10/05/2023

Wednesday 10th, May 2023. I leave Bungoma town at 1000 Hours in a one hour stroll through Lusaka road to sikata. It's 1100 Hours. This is the time I bid goodbye to an acquaintance who had hosted me on the night of 9th, when I was stranded in town. He knows I'm boarding a matatu home. So he bids me farewell and returns to Bungoma town. 

It's here that reality and the worry I've harboured the entire night embrace. I have a whole journey ahead of me on foot. Motorbikes hoot as they pass, asking if I'm going their way, without a coin, I nod in disapproval with a faint  smile and remind them I'm just around ain't travelling.

I hit the road, a second with a step, minutes with a kilometer. I'm running dry in my chest and throat. My legs feel the exhaustion and pain but I've no chance to rest despite the scorching sun. 

In a nutshell, I arrived home at around 7:30 in the evening, wrecked by hunger and fatigue. Ain't doing a poem or a story on this, but one day, if I should ever forget, let one remind me of 10/05/2023. It was the most harrowing 😢🙏