Literary love for Wahome Mutahi

I joked a few days ago that this extension was meant for us to which Izrus Banda replied,”Ensuring that no story remains untold. Thats Afrobloggers for you.” I think I should write this comment, because of my wordiness, I couldn’t write twenty words and end like that, that means a whole story will not be told so here we go,

This is my comment to Wanjira’s Post and I thought I should do a two in one, celebrate my good friend from the Afrobloggers community and elucidate more on the concept of friendship. Let us call us an extrapolated comment.

Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family.- Don Corleone” ― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Niaje Chief ” were my first words to  her call it the icebreaker.We talked Jikoni Palatables and culinary stuff. Since I am a Pan Africanist and I gel easily with Kenyans,we talked a bit about politics and I asked about Wahome Mutahi and that was it, she knew about the humorist of the ‘whispers column’. I must add that very few Ugandans have heard of Mutahi. She told me of her readership and how the dad used to buy newspapers and she read his articles. Wow that was a good point to begin and you know what, she told me that she had a book with his collection of articles and she offered it to me.The way to my heart is a good book and the good thing is I had a friend at the time who was working in Nairobi, Kenya and so I knew that once she gave it to him,it would be as good as delivered.

When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people, as I grew older my admiration waned as I found kind people more gracious and admirable. Intelligent people talk to me in their free time, kind people free their time to talk to me.

Wanjira got a trip to Uganda and thought,why not surprise this Mwene that I chat with but have never met. She went to my Ugandan friend and got the book and unknown to me asked for my friend’s contact such that once she reached Kampala, she would be able to connect to come and see me. As soon as she arrived in Kampala, her first stop was at Mwenes. It must have been a few days to my birthday but when paralysis has visited you for years, you become a cynic and embrace the situation, she found when I was having a physiotherapy session and remember this was my first time meeting with her and I think she said,”Hey Mwene, this is Wanjira from Afrobloggers,we have been chatting, remember me and I also brought the book”, my face lit up but I was still in shock . The physiotherapist had to end the session for me to attend to my guest. I was wheeled to the living room and I had not recovered from the shock. I asked my self questions like why didn’t Wanjira tell me then it occurred to me that she wanted to surprise me.

Ray Bradbur in Fahrenheit 451 beautifully captures the gradual formation of friendship: “We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses, there is at last one which makes the heart run over

P.G. Wodehouse in “Strychnine in the Soup” from Mulliner Nights, suggests that shared literary tastes form a strong foundation for friendship. Our friendship began with a liking for Wahome Mutahi.

For a person to have you on their mind that you are the first person they see once they get in the country is more than priceless. She did leave her friends and I was on her mind.One of the greatest life lessons I have learned is that I am loved and love lifts us at our lowest. Wanjira N’ga’nga you are sister from another mother thanks for the love .