Today, the 27th of July 2023, is a day I had awaited apprehensively. But let’s start at the beginning.
I had been having sleepless nights sending out e-mails and researching tech companies, busy looking for an attachment. I had a sense of urgency that most of my comrades didn’t seem to have(guys, I'm kidding), leaving me wondering whether they had already landed attachments silently or they were just the nonchalant university folk. Turns out most of them were the latter. The days moved fast. I hadn’t visited home for close to three months now but I couldn’t possibly leave now. Leaving felt like a bad omen. Like the success of my landing an attachment depended on me being in Nairobi. The plans were all laid out: Secure an attachment (around Nairobi or Thika of course), then pay a short visit home right before commencing my attachment and going on with life as usual.
Getting a job in Kenya is difficult. Getting an attachment is impossible. My sleepless nights and visits to the CBD day in and day out proved futile. I was neither getting e-mail responses nor calls. I tried sending myself an e-mail several times just to make sure the thing still worked. My inbox was desolate, my sent-box was piling up fast, and my frustrations rose in like manner. All I could do was pray.
On the first week of May, I received a phone call right at the end of the week. The woman on the other end instructed me to report to the Nyandarua County Assembly first thing that coming Monday, 8th May. I had secured an interview prior to this phone call and had scheduled it for that same date in the concerned company so I quickly excused myself and said I’d only be available from Tuesday. I was relieved but my unsatisfied being still hoped for some other place—Nairobi or Thika. In Nyandarua, I would stay with my grandma and my three little nieces—quite economical. If you live in an urban area and have read the Finance Act—I haven’t—you understand.
On that weekend, I prepared for the Monday interview hoping it would somehow rescue me from the green valleys of Nyandarua. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fond of hiking, but who wants to hike every day?
On Sunday evening, I resolved to not go for the interview. I slept quite late that night and woke up very unprepared to travel to Ol Kalou. All in all, I embarked on my bleisure from Juja at around noon. In a few hours, my fellow strangers and I thankfully arrived.
Tuesday morning arrived adorned in red and black like KRA employees—a signature blend of death and danger. It had on its neck a black tie striped with uncertainty and on its chest was a badge, Welcome to Corporate. I had been shown the direction I was to take to get to the offices and I had some cash on me for a motorbike. Without much ado, I left for work. I had to wait at the reception since the secretary hadn’t arrived. A few employees arrived. A man, tall, dark, old—not that old, in a nice navy blue suit came to the reception and greeted me. He instructed me to help him arrange a few chairs in the reception area and I swung to action. I was here to work. Like an Avenger, I had been summoned to ruthlessly work on those seats and God did I do a good job! He was in a hurry and his speech wasn’t that comprehensible. He almost spoke in whispers. He moved around and came with Golden Bells books and two ladies joined us. Soon people were trickling in. He asked me to lead in singing a hymn and I looked around at the other people my expression shouting; ‘DOES HE NOT KNOW IT'S MY FIRST DAY HERE?’ I was an Avenger, and we Avengers don’t back down. We fight to the death. I led them in singing one of CityAlight’s songs. Ah! This was a sign from the heavens. I get to hone my skills and grow in the faith—it was a match made in heaven, must be.
After the prayer session, everyone melted away to their desks and I was left in the reception, alone like the moon. Hope was my only companion. I spoke to the lady at the desk and she showed me where to find HR. I briskly walked there and spoke to the older guy in the office and he asked me to show him the text message they sent me. I didn’t have one. I told him I was called by a woman, who asked me to report on Monday but I had excused myself and said I’d only be available on Tuesday and here I was ready to catch the worm. Everyone in the office was now eyeing me like you would Ruto. Pardon me! Like you would someone telling you a lie whose truth you already know. He asked me to wait outside and didn’t seem to pay attention to my case for the rest of the hours that I spent outside their offices. I called back the lady that had phoned me days earlier and told her what had been going on.
Apparently, I had been invited to the County Assembly—the legislature—and I was currently at the County Executive offices. Who knew County offices had arms!? Si ni kwa county tu!? I even had a position here already—choirmaster, and I was leaving already?
The Assembly offices were a walking distance away from the executive. I headed there and was shown to the HR office where I found a young lad, person X, at his desk. His first question was, ‘Ati umekuwa hapa?’ To avoid him landing blows on me, I also had to give him details of my earlier predicament. He took me to the Principal ICT officer’s office who then took me to the ICT office, my to-be-home for the next three months. In this room, I was going to learn, I was going to build connections, and change the world—haha. I was Santiago, the dreamer. I met the office’s person Xs’ and socialized. The day was rough. At least, that’s how my nervous system interpreted it. Apart from the insistence from person X that I and a fellow attache take tea, I didn’t have much to do that day. I watched as a laptop was disassembled and reassembled and the day was over.
I think someone had told to me to feel at home because I was loving it here. It wasn’t just the warm handshakes and smiles everyone shared or the Wednesday snacks we all longed for but pretended not to. Maybe it was the spacious library, likely. Days had gone by and I had been sitting on the shoulders of these IT giants and giantesses and learning from them. From up there, I got more than just exposure and insight.
Fast forward.
I’d been at the Nyandarua County Assembly for close to three months now and had built the organization a Library Management System. I’d started building using Java language then when that was almost complete, I was told that they preferred a web-based one. I did not grow weary. I immediately swung into action, heartbreaking the Java code that had for close to three weeks now occupied my heart and the very corridors of my mind. I went home for the weekend and in discussions with my sister, thought of building a PHP application. The thought grew and became a nagging voice in my head. I even dreamt about a working web-based library system that night—if Joseph of the Bible were around to interpret the code, I’d have completed it the next day.
Come Monday I began the work. I had never written any PHP code before. To me, PHP was that distant cousin of your dad that you never met but you from time to time heard stories about. I had to find the shortest path to reach the goal and neither Google Maps nor Dijkstra’s algorithm(yeah, go google) could help. Loud music, caffeine, and the very friendly and warm cold of the night never left my side. Pardon me! Loud music, caffeine during the night, saliva and adrenaline during the day, the very friendly and warm cold of the night, and stack overflow never left my side. I was a sailor with no mast, but deliver? Oh, I must!
Know that saying about good seamen? That the good seaman weathers the storm he cannot avoid and avoids the storm he cannot weather. Well, I didn’t know what kind of seaman I was but one thing was for sure; I was in a storm.
The experience was great. Late evenings at the office with person Xs’ and early mornings were now my thing. A few weeks later, I had the MVP(minimum viable product) ready for presentation. With person Xs’ help, we went through the system and were able to make a few amendments.
So that brings us back to today.
I awaited this day because I was to present the project to a very big person X. The decision on whether to accept the system or reject lay with him. He is among the who’s who in this region so this was a very big deal for me. I woke up in the morning and like clockwork, my hands began sweating, profusely. These very judases were the source of that phrase, save it for a rainy day. The rainy day was here and sure, it was raining. I prayed, read books—a sentence a million times, and even tried socializing. I was on the battlefield with my nervous system. It, with a bazooka and I with a blunt knife and I was conquered. Soon enough, I made the presentation and it turned out well. Together with the help of my dear person Xs’, I was able to create the system. I am delighted! As I leave the Assembly, I’ve met a lot of awesome person Xs’, lovely men and women—I’d, hyperbole aside, sooner run out of paper than words to describe these great people. I have learned! Danke.