What is the oldest thing about you that you can remember? What would you say is your earliest childhood memory?
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when l was in class 5 in a catholic boarding school, I used to sneak in with snacks even though it was not allowed.
This is an interesting question. My oldest thing is the attraction to childhood magic and children in general. When I was just a year old, my birthday was filled with kids and teenagers from our village. Only a handful never turned up.
My papa and mama always welcomed kids even kids whose parents they didn’t know. From a very tender age, my parents would rub other kids’ heads when saying hello, they’d even want to kind of playfully join in their street childhood games before walking away. I watched them interact with kids so freely, may be this kept me away from bullies because they probably loved the way my parents treated them. (I remember being popular in primary school, older kids several grades ahead would keep asking my name and they loved to hear me sing: Brenda Wanjiru Gutu Mathenge Princess… Just because my younger brother’s name is Prince and my grandfather’s name was Mathenge! 😎😂) That’s besides the point though…
There are other memories but this one has stuck. This is how I know: When I got to the university in Nairobi after leaving our small knit village in Ol’kalou, at first I got some kind of culture shock, you know how everyone don’t know everyone and how each is for themselves? It never took long for me to realise that I had better be myself or I’d get lost somewhere in there trying to be like everybody else.
I found myself overtime taking up my parents’ spirit into the Central Business District. I would walk in the streets, spot kids with their parents, I’d talk to them and say hello and smile at their caregivers; almost always people looked at me weirdly. I graduated to admiring unborn babies in their mothers wombs! Every time I met an expectant mom, I would stop and tell her, “you look beautiful”, and, “you both look beautiful.” Some still looked at me bewildered.
My parents’ affinity to children and the magic within them inspired me into a children-respecting human. The ‘weirdo’ looks never stopped me. Imagine just as a second year student, I saw a lonely street boy near Anniversary Towers, and I knew he was lonely because the rest were playing as he sat alone looking low on a Sunday afternoon. I felt for him, we conversed and he told me that he would have wanted to go back home. Long story short I walked with Benson (his real name) all the way to my University hostel room, I boiled buckets of water, gave him a bath after clipping his nails, washed his wounds on thighs for laying on fire embers, and wore him my tiny clothes(he was only 8 years old) and borrowed some tiny clothes from my ‘bewildered’ roommates. I bought him rubber shoes, toothbrush and toothpaste too. We walked hand-in-hand across town to Kamukunji Police Station where I left him and he got assisted through to the children’s remand home (where I was volunteering at the time, so I knew what the outcome would be), months later he was reintegrated with his family.
Even though about 4 months later he was spotted in the streets and I also later saw him again as a street boy before he disappeared after having a glimpse of me, I had dared followed my oldest instinct ingrained in me through my parents.. To nurture children even just for a short moment in time.
The reason I say it is my oldest memory is because I still have a photo album of most of my childhood before my 4 years younger brother broke my father’s camera and there were no more photos… 📸🥺 In those photos I feel that my parents’ personalities shine for their love of children.
It became the oldest thing that I can remember, my earliest childhood memory, and one of the major aspects of my personality. I’m a childhood magic believer and LOVE.
At the University I would introduce myself as Brenda a believer in Love and still, people laughed at me and some took advantage of it… I’m now 31 years old and I still believe!
I have millions, I’ll share three… My parents being the African parents they are always gave the warning ‘never go into people’s homes!’ and it’s still a rule but with choices now.
I was ten and this day my father had gotten his pay and as usual we always went shopping as a family. But this time we did not.. we were from playing when my dad came so we were too dirty for the supaermarket space lol. They took long, I think my dad started with his date with his wife first before shopping. So my sister and I join other kids to go watch lion king at one of our friend’s. We stayed in, other kids being picked up and others leaving as it got late. What gave me comfort was that we did not have the keys to our house, so it was easy to put the blame on my parents in case they pull the warning card😅.
in our estate court we had like 30 homes and I think Mr. and Mrs. Otieno had been searching door to door because this home was never easy to enter and that’s why every kid took the chance that day. When we got found, the eyes from both mom and dad, that pinch from the door to the gate, those ‘ngotos’ and back slaps as we walked home were enough to let me know we are going get a beating of our lifetime.😅
and they were prepared, the belt was there, the water pipe and mom’s cooking stick and far worse the table had already been moved. lol we lied down to a beating we’ve never had before. By this time it was around 10pm and my mom had actually packed our bags and asked us to go live with that rich neighbour😂.
funny it is but I totally hated the drama and the relationship my parents created. My sister was always okay.. but for me all these kept piling up and being that no change ever occured till date. Living in tension, fear, harsh tones, commands, zero empathy and unhealthy boundaries completely destroyed my relationship with them and myself too at some point but that’s a story for another day.
I tried working on that relationship by creating awareness on what they did and the effect it has on me (apparently my mom says I’m not normal). When I started this conversation with them it was received with “we are your parents, we will always know what’s best for you and we did that because of love, oooh if we did not love you we wouldn’t work hard to take you to school, children out here wish they were you” and then in no time we were arguing…
In class four I was crying because I was being bullied(I was the tiniest not smallest, in class). So mum found me and got angry, first reaction! ” What’s there to cry for? what are we crying for? please I have veges and food to be prepared get out of there and help me out..” that’s when I closed that door of opening up to my parents. my mum is not the first pesron I run to when I need a hug like others would. I was 11 years when I learnt to keep my things to myself.
Today, I love my life private from my family because I also know what it means to let them in.
I have so many great memories of my childhood that i don’t even know which one to mention. there is one thing I loved doing even when I knew I’ll be flogged because of it. I never understood why food from neighbors was always delicious compared to the one prepared at home. every weekend during lunch I was always at our neighbor’s place waiting to be served even though I knew they got tired of feeding me
Playing with kids of my age was fun. No hard feelings, no holding of grudges, nothing to worry about life. You just had to eat, play and sleep without worrying where the next meal is coming from. Innocence was good. Just being a kid was fun.
I think I was about two. I was obsessed with ‘kamisi’ because my older sisters had one and kept asking my dad to buy me one. I never got one.
My love for animations from when i was introduced to it at 10years old till date as old as me,i cant get pass animations.
My earliest childhood memory was at the age of 5 years old. I decided to take myself to school, nursery to be specific because my parents felt I was too young then to join. I did this because I hated the role I was given then every s
My earliest childhood memory was at the age of 5 years old. I decided to take myself to school, nursery to be specific because my parents felt I was too young then to join. I did this because I hated the role I was given then every single morning. My motivator was seeing children smartly dressed in uniform passing around my home while I was doing some patrol in the garden with my parents. That decision itself created a future for me.
My first bike at 6 years.