Genesis
The story starts with a young boy who struggled to succeed even while still very young. At the age of 12, Genesis wanted the best clothes that money could buy, but his parents were too poor to afford them. He wished for a different beginning. A different path of life. He knew he would be different.
With great gusto, he would wake up at the crack of dawn to go and water flowers that a ‘mzungu’ or a white dad’s boss had assigned him-as African would call him. He found relish in this little task. He observed the sprinkler douche the glimmering red rose flowers and the shimmering Lillies. Every morning he could smell the pleasant fragrance from the oodles of flowers that surrounded him.
Each month he was able to raise at least 600 shillings which made him feel like he was standing on the tip of Mt. Kenya.
He rushed to the market on a Saturday afternoon and bought his first pair of trousers and a matching shirt. The clothes were the trending fashion then (Tokyo trousers and a matching shirt). It was then that he had set himself apart from the rest of the boys-the normal boys. It was then that he decided that no matter what, he would not fall into the arms of poverty.
Poverty is scary. It is a world dreaded by all and sundry yet a darkness that seems to hover around a few people like a shadow to a human being. As long as there is light, the shadow never leaves you. It gnaws and nibbles till you lose your being to the shackles of sadness, bitterness, and depression. It alienates you from a known world and hurls you into an absurd ditch of myriads of wishes, dreams, and flimsy hope.
His scrawny mother looked at him in awe. Genesis wore the new fresh clothes to church the following Sunday, oblivious to the many eyes that stared at him, including the curious eyes of his two skinny little brothers. They all had the same question-how the hell were you able to purchase such expensive outfits? He looked classy with a great taste in fashion and definitely of a different echelon in society. He had become different. He could feel it. He knew it. That was his Genesis of a new being, a new him, a new Genesis. But for how long would this last? Would his parents condone his new character traits? Would his brothers loathe his newfound virtues? Would society allow him to join the minds and realm of the nobles?
to be continued…