The mind that is Kenyan..

So the following morning (this is about my passport by the way..) i got to this guyz office, bright and early, and sure enough i found him sittin in his office, "processing" an illegal 'alien', some dude from Nigeria.. Anyway, he asked me to give him a few moments as he proceeded to throw unsavoury unmentionables at the hapless man.

"Ulikuwa unaleta drugs hapa?" On realising that the dudes swa was worse than his, he went on to mock him in English. I was getting very nervous at this point. He seemed like a no-nonsense dude. A few minutes later, he called me in and asked me to state my 'biznez' He was a kisii dude, (coincidence or plain old Kenya?) Very warm person i was glad to learn. Then he asked about where in kisii i was from, "and your dad, his wife.. etc.. blah blah blah.." and we carried on like a house on fire.

Some of us can't speak our mother tongues, lakini at this very moment, i was wishin i could, you know, just break into an eloquent trip of kisii, to 'smooth my way'? Too bad. The mother tongue story, by the way, is for another day.

He took all the docs that i had come with, got me a receipt and told me to come see him in a week. Said he'd hang on to the receipt to keep checkin whether the passport was ready.

I left the room thanking him immensely, but wondering at the back of my mind when he'll ask for his cut. He didn't. I figured he'll probably need it once the 'goods' are delivered.. hmm..

(A week later...)
I got to his office early in the morn. I was warmly received. Almost thought i might get a cup of coffee to start me off. He was honest. He had not checked whether the passport was ready or not. "What shall we do?"
I thought he might have started to play games with me.. or better still posturing for his 'cut'?? But he quickly burst that bubble.
We do have some good people on the face of this planet! He handed me the receipt i'd left and told me to follow it up downstairs. Well, that basically meant that i wouldn't be seeing him again... he wouldn't be getting anything from me. hmm...
"where's the catch", i thought. Felt very awkward as i left the room, wondering when he'll stop me and stick out his hand. Lakini Kenya is truly changing. He just wished me a good day and reminded me to learn kisii. And off i went.

When we return.. all about the passport receiption at Nyayo hse. and "the 10 top reasons you want to get your passport NOW!"

One more interesting thing i felt i must share with yo'all..
did you know that in Canada they put on pics of ischaemic brains from stroke victims, brown teeth from frequent smokers and bent cigarettes to take advantage of visual cues reminding people of it's association with impotence..

A study showed that 21% of smokers were tempted to have a cigarette but decided not to because of the new warnings and among non-smokers, 48% said the new warnings made them feel better about being a non-smoker.
A puff, anyone?

Baadayez,
The WebDoc.