Usually Visiting memory lane is a distant place with old cob webs growing along its path. But in a lane known as Machinjoni in Kitale it is a short half Kilometre between the Social hall and the AIC Church. Long time ago when popular songs on radio were Barak Mshehe's, Independence songs and Jim Reeves was the cool dude on General service Radio. We used to walk from Section 19 to the Church that was then under construction.
At that time, Ford Anglia and Ford Cortina were the hot vehicles like the current Toyotas. One day while going to church we passed by the social hall that had a Clabu. I.e. a Busaa club which were then legitimate establishment. Men and women were drinking off Kimbo and Cowboy half kilo tins. They were rowdy as they drank. Just as we passed through a fellow shouted his invite to my Aunt who was taking us to Church to join them and the fellow who was grilling the Kangara intervened to let us alone as we ran through the short cut. That was the last we saw of that route. Today the place is a hospital.
At the social hall was the offices of the welfare department and the Catholic Church ran a nursery school which was later transferred to township primary school. I do not remember much about the school except how was it posible to have a nursery school 70 metres from kangara and noisy drunks.
One feature that got to us kids was the war cemetery down the road towards Kipsongo-Machinjoni Junction. It was just after the shops on the begining of a dirt road with guavas and liquards always in fruit season alternately. The strange thing is no one picked them fruits.
This Cemetery was a subject of many sermons in the church up the road. One of which was of Christ and the devil collecting souls of good and bad people. It helped that the graphics of the drunks and their kangara and the nusery run by the Church were of the opposite ends of the divide and people were encouraged to be on the good end with Christ.
One day while passing there we could hear people counting as they shared moja yangu moja yako na bado tatu kwa mulango ( one for me one for you and there are three at the gate.).
We ceased going by that route too.
When we abandoned the Cemetery route we still had to go to church and the route left was a very long one. We took the same route from section 19, past the Union and St Columbans Primary schools, then at St Paul's Church we diverted and turned right towards Shauri Moyo. This road then took us past Gorofani where we turned left to Bondeni. This was now the alternate route.
In those days, the road was paved with Tar. The Town Municipal Engineers had this International 65 horse power that half the time broke down or the other half serviced the potholes through out the year. The driver sat patiently as the fellows shovelled what should be hot tar mixed with gravel to patch the road from the attached yellow trailer. Another man had this machine with some tin like milking can pumping tar on the road. This fellow was the highlight.
He had tar all over him and anty always threathened if we did not walk fast we would be cooked in oil and served as his dinner. She said it out loud and most times over the din of the machines at the fellow's ear shot. He would then make faces at us and vigorously swung the spray. Sending us running in fear. Then came the crew brushing the front pothholes and seemed bent to create a cloud of dust. Soon we were past the section which if things remain you may find another tractor there.
We then went through site and service plots before getting to the AP camp and to the AIC Church. This route kept us always late and tired that when we got to church sunday school was about over and main church about to begin. We therefore stayed for main church.
Each week Pastor Sila would say bring the children to Sunday school and Aunty would sadly look at us knowingly and say tutajaribu wiki ijao.(we will try next week).