Naivasha memoirs....Part IV

PC Omollo, that big shot in Parliament, made us laugh. But, that’s beside the point. He passed his message: You have attended the workshop, you’ve been trained. It is now upon you to use the skills that you’ve gained.

Back in the day in Kisumu, Omollo began, there was a white provincial administrator. He told all chiefs to tell the people to dig latrines in their homesteads.

The chiefs, those days, were very powerful people. So the people obeyed. They dug pit latrines in their homesteads. But they kept on using the bush as the toilet. So when visitors asked what the latrine was for in the homestead, the answer came swiftly: “Hiyo ni ofisi ya chief, hapana enda huko.” (That’s the chief’s office, don’t use it.)

Omollo then gave another example. There was this man who went to England (or was it America?) to study. When he came home (Kisumu) for Christmas, he decided to sleep at a hotel. Asked why, he replied: “There are no toilets in my homestead.”

The guy listening to him in the hotel told him: “That’s your home, if you don’t build toilets, who will? The people back there don’t need any, but you do. Show them why it is important!”

Lessons learnt from those basic examples. Thanks to PC!