People can be so pushy. I know, it sounds like this is going to be one long whining session, but I promise you it’s not. I had to put that out there because that’s how I feel today. Pushed, forced out of my corner (where I was sulking) like toothpaste from a tube. I didn’t want to do anything because I was in my corner curled like a baby, thumb in mouth – ok scratch that, for some reasons it has an underlying tone that’s not childish at all – let’s stick with me curled in the corner sulking.
There’s been no coffee in the office for about two weeks and the effects were so evident. My colleagues are walking around with sad faces and plastic smiles. Nekesa, the ever bubbly office noisemaker, stopped coming, Solomon sits at the corner and says nothing while Paul now shows up every day. Since the coffee ran out, the guy has been here every day. This is something worth looking into closely. Such strange behaviour. Then there’s the ‘we eat healthy’ team. The avocado girl (that’s Lulu by the way) and the ‘nduma’ girl (that’s the one who sits next to Lulu) and for the life of me I can’t remember what ‘nduma’ is in English, but they are amazing. Yes I tasted them, well actually ate half of what she’d brought for lunch. Oh then there’s the little person, sits right behind me, and the tall one, who sits right at the door. And she’s maasai. I wonder whether she was placed there on purpose. I know what you’re thinking, and that’s on you. Allan and Allan, sit together. One is big and one is small, and they sit in that order from the door. Please note these sizes were prescribed by a lady. The tall one at the door. And so that’s the office gang.
Why did I describe the office gang, well it’s been hell the last two weeks. The kind of hell that’s caused by plastics clogging the drainage system in this city Nairobi. If NEMA officials (that’s the environmental authority, I just thought you should know) were to walk into this office they’d shut it down. The amount of plastic smiles and handshakes that went round, oh my plastic. It was so plastic the cleaning lady changed (I hear the previous one was put in a family way, I wonder if it’s by someone in the office, could it be? There’s quite some young blood, two suspects to be precise) and the one who comes now seems plastic. She scares me the way she smiles at me every time she brings in the cups. Long plastic smile. But then shouldn’t we be used to the plastic lives we live? From bottles to money, we’ve become so plastic that our immunity to pollution and the discomfort it brings has grown. And the filth builds up, entrenching itself in the way we govern and do business. So plastic are we that we don’t realise the pain this filth causes.
Well as we celebrate the world environment day this week, it should have been a whole week celebration, let’s rid ourselves of this plastic life. Let’s clean up the environment and our hearts too. Let’s smile more, for real this time, and warm the world (the office in this case) and we can all make it a better place to be in.
Tom ‘the money guy’ Kahehura is here, we got coffee yesterday, Nekesa is back, Paul is still here and we can hear Solomon speaking from the corner. Oh what magic the coffee brings. Hezron is missing, someone needs to find him. Allan and Allan are still next to each other, the little person is still behind me and the tall one is there at the door. Team ‘healthy eating’ are still next to each other. But you know what the most amazing difference is?
No more plastic.
Have plastic free day.