A new lease of life

CHAPTER SIX

(A NEW LEASE OF LIFE.)

Minutes had turned into hours,yards into kilometers.Oloompala had walked,rested,got up and walked again,drank milk off the gourd till it was empty,and the sun had scorchingly burnt everything on top of the ground.His feet were itching with pain as the tyre strands dug deep into his skin.Sweat rivulets cascaded down his cheeks and as he rubbed his palm on the face,it formed strings of mud.The sweat formed salty pellets that were strewn all over his body.His hands had grown somewhat long and he could hardly lift his head.The shadow was slowly getting behind Oloompala as he looked afar,where he saw a tall mast placed on top of a hill.It rang bells on his mind,quickly grasping a past occurance.He remembered when he was young,while herding on the plains,his father pointed that mast,showing an old man they had met walking stranded,looking for Sikinani.The mast was a long time reknown land mark.Most people would follow its direction as it would lead to Sikinani,a small shopping area in the Maasai Mara.Seeing the mast reckindled Oloompala’s hope and he felt a huge surge of strength engulf his body,as he strode more anxiously.He felt stronger,and walked on a little faster.The sun got cooler as evening approached.A cool wind swept over the plains,hitting his forehead in gushes.A very good feeling engulfed his body as the wind hit him.Amid huge gulps of air,Oloompala regained strength,and walked on faster,and he felt stronger.He walked on for a few other kilometers,and he saw many small houses that looked like a group of white flowers from a distance.He reached to them after a few hours,and he was greeted bythe sight of many men sitting outside the centre,talking in low tones.

Oloompala’s eyes shot up in anxiety,as he walked towards three men standing in front of one of the shops.He greeted them traditionally and enquired about the mission school.He was directed to the south of the centre,where he was shown a huge green roofed building on top of a mountain,about four kilometers away.He requested for drinking water,and he was shown to a hotel,where he went and asked for water.He was given a cup,and shown to a red jug on the table.His lips were dry and his eyes had sagged into their sockets.Oloompala was amazed that the people there also spoke native Maasai language,and it was so easy for him to ask questions and find almost everything he needed.This gave him confidence to move on,and he continued with his trip,after gulping down the cool clean water.It was crystal clear,and he drank two fills from the jug.It felt rejuvenating,and was a sign that things had changed for the better.He could hardly find such clean water back at home,safe for rainy periods.A happy smile wrapped his face as he immediately resumed the walk up the path towards the building on the hill.Mixed feelings ran all over his mind.He felt like even the air around him was foreign,and clean.Hopes filled his heart as he walked on and on.The evening was setting in fast.The sun had sunk into the west,and Oloompala knew he had to walk faster and faster.Through small paths,he walked on and on,with the green roofed house exposing more and more houses around the huge mission compound.Oloompala was so shocked at the many stone houses sitting on one compound.As he got closer,he saw small children and few adults walking around the compound.He stopped at instances to check if he was in the right track.Instincts told him he was on the right track.He walked on and on,until he got to a huge gate,with writings on both sides.To him,the writings were just like scribbled art.He could make nothing out of this,but he looked at them,and at the back of his mind,he knew it was something good,or at least meaningful to other people.He peeped into a small opening on the gate to the compound,and a huge man dressed like a police officer was walking towards the gate.He hid his gourd in his sheets,and held his sticks against his hand such that they were almost invisible.He told himself that this way,the man would see he meant no harm. He cleared his throat, and moved a few yards behind, patiently waiting for the gate to open. A loud banging sound rendered the air as the watchman flung open the small gate on the left side of the large gate. Oloompala stood still like a pole.He was not sure if the man was going to welcome him or not.His eyes gazed on the watchman’s cap,as he pushed his hands behind,holding strongly on his club.An array of light shone in the compound over the gate,sending the shadow of the gate over the watchman and Oloompala.The watchman looked at the boys face,and smiled wryly.He greeted him in native maasai language,sending Oloompala into a huge myopic feeling.sweat rivulets cascaded down his spine,sending chills over his bundled body.His heart skipped a beat,and he found his mouth sagging agape as he almost whisperingly answered the greeting. “How can I help you?” The watchman asked. “I want to meet the white man who told me to come to school last month”,Oloompala answered hurriedly between loud heartbeats, as he tried to comprehend how lucky his trip had been.His worry all along was founded on the thought of meeting a person who didn’t understand his language.He had imagined how easy it was for everybody else who knew English to move through places and ask for directions,but he had never thought it would be so smooth for him to access such unimaginable places.The watchman got back through the gate and asked him to wait there. The boy looked at the quiet environment,and beautiful mountains almost touching the horizon,and he got more eager to explore the surrounding within the gate.His eyes were glued to the gate mostly,and moved momentarily looking at the writings on the wall.It took a while,before Oloompala heard some footsteps from within the gate,and people talking in low tones.He comprehended that the voices were male,and it seemed they were talking in Maasai,as he would make out few words out of the conversation.His heart shone with a mixed feeling of hope and happiness.He patiently clung to his club behind his body.His feet felt weak,and he would not know what position to put his body so as to show kindness and respect.He leaned against the left side of the gate,looking towards where he had come from.He said a short prayer under his breath,and murmured “Spirits of my forefathers,go before me”.The gate sprung open,and there stood the watchman,and the huge white man,they had met while herding.Oloompala looked up to the man,who wore a wide smile,and was keenly looking at the boy.He was plump,but surprisingly agile.

The white man stretched his hand to greet Oloompala.He dropped his club and sticks,as he shakingly took the white man’s fleshy hand. “eero supa?” the white man uttered in clean maasai. “Ipa oleng mpapa” Oloompala answered as he looked further into the open gate,in curiosity.The watchman looked at them in dismay,as he awaited the next instruction from Mr. Brighton.Mr. Brighton had been a missionary for over thirty years within the maasai community,and he spoke Maasai like a native.He had a great heart to help,and did it at every small opportunity.Oloompala was at the beginning of a huge trip that would change his life forever.He was peeping into his future through the gate,albeit unknowingly.Mr. Brighton or “Ormwalimui”(meaning teacher in maasai), as he was commonly known within the community,patted Oloompala’s shoulder and held his hand as he led him into the school compound.His persuasive medicinal hocus pocus,made him outgoing,and easy to engage with.At the front of the huge buildings with green roofs,was a well arranged array of stones that had white paint on them.They were carefully arranged around a small part that looked like an open space that was usually used for something.At the middle,a pole stood against the strong light that shone from a bulb under one of the roofs.Ormwalimui led Oloompala past the pole and below the light,into one of the doors.The floor was cold to Oloompala’s feet,and it looked very clean,with many different shapes on the floor and walls.Everything seemed unusual,from the air in the room, to the surrounding,trees,and even the people Oloompala met.He was led into a small compartment,that looked like a reading area,with well arranged books on shelves,writing materials spread all over the table,and a black computer looked at them from a small table.Oloompala had never seen anything like this!Ormwalimui told him that this was called an office,and was where he did his work.He showed Oloompala the computer,and told him that was a machine that kept records,and would communicate to people far and wide.The whole world had turned upside down,and every move,or talk,raised more questions on oloompalas head.He could not understand everything around him.Mr. Brighton looked at the computer and lifted his right hand reaching out for a red file.He pulled a seat and told Oloompala to seat.Oloompala sat in a thud,almost banging his buttocks against the chair.He had never been such excited.Hardly had Mr. Brighton settled his feet under his desk,than he grabbed a pen and a large piece of paper.Oloompala was asked his full names,his age,his parents names,and his siblings names in order of birth.Mr. Brighton moved a pen in haste as he wrote all the details before giving him a bunch of clothes and shoes.The smell of ink burnt his nose like fresh iquor.Oloompala was perplexed at the man’s kindness,and he looked shocked as he was led to yet another huge room with beds in all corners. “This is so much sleeping space “ He thought as he moved behind Mr. Brighton.The watchman followed in slowly,and stood besides Oloompala as he was being shown his bed.The watchman and Mr. Brighton moved out and asked him to change into a trouser,a shirt and school sweater.

For the first time,he was to wear shoes and socks,onto his rough feet.He used an old,tattered belt which was initially holding his sword to his waist,for the trouser.He put his traditional clothing into the plastic bag that had the uniform and carefully put them under his bed.He then moved out,carefully counting the beds as he moved out,so he could remember his bed.He was led into a class with so many boys in it,though most of them looked younger.Mr. Brighton had recommende that he begins from class three where his age would at least fit.His age mates were in class five,but he would not catch up.He was introduced to nkirrimpa the class prefect,and was given a desk complete with books and pens to write.Mr. Brighton and the watchman left for the night,and they assured him that he was safe and they could meet the following day.

The boys looked at Oloompala in awe as he kept looking at his clothes,and felt his feet in the new shoes.They all smelt awesome and the sharp iron lines on the trouser gave him a feeling of completeness and greatness.The boys chuckled in low tones as they looked at him.He also smiled and touched the books which he at times looked at,up side down.He looked at photos and perused through unwritten pages,wondering what to do with them.

Nkirrimpa went to his desk and told him to look at the pictures,as the teachers would direct him on what to write the following day.Time rushed past,and it was time to go to bed.Oloompala had not had dinner,so Nkirrimpa took him to the school canteen and bought him some bread and milk for the night.He took them quickly and was taken to his dormitory,as the boys told him more about the school.He had more questions than answers,and everything he heard was rocket science to him.He had never heard about laboratories,computers,chalks,or toilets.

At dawn,Oloompala lost sleep as he was used to waking up early to check on the cows.He turned and touched the metallic edge of the bed.His fingers quickly bent back as the cold sent a signal to his brain!He pulled the hands into the blanket,and stared at the white ceiling,from the edge of the bed that hung like a cloud above his bed.There was no one on the upper bed.On his side,a lump that looked like a distorted pile of clothes, lay still on the next bed.You couldn’t make out if it were a person lying in between blankets,but loud snores pounded in succession, piercing through the morning cold.Oloompala wondered how his room mates managed to sleep way deep into the morning.As he kept gazing,a fellow student shot out of his bed,took a quick turn over his bed,and slipped into slippers before scratchingly pulling his legs against the floor down towards the lavatory.Oloompala was so excited,and could not comprehend how the world would take such a pleasant turn!Thoughts,mixed with curiosity and anxiety ran through his mind,as he looked up into the white ceiling that had articulate shapes encrypted onto its surface,keenly repeating small artistic shapes.He remembered his mothers grass thatched roof,that had sticks covered in soot that had accumulated over the years,and he felt a wave of appreciation hold his heart.The light was weighing down on the darkness outside,and the windows continued to bring in a sense of need to rise.Each minute,seemed to make everything in the room more clear,and the colours would start adding their tinge with every increase in light.

Several boys started turning,and going to the washrooms in turns.Oloompala had already gotten tired of lying still in bed,with his eyes noticing one wonder after another.Next to his bed,the boy who had gotten his body covered from head to toe,stretched himself as his hands crept out of the blankets,and his legs shot on the lower side,and Oloompala could see his feet covered in grey hairy socks.His bones let out a cracking sound,as he moved blankets off his head.He half-opened his eyes,and looked straight onto Oloompala’s face.They had come in together the previous night,and Mr. Brighton had instructed that Milton takes care of Oloompala,and orientates him to the surrounding,and the system.Milton beckoned at Oloompala to get up,a signal that was way delayed for Oloompala.He sprung off the blankets,wore his school trouser,and Milton helped him turn socks inside out,as they both proceeded towards the door,and off to the dining hall,where they would pick their porridge,and return to the dormitory,to prepare for the day.Unlike his previous lifestyle where a shower would only be taken when driving cows to the river,or when crossing streams to other lands,Oloompala had a responsibility of training himself to take a cold shower each morning,and move out to a cold room,to read his books.He would begin from the basics,a task he was so willing to undertake.School life was a major shift from what the freelance herding life offered.It all looked attractive,and promising,but Milton kept reminding him that it is sacrifice and discipline that would help him to manage.

Oloompala had a lion’s heart.He steadfastly looked at life with a lens that projected opportunity,success,and a beautiful future.He had come from a life that had taught him to persevere even worse situations,days of lacking even simple necessities,and a long spell of hopelessness,that he strived to fill with each day he was lucky to be among people who seemed to be on a trip towards a focus,and a purpose.Curiosity and anxiety covered most parts of the first two weeks in school,and he asked so many questions,some that even went without answers.He would neither comprehend why the flag followed wind,or why some walls were painted green instead of red.Everything was a puzzle,that only time would unravel.