Country Girl

Country Girl

Let’s just say that I’m a village girl,

I sometimes shrab very simple English words you’re left wondering what the heck just happened!

I love bright colors that do not necessarily correspond; thank God for color-blocking I no longer seem weird,

Heels make me uncomfortable, too high up the sky; and I literally walk like a new born calf risking breaking my knee caps.

When I finally garner the courage to try on make-up; a creepy thought of a heavy rain emerges and thwarts my dreams; I have never shaved my eyebrows all my life; I simply don’t get why I have to shave them off and then draw a thin black line,

I like jeans and t-shirts and riding bicycles; too official dress codes makes me nervous that I will have to deliver a speech,

I am one of those girls who enjoy prolonged laughs and slurping tea,

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I was born in one of the deepest villages of the world where technology was one of those demons my folks chased out in fire spitting prowess.

School rules didn’t allow me to grow my kinky hair; a clean shave felt heavenly and once in a while I experienced a touch of cold breeze massaging my forehead in the wee hours of the morning as I walked to school.

I enjoyed reading out loud in class and shrabbing off words (I didn’t notice until I was in college); for two decades I lived convinced my pronunciation was fleek,

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You had to be a smart student to be a bell-ringer and for two years I held that coveted seat; and of course raising and lowering the national flag on Tuesdays and Fridays in the watch of the whole dilation of pupils and teachers- it felt prestigious,

The top of my head still bears a perfect stripe of a rope that rested on it every single day for 17 years; I went with the same old jerry-can and the same rope to fetch water and nothing felt wrong,

I enjoyed fresh waters of our stream during the rainy seasons; my friends and I held happy sprees every evening in the cool of the day,

Until I came to the capital and realized just how fast one can die in a swimming pool!

Sunrise basked on my cheeks as I milked my father’s goats and cultivated my love for goat milk to this day,

For close to two decades of my life I watched a black and white TV screen (which used to break down almost every week); I lived knowing that those TV folks had a standard dress code- black and white; well until I came to the city,

My devotion to succeed thrived in my small world; and up to this day it still does,

Today I enjoy being in the city; surrounded by all these people and all kinds of high-tech, but I still break loose to my small village to catch a glimpse of pureness,

Then my village girl comes out alive again,

It’s a tradition that has now borne strong roots in my soul,

And I am not abandoning it any day soon,

Because life is made of tiny tokens of fun, appreciation and bliss of unconditional love.

Mwende