I was born and brought up in Eastleigh along Juja Road next to Mlango Kubwa. The first school I went to was in Eastleigh. Eastleigh shaped me to be the man I am today. The community set up and values instilled in us by the community at large shaped us to being future great citizens.

Every adult was either your mum or dad. The children we associated with were your brothers or sisters. Regardless of one’s religious or ethnic background, we all lived like one happy family. Seeing what has been happening of late in Eastleigh breaks my heart.

When I was in St. Nicholas School, I would get dropped home by the school bus. The house girl had to come pick up from the drop off point. We would then cross the road and head home. One day, when we (my small sister and I) got to the drop off point, there was no one to pick us up. Our house help always kept time. A vendor known to us decided to let us stay at his shop as we waited for the house girl. Our house was directly opposite the drop off point. We lived on the top floor. When I looked up towards the direction of our house, I froze in horror! Smoke was coming out of the kitchen. I don’t recall the exact flow of events but I found myself in a house filled with smoke. Thanks to the help of our neighbours, the fire was contained and the only notable damage was a black wall in the kitchen. No one asked them to help. They willingly came together and did everything to contain the situation the same way they would if it was their house. Nothing was stolen. Fast forward to today – fastforward to today. Would the situation have been handled the same way? The house would probably have burnt down since the neighbours would be less bothered. After all, it is not their property. Others would perhaps not help because those affected are of a certain religious background or ethnic community.

One of my immediate neighbors would come home very late and very drunk. He would for reasons not termed as valid shower the wife with blows and insults. No single time did the neighbors fail to come out in the middle of the night to help one of their own. No one was asked to sacrifice the warmth of their beds but they all came out. I recall one lady saying the reason she is always there is because she doesn’t want our children to pick up bad behaviors.

In the apartments we lived, some ‘walalos’ as they are mostly referred to as opened a restaurant on the ground floor. It was all fine, until the hygiene of the apartments were greatly compromised. The environment was no longer conducive for living or even for kids to plays around. Some neighbours came together, met the management, talked about the issue at hand and believe it on not, the environment went back to the way we were used to having it. No body insulted or attacked the other, they just sat down together, talked about the problems and drew a solution.

Years later, things have changed. It is so bad that in an event someone is mugged in broad day light, one will make way for the thief to escape and will not attempt to bring them down. When your children get dropped and no one is there to receive them, only God will look after them, the rest not bothered. When a someone is subjected to violence, no body cares. Every one minds their own business and this is what is fast killing the society. People no longer see others for who they are but what tribe or religious background one belongs too.

If we could all look at others not based on things like tribe or religion which none of them was given a choice and relate as brothers and sisters who both come from mothers who carried them for 9 months, as brothers and sisters who are more likely to be experiencing the same challenges as you in life then the world would be a better place for ourselves, our children and their children.

1 bad tomato can MAKE other tomatoes in the same sack to go bad. It does not mean that because one tomato is bad, all tomatoes are bad. If you however think that all tomatoes are bad, you will throw away the entire sack, tomatoes will finally go bad and it will be your loss. If a certain group of people are known to take part in some activities it doesn’t mean all of them are bad. Apply the same to the example above, where tomatoes are fellow human beings. If for whatever reason you feel you do not like someone from a certain tribe or religion, sit them down, attempt to talk through the situation.

God bless Kenya, May peace prevail in Kenya so that we can all have a piece of the cake bough out from Peace.