'Bursary' the Mole-Digger

He had a funny name, which closely resembled ‘bursary’. At the time we said he was nuts, or slightly mental. What we couldn’t have begun to understand was that he had a certain form of mild Autism. I say mild but it was probably much stronger. He could hardly look you in the eye, he fidgeted non-stop when he wasn’t engaged in his favourite task of digging out moles, hardly spoke except when spoken to, and yes, God help you if you cut off even a tiny grain from the ugali (thick porridge)cooked for him.

Before he accepted any job from anyone, his one requirement was that no one shares in his ugali. In other words, once it’s been cooked and shaped Kenyan style, you could not then cut it out of shape. You had to give it to him whole, in that cone-shape.

The trick then, for those who knew, was to cut off whatever portion needed cutting BEFORE shaping it. That way ‘Bursary’ would believe it had not been interfered with. Honestly I think his obsession was with that cone-shape rather than the size of the ugali. True, his portion of ugali could feed five, but the size could vary. What must never vary though, was the shape!

The mole, back to the mole… ‘Bursary’s’ sole job was to dig out moles. Legend had it that moles smelt him and so no matter how deep or troublesome they had been, once ‘Bursary’ set a trap for them they came out whimpering, like some kind of silent hypnosis..

Many a man did their best to excel in this noble farm task, but ‘Bursary’ made them look like boys attempting a man’s job. He ate and drank ‘mole-digging’. When he set to his task, he did not speak, and did not take a rest. He worked tirelessly till the job was done. Likewise when he sat down to his ugali, he went at it till every last grain was gone. A characteristic of his condition, but at the time we thought he simply enjoyed going non-stop. 

He never lacked for cash as moles were not in short supply upcountry.

We all liked him, but steered clear out of his way. His stammer sounded entertaining to little children, but he had no time for nonsense and had very little social tolerance. Other than that he was quite harmless.  

I wonder how many people labeled mental could have gotten better, or at least been better handled, had their condition been better understood. Like the forgetful old man with Alzheimer’s, or the lady who shook non-stop with Parkinson’s, or the others with all sorts of mental disorders all lumped together as mad… for that was what they were called.

Well, lots of us did have a deep fear of all things mental, what with someone going berserk every once in a while and chasing people around with a panga (sword), or the substance abuser who made it his joy and amusement to terrorize anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path…

With all the improvement in health facilities and awareness, I hope more and more people with mental and other physical disorders are getting better diagnosis, and thus better care than ‘Bursary’ and the others received in days gone by.