My One Day Experience at a ‘Mjengo’ Job

That day, 13th of March, 1997 (a Thursday, if I am not wrong), I had been reading a very gripping novel by Danielle Steel. The title was Kaleidoscope. It was a particularly hot day. Come four o’clock, I went to bathe to remove the day’s heat from my body.
After the bath, I went back to our house and found my father there waiting for me.
(My father and I used to live at Starehe Boys’ School staff quarters for my father was working at the school at the time. My mum and the rest of the family had gone to live at our upcountry home.)
Before I went to my room, he called me and said: “I don’t see why you should just laze at home day in day out while you can do something with yourself and get paid for it.”
What did he mean by “lazing”? I had just finished my O levels the previous year. So, in essence, I was not lazing but was gathering momentum that would push me through the next academic phase in my life.
Before I could say anything, he continued: “I have talked to a mhindi contractor and he has agreed to offer you a ‘mjengo’ job.”
I looked at him in consternation, not wanting to believe that I had heard it right. The look that greeted me, a serious (almost stern) look, turned mine to a ‘concerned’ look.
He continued: “This mhindi contractor has been given the tender of building a wall to separate the Starehe fields from the Total Fuel Station and the Race Course side. This job starts tomorrow.”
From my experience with him, I knew that that was that. I had to take the job if I wanted peace in the house.
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Come Friday, 14th March, 1997 and I was up and about very early. The mjengo job (if I may be permitted to call it a ‘job’) was to start at 7.30. I made a cup of strong tea (‘turungi’ in Kikuyu) and literally gulped it down because the time was close to 7.15 a.m.
To be Continued…
Don’t Miss the Rest of the narration on Monday.