‘Pastors’ ran with my money after promising to double it

       Peter Kaluma homabay south MP Photo: Courtesy

 

I was told I would tell I was in Nairobi the moment I saw the horizon.

And so when I first embarked on that long journey to Nairobi in 1997, I knew what to look for, the horizon.

I was coming to the city to join the University of Nairobi. After boarding a bus, and on seeing my first ever horizon after leaving Homa Bay, I quickly asked the driver to stop. I thought I had reached my destination, only to be told that we were still in Kisii!

We eventually got to Nairobi late in the night and I was shocked.

The building which caught my eye was Anniversary Towers. I wondered how they had managed to build a house of glass almost nearing the sky.

Everything in the city was overwhelming. I even alighted at the wrong bus stop. I walked across the streets mesmerised by tall buildings.

I struggled to find my way to the University of Nairobi’s main campus. A group of men must have realised I was confused and before I realised it, everything I had was gone.

I was left confused. Then someone came and told me, “We have seen unfortunate things happening to you. Please close your eyes and put all your money on the pavement. We want to pray for you.”

In that confusion I gave them everything. When I opened my eyes, I was standing alone in the middle of nowhere.

Then begun my ordeal to locate the main campus. I spent a whole day trying to find it, and when I finally did, some students from Homa Bay and Migori ndio walichanga wakanipa fare back home. I went back to the village and came back two months later to start my classes.

In hindsight, I think I was conned somewhere along Tom Mboya Street.

- As told to John Lawrence