Anywho, it was my first time to vote and be part of such an important event in our country. So you can only imagine my excitement! :D
My mother and I cleverly picked a polling station that was a stone throw away from home, only to discover that Monday morning that we weren't so clever after all. It was still dark when we walked out of the gate, but we could already see cars parked by the side of the road and an unusually large number of people for that time of the morning.
We got to the gate of our local primary school and the queue that was there, at 5:50am was unbelievable!! It snaked all the way down School lane, turned left onto Karuna road and up Lower Kabete road. Searching for the end of the line was like looking for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. It seemed to be running away from us! Even the people in the queue felt sorry for us.
"Msijali, mko karibu kufika!" said one of them.
"Iko mpaka Westgate, tembeeni tu!" came another word of 'encouragement'.
Now, if you don't know where Westgate is from Westlands Primary, its about 1.2km away. That's like a 15-20 minute walk. That's how far the queue stretched. People were literally running to get to the end of it. Dawn had even broken by the time we took our positions at the end of the line.
At first, standing in line and laughing at those who came after us was all the fun we needed. They all wore such shocked expressions at how far the back of the line was, that it was impossible not to laugh. Those who drove by rolled down their car windows to ask, "Is this for Westlands Primary?" and we'd give a huge smile and say, "Yes!" Oh the joy of being ahead of many tens of people!! It was enough to forget there were hundreds more ahead of you.
It got even better when after a few hours, we removed flasks of tea, styrafoam cups and slices of cake, to have our breakfast on the road. One lady ahead of us eyed our goods enviously and said, "You guys even carried breakfast?" Yup. Scouts' motto: Always be prepared.
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| Stretching down Karuna Rd |
After two more hours of standing in one place, moving a few metres, chatting on and off with random Kenyans, even a first-time enthusiastic voter like me was starting to get tired and discouraged. By the time the sun was beating on our backs, we'd only gotten to the beginning of School Lane.
Finally, after 3 and a half hours, what had seemed impossible, happened! We were at the gate of Westlands Primary aka the polling station! :) Little did we know, the queue was just as long inside the school compound!
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| Inside Westlands Primary |
Then came the confusion of being lined up alphabetically. The clerk who looked at my ID didn't seem to be able to decipher my name. "Sheena Mpungu," he read. I nodded. He frowned quizically, and asked," So which one is your first name?"
Really? Doesn't the first name appear first on all IDs?
The good thing though is that after he'd figured out my first name was Sheena, I was separated from my people and sent to 'Stream 10'. Luckily enough for me, Stream 10 was among the shortest queues outside a polling room! Apparently not many people have names starting with 'R' and 'S'. Or maybe its just the people in Westlands constituency.
And half an hour later, my finger print had been scanned, my name crossed out in that large book and I had somehow figured out how to use those humongous, numerous ballot papers. I'm not surprised there are so many spoilt votes. Even an educated, well-read citizen like myself got confused when I started looking at all those names and pictures on the ballot papers! And I'd even read on the whole voting procedure the day before in preparation!
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| my proud pinkie! |
Chagua Kenya.
