Prince Charming in the Dirt

One of the most interesting sights witnessed in the Kenyan countryside is the massive transformation folks undergo between morning and afternoon of every working day. Almost like the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Stay with me and it will all make sense.

As I approach my marital home I see a young lad, probably fifteen, bent over a pile of maize stems, panga in hand as he goes about preparing cattle feed. He is mostly brown, never mind the original colour of his clothes. You see, he has been in the shamba all morning, digging, harvesting, fetching cattle feed and milliard other chores in the soily field. As such both his skin and clothes are covered in a thin layer of red earth.

The car slows down and we say hi. My mum-in-law is there too, giving instructions to the lad and helping where she can though she is elderly and can no longer do too much.

Well, with our arrival all shamba jobs stop and we all head for the house. A flurry of activity begins as lunch is prepared and served amidst much conversation about how everyone is.

Then mum-in-law calls for the young lad and he’s nowhere to be seen. He has gone off to take a bath, we gather, before having his lunch.

20 minutes or so later he reappears, and we instinctively suppress a gasp. ‘Good Lord, do you look different!’ I mean the lad, not the Lord.

In that space of 20 minutes, he has transformed from a dirt-clad country boy in tattered clothes barely drawing a second glance, to a young, even taller handsome prince to die for, dressed to kill and looking like he has never seen the inside of a farm nor encountered farm appliances. ‘Well,’ my husband and I exchange knowing glances, ‘the girls had just better watch out!’

Only this is not a one off occurrence. It’s replicated in homes across the countryside and seems to occur anywhere between the hours of one to four o’clock depending on how much work the family has to do that day. It was the same when I was growing up in the village. You see, most of these people are decent, clean folks, even intelligent students in some of the best schools who, nevertheless, cannot go to the shamba in their Sunday best nor do they have a deal with the earth and dirt not to come near them. So they roll up their sleeves, put on appropriate dirt wear and go to work, in the spirit of nation building. Then, as soon as they are done for the day, they hit the shower or bath as the case might be, groom themselves and change into clean clothes, and God help you if you meet with any of them at this point for you will go weak at the knees. Only it may be the same person you had barely glanced at earlier as you drove or walked past nose in the air wondering how anyone could look so - what’s the word - earth-like?

Well, that’s upcountry for you. Of course there are also those who have decided upcountry equals dirt and are permanently looking and dressed to match with the earth but that’s a personal choice, not a requirement. So next time you encounter a wide-eyed, earth coloured grinning lad with hoe or jembe at hand, don’t be too quick to dismiss him. You may just be looking at your gorgeous daughter's future husband... . Ha ha ha, and I’m not kidding either!

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