What we can learn about hustlers from the remaking of ‘koroga’

Construction site workers loading water, sand, ballast and cememt into a concrete mixer in Embu, Kenya. [Courtesy]

One of the most famous and common occupations  in the past was koroga - which, simply put, involved making concrete using shovels and the right mix of sand, cement and water.

It was sweaty, hard, manual work and was done mostly by young men. While modern youth live their lives online, in the past, they lived on koroga.

Visiting construction sites was a sight to behold as young men competed to fill buckets with koroga, and move these from one floor to the next without the luxury of conveyor belts

These days, the process has been mechanised. Now we see huge trucks with rotating drums that pre-mix concrete and have rendered lots of young men jobless. Using pipes, concrete can now be pumped to any floor.  

But youngsters need not worry; there are other jobs out here that are less back breaking and better paying. It seems technology these days can take over any job, including picking tea and grapes.

We shouldn’t complain though – we’re the creators of the technology that destroys jobs, but luckily creates others.

The threat of job destruction is often exaggerated. New technology creates new jobs, but one needs to have the right skills to exploit the innovation.

The older generation, who don’t have the time to learn new skills, often bears the brunt of change, while young people reap before some other technology comes. I learnt Fortran and Pascal as an undergraduate, but who needs them today?

Pay royalties

Interestingly, as the hustler’s koroga dies, killed by advances in technology, the affluent have taken up the idea. They’ve turned koroga into a fun event where meat is mixed in with herbs and spices (koroga) and cooked at an outdoors location.

The fun part comes in where as the food cooks, participants take turns to koroga it as they drink, listen to live music and play games. It’s an interesting hangout for visitors from other countries. We should pay hustlers royalties for stealing their idea.

It, however, seems that koroga was always a part of our lives – it just wasn’t accompanied by any fanfare. Aren’t pilau and mukimo a form of koroga? The middle class and a few hustlers haven’t been left behind – they’ve come up with machakula, a mixture of different types of food on the same plate.

Interestingly, as we satisfy our basic needs, we find life is not as complicated as we thought, and can be spiced up by very basic things like ‘korogaring’. However, those who koroga in social places might not do it at home – they leave it to their wives or hired cooks.  

It’s amazing that what started as a hustler’s back-breaking job has now been romanticised as a form of entertainment that’s even attracting tourists. That bears testimony to our creativity and ingenuity. 

Don’t underrate hustlers – we can learn plenty from them. In fact, I’ve ‘korogad’ words to get this article. What have you ‘korogad’ lately (excluding witchcraft)?

[XN Iraki; [email protected]]