I take a walk down the memory lane and with tears a recal my late friend and classmate, John. It was long past midnight, that night sleep deserted me, mocked at me and tantalized me, so I lay awake, sharp in all my senses. There was dead silence and solitude such that the entire universe seemed to stagnate in deep dreary dead slumber. The village babies no longer cried, the barking dogs were asleep and only the chiming of the clock could be heard from a distance.
No sooner had I thought that the silence and solitude was eternal than waves of bubbling and muttering began to trickle through the school compound. Hurried footsteps echoed through the corridors and from a distance I could hear the roaring of a heavy truck. I pulled down my curtain and there I saw it all. The first dormitory in our lovely school was on fire, but in my Dom, all were asleep, deep in slumber not aware of the drama outside. I jumped from my bed and shouted "Fire!!!!!..." Ooooh no, that's not the way it is done, a stampede ensure and people started running up and about in the narrow spaces between the dormitory cubes. My colleagues sustained injuries as each one tried to find their way out for safety. My friend John, jumped off his bed on the double decor and fell overhead.
We ran to the assembly ground where everyone was assembled, looking scared and shocked.
John was bleeding profusely and he was almost going into shock. We had to intervene amidst the tension and uncertainty. All the teachers had escaped with their families and so there was none to attend to us. The student's clinic too was nonoperational coz the medics too escaped. The school bus grounded, oooh no! The driver too had escaped. Hell man, where is our help going to come from. Luckily, the fire men had arrived and they had an ambulance. Off we set for the hospital, but outside, idle onlookers filled the road and this had created some traffic snarlup and not even the sirens could help us out. Slowly we worked our way through the human traffic. With full speed, the ambulance went but just about 1Km from the hospital, the driver had to get to the emergency brakes to save the life of a helpless drunk man trying to cross the road. The emergency breaks was so strong that it led to the snapping of something (I don't know what) under the ambulance. Which means it could move no more. 'Siku ya nyani kufa, miti zote huteleza'. We were forced to curry John, who had fainted at the time.
Finally we arrived at the hospital, but noooo...the emergency department was under Lock and key, reason? The medics were on strike, they had not be paid by the government. We lost john, we saw him die, he died on our hands. John died a premature death. John was the only son, no, the only child to his widowed mother. He was no more. I hear of arson and the news of schools being torched and I burn with grief. Please let's all come together and find a solution for our schools. Blame game may be a sweet thing now, blame the parents for poorly bringing up their children, blame the ministry for setting up strict rules, blame the teachers, blame the cooks, blame everyone but our school will continue to burn. Close down the schools Matiang'i and let's find a solution while these boys and girls are at home. Atleast I'm sure they will not burn down their bedrooms back at home. We lost John, we saw him die, he died on out hand. Let's stop this arson thing.
