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Annoying habits that city people take to the village during Christmas

Lady Speak

It is that time of the year when city dwellers head upcountry in droves to celebrate. While some people have good intentions, others unleash annoying habits in the village.

‘Perpetual house hoppers’: Folk from Nairobi, especially from my community, are known to be flashy, they proudly pack their posh 4 by 4 vehicle outside a hut that they own in shags while in the city they live in a house whose rent is more than 50k a month. So a story is told of a certain flashy guy from Nairobi who has formed the habit of sending a message to his nephew in the village every December, in search of temporary accommodation.

The city guy asks the young nephew if the house where he sleeps when he comes to the village is clean. The nephew responds saying the owner of the house, one Mwalimu, now has a madam in that house. The desperate guy then inquires if his elder brother’s house is vacant, upon which he is told the house collapsed after a storm.

After many going through the list of relatives' houses and failing to find a vacant room, the lad from shags asks his uncle if he is coming with the 'yellow yellow' lady. He responds saying they broke up and now he has a black beauty, that’s why he needs a clean ‘keja’. Fed up, the young lad tells his uncle off with the message that he needs to build his own house in the village so that every time he brings along a madam, he does not have to displace anybody. This is the typical story of most city dwellers.

Nagging aunties: There are some aunties in shags who have the habit of pestering single women about why they have not brought a man along. These aunties suffocate you with annoying queries on why you are not married yet. I have a friend who does not go upcountry at all to avoid being confronted by these intrusive questions.

Bad manners: I am told people from the city have this sense of entitlement; they think they have a right to everything when they travel upcountry just by virtue of coming from the big city. Take for example, you find some hot water boiling on the fire and you take to the bathroom without asking what it was for just because you are from the city. If you need to bathe urgently, politely ask what the water was for before you take it.

Misusing villagers: This habit of telling your shags-based cousin to climb on top of that precarious mango tree to pluck juicy fruits for your over-excited children, needs to stop. Another irritating habit is sending the poor guy on errands to the shopping centre, then you give them worn outt-shirts and trousers as payment.

‘Open fraud’: There is some open fraud that folks from the village have banned. You buy them an assortment of cheap foodstuff worth Sh2,000 at wholesale prices as a Christmas gift, but on the day you are leaving, they give you fresh produce worth more than Sh50,000. That disproportionate exchange of gifts needs to end.

The writer is a young married career mum of two. She shares her experience of juggling between career, family and social life.

What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

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