Home Sweet Home

Over the last six months during my regular walks to my hometown of Kiserian, I have been observing a homeless man who spends his days lying under a tree by the roadside. He leads a lonely life since I never see him talk to anyone. And I wonder where he gets his meals from and where he goes to relieve himself. His must be a pathetic life.

Observing that homeless man has made me grateful for having a home, a place where I can relax, feel free to be myself and associate with loved ones. It is a blessing that not many people enjoy. Even in America, the so-called land of freedom and opportunity, there are homeless people.

To tell you the truth, there was a time I didn't like the home where I now live. I began hating home in December 2005 after I finished my high school career at Starehe Boys' Centre. That December, I spent some days at Starehe where I whiled away my time sleeping and playing the piano. I just didn't want to stay at home.

The reason why I hated home was because of the boring menial tasks that my family would ask me to do. Such boring menial tasks as fetching firewood and cooking meals in a sooty kitchen. And I didn't find home inspiring at all. Besides living in dilapidated houses, I was constantly criticized.

Imagine I came to hate my home so much that in 2008 when I went astray at JKUAT, I resolved to never go back home. When the university authorities apprehended me and presented me to my family, they pleaded with me to go home. At first, I refused. Eventually though, I yielded to their pleas and headed home.

Several weeks later as I stayed at home, two of my senior brothers lashed out at me for not helping my parents out with duties at home. They commanded me to assist Mum in cooking and looking after the cattle. Since I was too timid to speak for myself, I gave in to their demands and began doing chores at home - the same boring menial tasks that had made me hate home.

One evening in 2009 when I visited my eldest brother Joe Kagigite in his rented room in Nairobi, I saw that he was staying in a self-contained room with painted walls and a ceiling. He had a microwave, a refrigerator and a gas cooker. When I went back home, I must have felt like I was living in a backward world where I had to fetch firewood for cooking.

Still hating home, I chose to live in a students' hostel on the outskirts of Nairobi city after I dropped out of the University of Nairobi in 2011 for lack of fees. After some time when I realized I would be unable to continue staying in the hostel due to high cost of living, I approached a few friends and asked them if they could take me in. I can't recall what they said. All I remember is that I headed back home where I have been staying since then.

And wow! With time, I came to enjoy staying at home, especially after my senior brothers constructed a mansion with painted walls, a ceiling, a shower and an indoor toilet. We have in the mansion such modern accessories as a gas cooker and a refrigerator. Thanks to those facilities, I am now living in the kind of house I saw Joe reside in. What's more, my family no longer subjects me to such boring menial tasks as fetching firewood.

I really came to enjoy staying at home where I have access to internet, a piano keyboard and numerous reading materials that make my days exciting. Also, I love the company of my parents who tolerate my foibles and never put me down. And since ours is a rural home, I listen to the sounds of birds whistling in the air, watch trees dance to the rhythm of the winds and view the sun set in the Ngong Hills that form the western horizon of our home area.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on my home, you might also enjoy another one on "Keeping Good Company" which I wrote last year. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.