Barely under a decade ago, was urban life preferred to rural life! Especially when auntie and uncle “madooh” came visiting and told you stories of how beautiful and colorful the city is.
Seeing them well dressed and in expensive body perfumes, sharing their opinion to every problem made the rural life look so terrible on those who reside there. And let’s not forget the many gifts that city folks brought to the families back in the village.Everything about them made you crave for the city life. These people never mentioned how gruesome a single day could get for them that live in the city. At the crack of dawn they have to be up and hit the road, beat traffic and be at work on time. Some get to their offices or places of work and find their retrenchment letters with the security guards while others find that their colleagues are already fired and so they have to do the double work at the same pay.
The city folks could not also tell you how from their workplace to the bus station at any time of the day can be dreadful. They may bump into all kinds of people, some thieves, cons and other manners of situations.By the time they are getting to their buses or matatus, they feel like a tornado went through them. The journey back is characterized by heavy traffic, sometimes heavy rains or just other road havocs. By the time someone gets home, there is no energy left in them. All they want is to sleep.
Yet when they travel to their upcountry, theyseem like they always have party life back in the city. Hitherto, all they want is just to forget the city life abit, get into the calm and communal setting of the upcountry. Wake up in the morning to the singing of the birds, get some fresh fruit from the family trees and bask in the morning sun while greeting the neighbors passing by.
Looking at the calmness that welcomes someone to the rural life, you may start contemplating of moving there forever. Perhaps, with the provision of constant electricity, internet installation, a few amenities and guaranteed monthly income, living upcountry could work.
When the crops start blooming in all shapes and sizes, you realize skyscrapers are not the only beautiful things. Finally, the crops are ready to harvest and there’s enough to eat and more than enough to sell in the local markets.