• Joining campus is a time of adulting and discovery, but also anxiety more so if alone
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In November 2020, there I was, having recently moved into my bedsitter just by the famous Gate C in Juja. In a week, I was to start my studies as an economics major at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
Three weeks prior to moving out of home, I had been house hunting, looking for a suitable space where I would live as a ‘comrade’. I had vehemently refused to reside in the university’s hostels.
With the help of my mother, we cleaned and arranged the household items in the house together, and then she left me with some money that would help me sort out anything extra that I needed. I looked outside my window from the fourth floor, and I noticed that it was getting dark. The caretaker had given me a device and told me that’s what I would use to load my tokens. Tokens that I had no idea how to buy.
Anyway, Google became my best friend, so I just searched the process on the Internet. The procedure was: ‘Lipa na Mpesa -> Enter pay bill number (8888880) -> Enter the account number (which was written boldly at the side of the token meter device)’. A few minutes later, I got a message from KPLC, giving me a token meter number that I was to insert on the device, as well as the number of units acquired by the amount purchased. 17 units for Sh500! Shukisha!
Due to the tiresome and demanding day, it barely crossed my mind to eat, aside from the breakfast I had taken in the morning. My mother and brother had made attempts to teach me how to cook ugali while at home. So, what better starter pack meal for my first day as a comrade than ‘ugali-mayai’? I slid into my crocs, baggy sweatpants and hoodie, off to the shops, providing me a chance to survey my new neighbourhood.
Whatever they say about Juja being dusty is true. The population mostly consists of Jkuat students. I kept walking and found myself around the campus’s main gate, Gate A. I had heard of the famous smochas at ‘Kwa Moha’, and I had to try them out. And true to word, they lived up to their name. Nothing but pure greatness of the smokie, chapati and kachumbari combo, topped up with some choma sauce. Not forgetting that I was an “Eka pilipili mingi” warrior.
The next detour I took involved coming face to face with the famous containers. You might hear a famous phrase among the youth that “Kama hujapiga sherehe containers basi hujui sherehe.” This place would form my friend group’s favourite chill spot for the next few months.
At the shop, I bought some onions, tomatoes and eggs. At home, I already had a packet of maize flour, so now I had all the ingredients to make my supper.
I went back to my place and made my ugali-mayai, which came out decently. I would comfortably say that Ombachi has nothing on me. Truth be told, I barely slept that night since I was flooded by the creeping anxiety of this new chapter that lay ahead of me; the chapter of living alone.