In their shoes...

It's a funny feeling, getting your shoes cleaned by a stranger. While you're still wearing them. I do it all the time. Because it makes me squeamish and I want the 'squeam' to stop. Plus, I have a type of shoe that gets dirty so easily, if you looked at it funny, they would be dirty. So I have a regular person for this now. Kind of like men and their barber shops. Guys are loyal, so I hear, to their barbers.

There's this guy who's had the same barber since 2002. He moved houses, jobs, but not barbers.You'll never see that kind of dedication elsewhere.

My guy's name is KK. Just two letters. I asked him once what they stand for and he says if he told me, I'd laugh at him. It's become my game now when I'm bored. To guess names to ask him when I see him again.

" Is it Kenya? Karis? Kaleidoscope? Kwikmart? At least tell me one K" I'd ask.

" Kwikmart? Why would my parents do that to me? He'd laugh and say. Then deflect the topic.

KK is also my advisor, my favourite political analyst, and according to him, he should meet any and all boyfriends for him to approve of. Those few minutes I spend on his high chair are moments when I get to hear the world's view from someone who most people ignore and assume isn't watching. It's only fitting that Storytime August ends with him. (I was about to write something along the lines of; if the shoe fits but I didn't. You're welcome.)

Let me start by saying, he unwillingly agreed to do this, in the beginning. And he said he'll never look for the story to read what I have to say about him. But the best interviews start out like this. (or so, I'm telling myself.)

KK got into his line of work after being stabbed for stealing. Sure he was going to die, he begged and pleaded with God.
"If I get out of this alive, I'll stop." He prayed
" I'll do honest work, go to church, pay tithe, anything."

He passed out somewhere in Mathare then woke up. Finding himself still alive, he dragged himself to his bro's place and got the help he needed. After that, true to his words, he stopped stealing and mugging people.

Looking at him now, I can't imagine being mugged by him. He's so soft spoken. Physically though, he can. He looks like he wouldn't even try so hard and you'll be rushing to give him all you own. Because of the scars on his hands and the rough look he has.And his arms are huge. And they have veins that stick out. I don't know if I'm the only one who believes people whose veins stick out are stronger.

KK started going to church after his ordeal but according to him, that didn't stick. The church he went to, according to him, was for rich kids. They used to search him at the entrance longer than they would search the next guy.

" Yaani, from the entrance you already know you're the odd one out"

I ask him what had led to him stealing for a living, and he says he doesn't remember when he didn't have to steal to make ends meet. His only parent, his mum, was always working. But it still wasn't enough to support their family of 6.

To get money, KK and his two brothers used to pick pocket people. Until one of them was beaten so bad, his face turned shades of purple. Then they stopped for a while.
 He and his brothers had to protect their sisters though, most importantly.

"Where I lived, a girl walking alone anytime of the day was begging for trouble." He tells me.

I ask him why shoes, why not sell sweets and what not and he says the monotony of cleaning shoes while, most often not talking, gives him time to think. And  he wants to start his own line of shoes that would pay for the one or more acres of land he plans to retire in.

I ask him if other people who come to get their shoes cleaned are also squeamish.

"You can always tell the first timers, or people who don't do it often. They watch you do the work. They fidget and are restless when you start cleaning and if you had untied their shoes then you tie them back for them they give you a weird face like you just crossed their personal space. Also they leave the biggest tips. Like you, your first time here"

I know he probably doesn't remember my first time here but I laugh and decide not to mention I'm still fidgety and everything he described a first timer.

He asks me to say something in sheng and I tell him the one sentence I save for such occasions. Even though he laughs at my sentence,I feel like my street cred increased tremendously.

I ask him to tell me something no one knows and he says,

" I've wanted to talk to that woman selling sweets over there for the longest time"

"Why don't you?" I ask wondering why that was the thing he decided to tell me.

Slyly peering over to the woman selling sweets he tells me,

" Look at her." He looks at me. " She deserves someone smart and nice, not some ex-thug from Mathare."

And for the first time I don't push with more questions, or offer to introduce them. But if this was a movie, one day late at night, as she packs up to leave, she'll knock over some eclair sweets and KK would rush to help her and they would be friends like that. The rest would be history. This isn't a movie though, and KK doesn't think he is deserving of her.

And because I just have to make it about me, I asked myself what things I felt undeserving of and why. And because I want to make it about you guys, I'll ask you the same question, what are some of the things you've felt undeserving of and why. Also what do you guys think KK stands for?





Photo by Mugoya Mokua.