff mpararo it was done in Nyongara river. First learners in ”duff mpararo" were directed to bring a floater from chombo. Basically chombo was a place where the Whites used to dispose their gabbage. You would find newly used toy cars, jerseys and even television sets. It was a nice place to go coz if you were lucky you'd find an awesome toy. In chombo you'd find inflated tyre tubes which you would use as floaters in “duff mpararo". Boys of Zack's age also made dope cars made of wire and competed based on the design and creativity used to make them. Pata pata slippers were used to make the car wheels too. Wasn't it interesting?