The End Of Our Small World

For those who lived to witness or heard from others, the year 2007 remains historical. Many innocent souls were maimed, bloodsheds everywhere. Damn tribal clashes had erupted as a result of disputed rigging of presidential election which saw most of our beloved Kenyans lose their lives. There had been a vicious rumor that the final was rigged, as the defense seemed useless. The PNU supporters had clashed with the then opposing party, ODM. Tegat tea estate, being multilingual was not spared but hard hit. We witnessed the saga for almost a year before opposing parties decided to go back to the drawing board form a coalition government, with the seat of a prime minister brought into being; this was after a mediator was brought in to harmonize the two. Tegat, whose main inhabitants were the Kalenjin was adversely affected but of course we were spared the reason behind being that we were at 'home'. The kiguyu's were hunted for hither thither - a president was not supposed to be from their land. The atmosphere itself smelt of blood, we never liked the same.

We had no otherwise rather than to leave school till the post-election violence was at a halt for that whole year. Jennifer, albeit being from Kamba land had a husband, Dannie was a Kiguyu. We prayed luck unto him. Since the outbreak of the unrest, we were forced to confine ourselves in one house - Jennifer's, for safety and to cover up Dannie. Though two-roomed as ours, this one seemed more meticulous with lots if expensive stuff. The house itself, without having to ask reflected the social status of the occupants - well to do occupants.

Of course, the looters and the bloodhounds went from home to home, and house to house looking for the 'enemy tribe', especially men to murder; women and children were spared lest they tried to behave unruly. They were worse than murderers, perhaps they wanted a mass killing. Dannie, for the worry of his life had to spend almost the whole day, that is 24 hours of each day hiding under the bed or at the ceiling as he wished was safe; his life was threatened, one thing he never thought was going to happen unto him. It wasn't easy for him, just imagine the realm. I can remember how one day he narrowly escaped death. It about seven o'clock in the evening when the involved gentleman knocked at our door. For fear of the unknown, none of us, not even dad had the guts to open the door; Dannie was here, having converted the ceiling into his hide out. 'Open the door or we will do the necessary; we forcibly flung it open. Hear me?, A voice of one of them, who seemed the ring leader echoed. Talking to the others in his gang, we heard him whisper," seems like we have a prey inside here. Whatever they think of us we must eliminate the zombie and maybe clear the shit out of our land." At that very moment I heard the forced movement of Dannie up there. He was perturbed, not knowing what to do, his blood half frozen. He had no otherwise, but waited for what fate had in store for him. Suddenly we heard a loud bang at the door whilst we saw the door flung open. The ring leader kept his word; He was doing as he said. We all tried to hide ourselves beneath chairs and tables. Momentarily, father stood up and talked to the fellows: "How dare you know very well we are part of your tribe and yet at the same sense try to bring in trouble?" They knew my father and so their leader demanded, "I suspect there is one of those kinds we are looking for right inside here. Instinct cant lie at me, hear?" Of course, my father understood. He then reprimanded us to stand up; his gaze flying from one end of the room to the other. On seeing we were all children except mum and Jennifer who we also spared, for their feminity, he went straight into the inner room where Dannie had crept into the ceiling. He seemed as though he smelt there was someone hiding, he was suspicious. He checked under the bed and beneath the mattress but found nobody. To satisfy his curiosity, he ordered the others to strip down the ceiling having missed someone to peep into it or I can say he never found a loophole to check; he seemed sure to find someone hiding up there. They tried in vain to remove it and thus they decided to make insertions into it with their sharp edged 'pangas' of theirs. From the look in her face, Jennifer could have screamed were it not that father had told her to persevere every circumstance that was to unfold. Dad knew it wasn't going to be easy; they were futile. Dannie was lucky enough, having firmly held himself unto the roof to evade the furmishing panga's and machetes. Such do happen, but rarely - the surface of the ceiling had numerous insertions which made it difficult for one to believe Dannie was never pierced, not even a part of his skin was was injured.

The world of Dannie was changed to one of suspicion and uncertainty. He felt as though the whole world was against him and that his days were approaching, to leave this godamn world and join the saints altogether. He seemed depressed, his soul devoid of energy. Whether he was asleep or awake, he just thought if death; everything smelt of death. He had tried to phone the police but in vain. All of us, except Dannie, who I later found out his full name was Dannie Wanjohi Njoroge, went out at times to look for whatever we could find as food. It wasn't easy for him, just put yourself under his shoes and imagine. Spending all those dark hours indoors made him dull and inactive, which made him doubt even more whether he was going to live long enough to see his baby who was yet to be born. Jennifer was three months pregnant.

We returned home one noon after an unfruitful search for something to eat only to find out, with the utter dismay that Dannie was not in. He was nowhere to be seen; neither the ceiling nor the underbed. We were all astonished by his disappearance; we all grew nervous, many questions lingering in our minds; has he been gotten at last? Has he decided to make an en-passant departure? Or someone has come for his rescue? One question crept into our minds after the other. Nothing was resolved anyway. They say, 'doubt doesn't bring in a resolution but rather adds trouble therein'. We also underwent the same fate, doubting everything that passed across our minds especially when we thought that he had been gotten, we never wanted to believe. It brought us a lot of trouble, we never resolved to anything important yet. Jennifer was the most impacted, she was her husband. Mom and Dad tried their best to calm her down, which was not easy; she seemed as though she was mourning. She was Oppressed, tormented and dejected by circumstances.

At dusk of that day, we found a letter enveloped under the table which deciphered the credentials: I LOVED YOU ALL AND WON'T CEASE DOING SO BUT FOR NOW, BYE. At first, we never knew what the envelope contained, but its content was as shocking as it read:

Dear Jennifer,

I know, with no doubt, that you'll be shocked by what Ive decided to do. I am sorry but I had no otherwise rather than to do whatever Ive done dear. You try to go through this letter but you're traumatized, I see; but don't let it shake your stance, be stoic enough to read it to the end. I loved you all and won't cease loving you, even at whenever I am going to set my first eye on. I don't know what fate has for me, or what it's going to begot me but the bitter truth is that I have decided to make my way to the Kericho police station amidst the prevailing tribal turbulence; if I make, you'll definitely get to know and if not, just accept the same. As for your welfare and my kids, I have transferred all I had; including the flat I recently bought. Just in case I shall not make it, try as much as you could to give the best unto them. I really loved them but I could not wait. Instinct just told me to leave, danger lied ahead of me, trust me. There can't be a bitter death like the one waited for. I might as well be among the fortune owners, and maybe by a magic wand, I go through though not certain. I just feel like my days of living in this weary world are through. I don't mean to scare you, I am just pouring my heart out. I know we havent suffered from any form of chasm before, not even one day but if it pleases you, better stop reading this letter here and then. I value your self-worth and respect, I shall always think of you whenever I shall be and if by luck, I manage to go through this, Ill let you know. Do not mistake me please, be independent and Don't even remember I ever existed, live your own life to the best. Do good and let God work wonders in front of your enemies for you. I might as well not make; my level of optimism has deviated incessantly as I am writing this letter. I blame myself for not taking you home at the right time before this happened despite your constant aches to shift home. You knew why, but I held on to my job which I no longer have it right at this moment; It was really senseless to me. Anyway, I dont regret anything; God alone knows, maybe this was the so-called day of death written unto me which I could not dodge anymore.

Without forgetting, you did tell me you were pregnant, three months old if I am not wrong. It might be a girl, a boy or even twins; just remind them I ever existed. I really could like to see the angel(s) but no, not this time. I am tired of having to lurk at the ceiling or the underbed waiting for war to end, which nobody knows when it really will. If I die, as I can perceive, I shall ask God to see you and my kindred kids through this hazardous world of trivial endeavors if only I shall get a chance. Pass my word of gratitude to Davie's family, I do cherish the moments well spent with them; they really gave all they could to help me.

For now, I don't know when and where we shall meet next but I do believe we'll one time meet. Welfare.

Loving husband of yours,

Dannie Wanjohi.

Jennifer finished reading the letter; she could no longer hide her distress. She seemed mentally tortured, tears of despondency raining down her cheeks making the letter wet with tears. Dannie meant a lot to her, say everything. We also could not hide our depression, we shared in the sorrow of Dannie's departure. Whatever hard I tried to hide my tears, I couldn't. We could not believe he was gone, maybe forever.

Two to three weeks later, the storm that had struck had subsided and we had nothing rather than to continue with the business of life. What remained were just memories of days well spent with him, hoping that one day we'll see him once again. Afterward, Jennifer had to accept the bitter truth that her husband was gone. She solely adapted and started making good use of whatever Dannie left behind for her. Her face had now changed to the better though she looked thin and somehow emaciated.

Three months after his departure, the post-election violence was over. Rumor had it that a foreign mediator had done a better part of it, harmonizing the two variants thus, forming a coalition government where power was equally shared between the two. The effort of the mediator, commissioned by the Unites Nations, abbreviated as U.N bore fruits and in no time, what remained were only scars of the earlier occurrences; people were left looking for their loved ones, if only they could find them. The wounded were healed with time; time remains the best healer ever.

Memories of that fateful year still lingers in the minds of those who lived to witness; for the likes of me and my dear brother Maxwell.