Hanging on the edge of a Matatu

Allow me to be your tour guide in the country Kenya, more specifically our capital, Nairobi, and its matatu culture. Here is a crash course on what a matatu is and everything you need to know if you plan on exploring this part of the ‘safari’ (adventure). Like every other country in the world, Kenya has public transportation, these are vans and buses that have designated routes. The only difference is the drivers and touts/conductors here are extra. The vans and buses are pimped to their style. Example, you have a public service vehicle and are a fan of Jayz, his face will be plastered all over the exterior and interior of the car. Just to drive the point home, the cars are fitted with speakers and music systems that blast music flamboyantly as if to deafen their passengers or shut down traffic. Either way, you will leave with a ringing in your ears, or a new playlist, or both. It is the most common, cheapest, fastest means to get around. They will use a foot path, trust me. That being said, it is not for the faint hearted. I remember I first got into a matatu for the first time by myself when I was 10 years old, and even then my mom made sure I had two of my cousins with me and made us memorize where we would alight. Not all matatu routes have the dapper swagger, but even those with calm interiors will still leave that matatu culture impact.

Here is how I found myself hanging onto dear life on a matatu.

Remember how different routes differ in experiences, I leave in the exterior of Nairobi. The matatu’s on those routes are in less neck breaking speeds, they will stop for passengers to alight or board. My mother always says somedays I act foreign, this was one of those days. I forgot I was in Nairobi. I was coming from an interview with a psychiatrist, which had felt more like a therapy session than an interview. I was in my head about the session, all the while wondering where the stage (bus point for picking and dropping passengers) was. It was at this moment that I heard the tout yelling over the music ‘tao tao’ to mean, Nairobi town, my destination.

I probably should have taken a moment to analyze my surroundings. If I had, I would have noticed several things; that I was not in a stage, and that the matatu had no intention of stopping since they had spotted a traffic cop that I had not. As it slowed down, the tout/conductor grabbed my hand as if to guide me in, only he pulled me, and I got startled. Suddenly I had one foot in, a hand on the door frame, my bag was fluttering outside, the matatu was picking up speed and all I could see was the matatu’s rear tires grinding the tarmac. In that moment, as my life threatened to leave me, all of life’s struggles felt futile. In those few seconds before the conductor bundled me inside amid gasps and sighs from the other victims of his box of death, I had made my peace, I was ready. This had me thinking later on. Maybe, just maybe, when the moment comes, for those who are able to tell that it is their last moment, they are able to let go and really be ready for death to take them. Faced by the inevitable, all we can do is embrace it. And that has helped me come to terms with death. I believe, when death visited her in the night like a thief, when the pain in her chest overwhelmed her and all she could do is lie there on her bed, when she saw it, she understood it was time, and she let go easily because it really was going to be ok.