Vaccination is about money… and nothing else

Vaccination is about money… and nothing else

I had had an argument with a colleague over the validity of yellow fever vaccinations, where I insisted that it was a ten-year thing, while the colleague swore that it was a lifetime thing.  We would put argument to the test when she produced her yellow booklet while I did mine.  And as sure as global warming, her vaccination was for life, while mine was for 10-years – same vaccinations, and even a similar vaccine batch!

That would mark the start of my troubles.  I usually like to have that YF vaccination upto date just in case of a travel, especially to our stubborn neighbours in the name of TZ and ET.  Those two can even deport you on the next available plane/vessel if you do not have or have a faulty YF vaccination certificate.  Why can’t they be like our good neighbor, UG, where you just match in even with your Kenyan ID with no questions asked?

Anyway, I finally I decided to validate the expired vaccination.  I wanted that time limit cancelled and a new ‘forever’ limit added.  I had read the WHO website on vaccinations and they had said as much, that YF vaccination is forever and there is no booster or repeat vaccination necessary.  You get it once; you are done with it.

I visited a vaccination centre at Adams Arcade to get the extension done on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

“I have come to extend an expired yellow fever,” I told the receptionist, showing the yellow booklet and pointing to the ’10-year’ wordings indicated next to the 2011 date stamp.  Three or four people sat at the waiting area just next to the reception, on this clinic that had been converted from a one-storey residential quarters.

“Did you get it here?”

“No, Aga Khan, Parklands”

“We only deal with our own vaccinations”

“So?”

I was directed to Parklands where that batch originated.  I took a taxi and was at Parklands in about 20-minutes.  We conversed with the cab driver briefly about the ongoing supreme court battle over the challenge of the presidential election results.  We both agreed that the dueling sides should have this matter won at this round.  A second round would be a bigger quagmire with no guarantees to either side.

I reached Parklands around one-thirty.  The vaccination centre was just next to Mediheal hospital ten years ago.  Now the place was completed changed, with a new imposing brick building and an equally impossible gate and pedestrian access.

“I have come for vaccination,” I told the sentry.

“Go across,” she pointed to the main hospital across the road.

“But I was vaccinated here?”

“Sorry, this is now the medical school”

I crossed the road reluctantly.  I was sure that there was just something that was not right, but I could not put a finger to it.  I was soon at the reception desk opposite the road.

“Where is the vaccination centre?”

“It was closed”

“So?”

“So you have to get the vaccination elsewhere”

“But I need an extension?”

“Sorry, we closed”

What a good Tuesday I was having!  I soon called back the very same taxi that had dropped me and asked him to take me back to Adams.  He was still around and he agreed to take me back.  I was back to the same Adams vaccination centre hardly an hour since I was there last.  I found a new person at the reception.  I explained to him that I had come to have the YF vaccination extended to lifetime.

“Were you vaccinated here?”

For crying out loud!  I have been through this already!

“No,” I handed him the booklet to read for himself.

He proceeded to fill in some details from the booklet onto their computer systems and told me to sit and wait.  He did not tell me as to what was to happen next.  I even assumed that he was just confirming that I could get the extension, until….

“Go upstairs, door to the left.”

What for?  I thought of asking, but did not.

I matched upstairs.  I already know the profile of such quarters since my regular dental provider also took up the next quarters and I have been up such stairs in that side of the building many times.  I found two ladies and a gentleman seated at the head of the table, in this once bedroom of the quarters.  I took the seat opposite.

“We can only renew our own vaccinations,” the gent in white overcoat started.

“But I was vaccinated already!”

“Yes, but we did not issue that batch, so we cannot confirm”

“But the booklet already says that I got that vaccination!?”

“We can only renew our own, sorry”

“So what are my options?”

“Are you ready to pay?”

Soon one of the ladies, also in white overcoat approached my sitting position with a small stainless steel medical dish.  I could see in it a small vial and about an inch-long needle affixed to an equally small syringe.

“Roll up your left sleeve,” she instructed.  I did.

She made a kind-of-pinch on the top part of my arm and proceeded to prick up and inject.

“Go can go and pay downstairs,” the gent handed me a small paper on which he had scribbled on something that I did not understand, nor care.  I soon paid some KShs.4,200 by MPESA and was back to the first floor with the receipt.

I got my yellow booklet and confirmed that I had a second entry of yellow fever vaccination with a ‘lifetime’ time stamp.

This was the most unnecessary vaccination that I have ever had in life, but a rubberstamp can be costly, trust me.  I was so absent minded over this whole episode that I even failed to give much thought of the eatery where I went subsequently at the same Adams centre.  The upstairs sitting area had a ‘mind your head’ warning that turned out to be the only true one that I have ever seen.  The concrete ceiling was so low that I had to walk while bending down low to get to my sitting area.  I could easily touch the ceiling even from my seating position.  Then the sitting stools were toddler size – maybe due to the low ceiling?  How did this place even pass a building inspection? 

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 1, 2022

Running round and round… until you drop

Running round and round… until you drop

That ‘run till you drop’ August international marathon was a bad idea ab-initio.  How dare the MOE* come up with such a run!  The stipulation was that a runner was expected to run and keep running until the runner dropped out.  Alternatively, any runner who dared not drop was forced to drop out at seven, for a run that was to start at four-thirty in the evening.

*Marathoners-of-expert, the team that organizes runs for the group

The run was being done within the employer’s compound, hence had the relaxation of a casual run and gave the impression of something easy.  Afterall, it was just a one loop route of 1.3km, right?  Wrong!  That one loop was to be rep’ed for as many times as was humanly possible in the timeslot allocated.  Dropping out at any time remained the easy way out.  Being forced to drop was not even under consideration as we started the run.  How do you run round for over 2-hours!

I gathered together with the largest crowd I have ever seen at the lineup of any of our international runs.  We were six – five gents and a first-time runner lady, Rose.  We counted ourselves down from three to zero and started the run at the designated starting point at the staff parking lot.  The phone that I was using for the timing read ‘Fri. Aug. 26, 2022 - 16:50’.  We moved around as a big group in the first circuit.  The route was half hilly and half down-hilly.  We started on the hilly side of things.  We were all back to the starting point about six and a half minutes later.

That first loop would however be the end of the group run.  I set off slightly ahead of the pack as we started the second loop with Sammy close by.  I increased pace slightly, aiming for a 5-minutes-per-kilometer pace thereafter.  Sammy tagged along and we were soon way ahead of the pack by the time we finished the second loop.  We could hardly make out the presence of the followers by sight of footsteps by this time.

However, Sammy would not continue to keep pace when we got to the fourth circuit and I just started hearing his footsteps retreat and soon be lost somewhere behind.  I kept going and if anything increased the pace.  I would then start going round and round and round, some of the rounds were past some runners, others just on my own, but the rounds continued unendingly.

I could have lost count of how many times I had gone round had it not been for the sheer willpower to keep track of the number of circuits done.  I usually do not glance on the timer when running.  I run at my pace of comfort.  Looking at the timer usually causes me to panic after realizing that I am either too fast or too slow.  I then mess up my run strategy by changing it mid-run, which ends up messing up the overall run.  My best runs are done when I am just on auto-run, with no gadgets controlling any of my actions.

I was aiming for at least 15-rounds on that loop.  Eighteen would be the ideal number and twenty would just be the icing.  After almost everybody had dropped, apart from a new lady runner, Val, who had joined in at some point, and Karl who kept going, I found myself counting the fifteenth lap.  I finished the fifteen count while still energetic enough to add the next three that would take me to eighteen.

I reached eighteen with some effort of just over fifteen-minutes.  I could feel that I was getting tired.  The half hills on every round was starting to take a toll on me.  I was not looking forward to them, but they were permanently etched on that route and there was nothing that could be done about them on each and every round.

I finished nineteen and found Karl and Val at the starting/finishing line.

“You need to drop, the route is now closed,” Karl flagged me down as I passed by their standing position.

I momentarily looked at the phone to check on the time.  It was 1856!  Wow!  How time flies!  I knew that the circuit would take me at least 5-minutes, but there was no stopping when I was only one more round to the ultimate goal of twenty.

“I have four minutes,” I responded as I struggled forward onto the ultimate go round. 

I tried to increase pace, but was just too tired.  I kept going with the knowledge that the run would be ending in less than five minutes, and I would thereafter be taking a rest.  And… The run did finally end after twenty loops around that 1.3km circuit.

I have been to many marathons, but this round-and-round type marathon was the first one that I had ever encountered.  It was a bit monotonous, but it had good motivation in terms of the short course and the targets that you could easily set on the course… if you could keep up with the count before going dizzy.

I crossed the finish line at a distance of 25.9km and just had to run that extra 100m to a new finish point to get to the magic number of 26.12 in 2.09.56.  The pace was 4.56min per k.  Would I do this again?  Maybe after the Nairobi International marathon in October… but then again, that is usually the last major run of the year.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, August 29, 2022

Running to the polling station…. I should have walked

Running to the polling station…. I should have walked

If there is a time that I have ever enjoyed a voting experience, then that time was today.  The main reason being that I decided not to lose any sleep over the elections this year.  Literally, did not lose any sleep.  I have always gone to the polling station by six in the morning in all the previous elections that I have participated in… and they have been many, since the 90s.  Unfortunately, I have always left past eleven, despite reporting at the wee hours.  

This time it was different.  I slept through my morning, despite the loud vuvuzela noises that had started around four.  By five they had gone too loud that sleep was almost impossible, but I still did sleep.  I did not care about the morning rush.  I almost did not care whether I voted or not.  Voting has caused me so much discomfort on those long queues.  Shouldn’t voting be enjoyable?

It finally become enjoyable when I strolled to the polling station at the primary school next to Uthiru roundabout at two-ten in the light of day.  I had actually just gone to this centre to gauge the numbers, with a view of even coming back at a later time.  My initial plan was to vote at around five in the evening, when they are just about to close the station.  I was even ready to be thrown out in case they decided to, in case they deemed me to have been time barred.

However, my observation at that afternoon time at 2.10pm was that the polling centre at the primary school grounds was deserted!  This was strange!  I expected a chaotic ground with lots of people confused, moving around and unsure.  I have even experienced stampedes or two during such.  But this was not to be.  The polling centre was to have 12 stations.  The classrooms were well marked with the labels for ‘Polling station no. 1’, sequentially, all the way to the ‘station no. 12’.  I had already confirmed my details on SMS confirmation by sending my national ID number and DOB to short code 70000.  A message had confirmed that I was registered at this station, and I was on polling station no. 1.

With the grounds this empty, and hardly any queue at any of the classroom entrances that marked the polling station entries, then I surely could still just cast the ballot now, than at five.  I therefore joined the queue of twenty-five other voters that was next to the very first classroom on the train of classrooms.  This was actually the longest queue at the centre.  I could observe that the second classroom door had about five people on queue.  Class three had no one on queue.  The subsequent classrooms had less than ten people queuing.

Twenty-five people ahead was manageable on this sunny day.  I enjoyed the warmth of the sun as I moved slowly towards the entrance of that station no. 1.  I had my earphones on, but was also listening to the chatter going on around.

“Hi ni laini ya letter gani?,” someone behind the person behind me asked.

“Hata sijui, nafikiri ni ‘A’ na ‘B’,” she told the guy.

Of course, that was not true, nor was there an official to guide on who-should-go-where.  The truth was that each polling station had the fully mix of names from A to Z, somehow randomly distributed from the total pool of over 7,000 voter names.  I was letter ‘W’ and on station no. 1 for crying out loud!

Anyway, I got into that station no. 1 at 2.40pm, hardly thirty-minutes since I got to the polling centre.  Five or so other voters were ahead at various stages of the voting process.  I presented my national ID card, then presented my left hand thumb to be scanned onto the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) kit, a tablet computer that should read the fingerprint and display your details.  These KIEMS kits were already a full debate since morning while I was still asleep and half-listening to the news.  The kits had failed in several stations within the country, with some polling stations reporting almost full failure of all kits.  The numbers were small, but the effects were massive.  

Imagine locking down a whole primary school of 12 stations due to failure of the 12 gadgets assigned to that centre!  Such events had already led to delays in voting in these stations, with some voters even leaving due to apathy.  The officials called it ‘minor and insignificant’, but as a voter, who has queued for hours in past elections and even witnessed people collapse due to long waits, I can tell you that being kept waiting cannot be just brushed off as ‘minor’.

In my case the kit did read my fingerprint and did display my details.  I had to recall when I took that youngish passport photo when they kits were being introduced about six years ago.  This confirmation then enabled me to move to the positions of the next three officials who provided me with six different ballot papers for the different electoral positions of the day.  

The presidential ballot was white, the rest was a mix of colours.  The presidential ballot had only four rows, for the four candidates.  The rest of the positions were long ballot papers with many names!  The worst affected was the member of country assembly (MCA) position that in my view had more than twenty faces – none of which I knew.  The women rep ballot was equally busy, same to that of the senator, governor, and member of parliament.

I was very familiar with the four faces, actually eight, since the presidential candidates were photo’d along with their running mates.  That was the only easy choice of the six ballots.  The other five were a real struggle, going through the many rows of names and pictures and party symbols... then making a choice.

I finally dropped my choices onto the different colour-coded covers of the clear see-through ballot box.  Six drops of ballots to those six boxes on the table at the middle of the classroom marked the end of this big vote.  I got the fingernail of my left pinky marked with indelible ink and then the national ID was handed back.  I had finally voted, in a vote whose campaigns had started in 2017, just after the last election had been done and the presidential results nullified and redone.  It had been a long 5-year of electioneering.  We have seen things in that period.  We had seen friends becomes foes and foes become friends.  We have seen names called and name-calling done.  I was just glad that it was over.

I was out of the polling station no. 1 at exactly 2.45pm and out of the primary school polling centre a minute later.  It was however not all joy through the republic.  Those who had the KIEMS frustration had their delays, but the big story was the cancellation of county gubernatorial elections for Mombasa (641,913 voters) and Kakamega (844,551 voters).  These close to 1.4M voters would only be given 5 ballot papers, since the governors ballot would be missing.  MP elections in Nakuru Rongai had also been postponed due to ballot paper misprints.  

These cancelled electoral positions would now have to be voted for on August 23, two weeks from today.  Was the voter turnout just low, or were voters waiting for five o’clock as I was initially?  My estimation was just 50% turnout, based on the queues that I was seeing!  That would mean 22M registered voters would only show up to the 11M mark.  What is going on here?

I am just glad that I did not queue for so long this time round.  I was however cognizant that some places in Kenya were experiencing long queues due to failed kits.  So, when the election officials say that “200 failed kits out of 46,229 is not significant”, then I just wish that they could spend a full day on the queue and know that it is significant when you are affected by a delay due to a failed kit.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, August 9, 2022

Sprinters delight lives up to expectations… but wait!

Sprinters delight lives up to expectations… but wait!

The July international marathon of last Friday, July 29, 2022, had been publicized since the June international run.  We knew that it shall come to pass, and come to pass it did on that last Friday.  We were four when we started the 21k of the June run.  We had hoped for a bigger starting lineup in July, but that did not happen.  Even a 15-minute wait beyond the stipulated 1600hrs starting time did not improve the numbers.  Karl, Edu and I remained the only people still standing even at this delayed time.

We just had to start.  The day was cool, just about cold.  The ‘sprinters delight’ has been crafted by the MOE* as the day for runners to sprint away and break records, after the many group runs that have been done since March.  We expected PBs on this day, and we did not keep any secrets about this requirement.  We publicized this encouragement throughout the month of July as we sent email updates and reminders.  And… finally, it was the day to get it done.

*MOE = marathoners of expert, the committee that organizes run events

Unlike a group run whose pace is dictated by the slowest runner, the sprinters run is dictated by the person running.  You ‘close your eyes’ aka ignore every other runner, and just go for it.  Of course, you need to push a little harder than usual during such a run, since you need to break some form of record.  That was our collective mentality as we started our run at 1615hrs.

I was on my own by the first kilometre.  I did not look back and kept going.  The weather was just too cool.  The run seemed easy despite the terrain that is hilly from the start, with just a short reprieve from Ndumbo past Wangari Maathai to the river, on Kapenguria road.  After that river it is a general uphill to the 13km turning point under the Gitaru-Wangige road.  Even after that turning point the terrain remains generally hilly until you get back to the tank on Kanyariri road, ready to do a short kilometre of rundown to the bottom of Ndumboini.  You then face the last major hill that ends at Waiyaki way, then it is generally flat to the finish line.

The terrain did not disappoint.  It remained heavy on the legs, but it was a sprinting day, and so the run continued at a generally faster pace.  I met Karl and Edu on my 14.5km mark.  They still had to do a 1.5km run to the 13km turning point.  We raised our hands through the air in a manner of acknowledging each other and we went our opposite ways.

My run on Kanyariri road back to Ndumbo then to the starting line at Uthiru was as expected.  You just need to survive that 1.5km Ndumbo hill and once on Waiyaki way you are generally done with the run.  I was therefore generally done with the run when I crossed Waiyaki way and just ran past the Kabete Police station towards the turning point at N-junction.  I was soon at the finishing line at 1751hrs.  The data recorded on Runkeeper was 21.27km, 1.41.26, 4:46 average, 408m climb.

The only explanation for the fast pace was the ‘sprinters delight’.  I had previously tried to prepare for this run by doing several shorter distances but could not get to under 4.47 average.  Even another test run, after the fact, on a 17k route today did not get me to 4.46.  I was still on 4.47.  With no other sprinters run until Nairobi International Marathon of October 30, I can for sure say that this was the best run in the year.  

However, I have seen the body behave in ways unimaginable.  I had given up on ever running under 5.00 average for most of the year, only for the booster vaccine to kick in and to since be under 5.00 on every run.  That means that you cannot predict what shall happen on the next run.  The impossible can happen.  Just be ready for it.  Enjoy it when it comes.  After all, your best run is on the day that you are running that run… that is when the unexpected can happen.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, August 1, 2022

The costly price of cheap unga

The costly price of cheap unga

I have now proved that the extra germ in my body is doing wonders.  I say this because I have broken run record after run record since that booster shot number 2 of COVID19 vaccine.  I so far have a total of four shots in the arm for this virus, three on the left and one on the right arm.  All this as global infections* of corona virus disease reaches 576,581,896 infections and 6,405,982 deaths.  Kenyan numbers are so far 337,389 and 5,672 respectively.  

*source: worldometers website

Nonetheless, corona is now virtually over and a forgotten disease.  It has been overtaken by other global problems including lack of food (grains), blamed on the Ukraine-Russia war that started mid-February.  Other issues include flooding, drought and wildfires, blamed on global warming.  Corona and COVID19 are no longer the ‘in thing’.  So, I did the 5-in-5 event last week, that is, 5-runs-in-5-days.  However, this time I did it on the longer 15-17km route on the Mary Leakey loop.  The average speeds started at 5.07 (15.4km), 5.03 (17.11km), 5.00 (17.13km), 5.01 (17.14km), 4.59 (17.14km).  Yesterday, was a Monday and I still added another run on the route getting to 4.49 (17.16km).  

All these runs were not for bragging rights, far from it.  These were experimental runs.  I was in the running lab, out there on the road, to confirm that the corona vaccinations, the booster to be specific, worked and had added an extra shot of energy in my runs.  Nonetheless, we still have a fast run, in the name of the July International marathon.  Let this run confirm that my experiment is true, as I take the body for a ‘sprinters delight’ July marathon, where runners are expected to run their fastest over the 21km distance.

However, there is no guarantee that my so far successful experiment with good runs shall continue for long.  This is because of the new global challenges which now exclude COVID19.  The cost of food stuff has been rising continually in the last two months.  While a kilo of our very lifeline staple food, unga, was retailing at 50/= hardly one-month ago, it had risen steadily and even had doubled already by last week.  In fact, it was even virtually impossible to get that maize flour at even the doubled price.  It was heading to triple, all this while, the income levels had remained the same.  This unga thing was going to be a big issue and I had even seen a news clip on Aljazeera about Kenya and the unga crisis.  Of course, that clip showed a demonstration that was taking place in the city streets where the people were protesting these very high prices of unga.

It was therefore a sigh of relief when the president just last week issued an executive order that the price of maize flour ‘be and is hereby reduced to 100/= for a 2kg packet of unga, in the whole territory of the republic of Kenya with immediate effect’.  That was a big announcement.  It was a life changer.  We would at least start eating.  I was getting tired of starving on rice and other starches.

I visited my local supermarket that is just in front of my living quarters last week, a day after the announcement, and was not surprised to find no packet of maize flour that was retailing at the new prices.  The cheapest 2kg packet was still selling at 206/=.  I gave it an ‘ignore’ and believed that there must have been some ‘clearing of old stocks’ thing going on first.  I visited the same supermarket over the weekend and the situation was the same – same old prices, no new prices.  I even visited an outlet of a major, sorry, the major supermarket chain in Kenya, at Adams Arcade same weekend and as sure as there is global warming, there was no cheap unga!  All branded packets were retailing at over 200/= per 2kg pack.

What is going on?  How can the big boss of the whole country give a decree, and no one obeys him?  It was just yesterday that someone whispered to me that he had seen cheap unga somewhere in Kangemi.  I took it upon myself to check this out and went to a supermart branded ‘friendly’.  I was surprised to see an advert for 2kg pack for 100/= placed somewhere outside the store and for sure when I went in, I did get the cheap unga available.  What a relief!

I picked some five packets and was just about to make my way to the cashier when some supermarket attendant called me back and beckoned me to the unga section of the store.  I assumed that he wanted to persuade me to buy some more.

“Ni mbili tu,” he said.

It took me some interpretation to decipher what he was saying.

“Nini mbili?”

“Unga ni mbili tu.  Kastoma wanachukua mbili tu”

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 26, 2022

Booster vaccines boosts the run – the truth is out

Booster vaccines boosts the run – the truth is out

Yesterday was another runday Monday.  My first run in over one week.  The first run since that corona booster vaccine of last week.  The weather has been cold and unforgiving most of this month.  I have used the weather as the excuse of not going out there.  However, the run finally called me to action yesterday.  I first of all realized that we shall be having the July International marathon just next week, on July 29.  That meant that I needed to start my preps.  

Secondly, being out of the road for over a week is not recommended.  It is just a very long ‘time out’ by any definition.  The only time I have taken a week or more out of the run has been during the long holidays in December, when I go back to my roots and spend the endless days doing nothing, just savouring the good weather under the mango tree.  It is not yet December for those who may not have checked, hence I am not yet entitled to an ‘under the mango tree’ moment.

So, I get out of the warm office on this Monday and immediately gets hit by the cold mid-day weather.  I get almost frozen out before I even make the first few steps of the run.  I encourage myself on, saying that what must be done must be done.  I convince myself that the weather shall improve with time, or the body shall adapt to the cold with time.  I keep running and none of these two wishes come true.  It remains cold and the body fails to adapt.  I can feel the cold.  No wind, just cold.

I would usually have done a 10km run on Kapenguria road to Lower Kabete tarmac junction as the turnback point then back, but that did not happen yesterday.  I instead found myself going to Mary Leakey route, which is not a route that you would usually do over the lunch hour, since it is at least 13k.  It is difficult to fit 13k of hills into the one-hour lunch hour break, but sometimes you have to push the body to limits that you would otherwise not.  This was one of those lunch hours to keep pushing.

I have been to this Mary Leakey route for many years, and I was not expecting any surprises.  I was just worrying about the uphill towards Ndumboini on my way back after exiting from the University farm at the tank and turning to my left back to Ndumboini.  If only someone, I do not know who, could remove that hill!

Anyway, I was on the 10k mark when I started on that uphill that would end on the 11k mark.  From there it was just a turnback across Waiyaki Way and back to Kabete Poly to head towards the finish of the run in less than 10-minutes.  The run ended with an average of 5.07min per k on a 15.4km distance.  That was probably the fastest I have managed on that route maybe forever since this is not a usual run route.  The tweaks, including the 21k version curved out of this, is like the norm.

Today was not a runday Tuesday.  If anything, I had already taken a heavy lunch and was not set for any run.  I would usually do an evening run-walk upon being booked by a student of run.  I had not been booked and I therefore was not intending to do any runs on this Tuesday.  However, as it would turn out to be, I just decided to get out of the warm office at four, changed into the run gear, then was off for yet another run on the Mary Leakey route.  The evening run experience was just similar to yesterday’s in terms of the weather – cold and chilly.  

I was now even having a last minute decision to have a 5-runs-in-5-days challenge, though it had not been sanctioned by the MOE yet.  After all, last month this 5-in-5 happened just a week to the international run.  This is also the week before the July international.  I am nonetheless not sure if I shall have the willpower to do another 3 runs in the week, especially now that I am doing the longer versions of run.  But the speed on this Tuesday run was now even improved to 5.03mpk on a 17.11km distance.

Now, the only variable that I can attribute to these improved speeds is…. yes, you guessed it…. the COVID19 booster vaccine of last week.  That shot has boosted me in more ways than one.  I am now faster, based on a sample size of two runs out of two.  The booster that is meant to prevent severe illness and hospitalization from corona virus disease (COVID) is just the thing that probably all marathoners need!  The very corona virus that has infected* 569,036,399 people in the planet resulting into 6,390,296 deaths, with Kenyan numbers being 336,904 and 5,668 respectively.  Wait till I do the July international marathon codenamed ‘Sprinters delight’ when runners should do their fastest runs, and you shall prove my ‘boosted’ theory.  Free advice – Take a booster shot, it helps!

*worldometers website

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 19, 2022

The story of Annabel and running into a big bill

The story of Annabel and running into a big bill

Today I get out of my usual running stories and narrate a different kind of run.  This is the story of Annabel, a marathoner in my marathoners’ team.  She is one of the runners who has benefited from my free run lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I take any first time runner out for a run on these days.  It is the closest you get to run with the president, so to speak.

I get such students enrolled to the programme on and off.  It is difficult to get a regular one.  They either finally graduate to ‘real’ runners and abandon the student classes, or they just give up on the routine and drop out.  I however remain strong, steadfast and encouraged, whichever the outcome.  I would have done my part by being available to offer free hours on the road.

Ann turned out to be one of the drop outs.  She ran with me a few non-consistent Tuesdays over a lunch hour and once over an evening and she gave up.  She told me that running was probably not for her.  Gyming and hiking was more of her style.  She however remained in the marathoners team and kept running her mouth on various marathon discussions on the marathoners forum on WhatsApp or email.  She has hardly been on the run route this year.  She however continues to tell me how she shall be back ‘soon’.

I knew that Ann had left the city and headed for a work assignment out of town.  It must have been to Kisumu.  I usually try to keep tabs with the students, whether regular or not, and it was therefore last week that I got to hear from Ann after some time.  After a few marathon niceties the conversation moved from run to love, for the first time ever.
“I need some advice about…. Eh… I do not know how you shall take it,” she started on the other end of the line.
“Go ahead, the coach can take it.”
“I need some advice on love issues, yes, love.  I met someone!”

I do marathons and related subjects, but el oh vee ee is a new one for me, at least in advisory terms.
“I met an online boyfie, and I do not know what to do,” she said after some pause, for thought on what to say on an open line.

Of course, I had to get to the nitty gritty to even make sense of what was going on.  Which I did.  Ann told me that she has been on an online dating site and she had ‘finally’ met some guy that they blended with.  After a few exchanges of ‘likes’, they both decided to put keyboard to typing and sent messages to each other and were now an item.  
“He sent me a picture,” she said, “He is cute, I tell you!  But he has a daughter, but ni sawa tu.”
“A typical African man,” I said.
“Huta amini,” I heard excitement on the other end of the line, “Ni mzungu!  Ni mtu wa Yu Kei”
“Oh,” I absorbed the new news.

I learnt that they had now exchanged many pictures and she was starting to get to know the type of man she was getting involved in.
“You won’t believe,” she said, amidst apparent excitement, “He is even an engineer like you!”
“How long have you known each other for?”
“Imagine we met just last week, but it seems like we have known each other forever!,” she exclaimed in apparent excitement.


It was hardly three days later that Ann called me just around five on a Tuesday.  This would usually be the time to go for a students’ run in usual circumstances.
“Do you need run lessons while you are in Kisumu?,” I answered.
“Hapana, nina news.  Phillip anakuja Afrika next week!”
“What do you mean, ‘anakuja’!  You people are hardly one week into meeting each other!?”

She would narrate to me, in full excitement and some uncertainty, as to how Phillip the engineer had got an urgent mission to Africa to purchase some art pieces.  She told me that the engineer had a side hustle of dealing in art pieces – buying and selling to a ready market in the UK.  However, he was heading to South Africa to get these art items from an exhibition there, then was planning to pass by Kenya immediately after.  Phillip was coming to see her.  She was on top of the world.

This was quite an interesting twist to the love story.  A guy you meet online comes to see you hardly one week later!  How else can things turn out to be?  Good things happen to even those who do not expect.  The plan was therefore for Phillip to travel to South Africa then pass by the motherland before jetting back to the UK.

“What are his flight details to es aaa,” I asked, hoping this is something lovers would easily share.
“He did not say, he just said he is traveling with the daughter, Maggy.  That was all.”
“When is he expected in Kenya?”
“Imagine he did not say,” Ann responded, some apprehension quite evident in her voice, “He just shared a photo of Maggy and him on the plane.  The both looked so happy.  I already miss them.”
“He is traveling already?”
“Yes, I can see him and Maggy in the plane even as we speak.  I hope she will like me when we meet.”
“Maybe just send him a message so that he can confirm when he shall be coming to Kenya.  You can then plan on when to take some leave to see him and Maggy.”

This coming-to-Kenya event was really happening.  I had hoped that this whole thing was still not real, since I have my own reservation about virtual love.  I am a traditional person who believes in real physical and tangible love.  Something you see, touch and feel.  The new generation have virtual love – something you type, read and view.  

Phillip would later ask Annabel to recommend some hotels in Kenya for his stay and where they would finally meet.  She responded, recommending some coastal establishments.  I believe she picked on White Sands, Pride Inn and some other.  I was not keen anyway, telling her to pick whatever she picked since it would be for their own enjoyment – the man, the wife and the child.  I however advised her to still get that arrival date, since that would help her to also plan on how she was to get some time off her work at Kisumu and travel to the coast.
“Get that arrival date soon, before it is too late for you to get time off duty,” I had emphasized.

She told me that she had sent an email to that effect and a reminder a day later, but she was yet to get the response on dates.  She was also still waiting for that phone call from Phillip after she had given out her number, in exchange to what Phillip had given her, which for sure was a +44 prefix.  Phil was so far strictly an email person.  No WhatsApp, no SMS, no phone calls.


Two days ago, which is like a day since Phillip set foot in SA, Ann sent me a message on WhatsApp.  She attached a long message.  It was a message from Phillip.  He was saying that he had settled well in the S of A and was already shipping his precious art pieces back to the U of K.  The engineer was already salivating at the huge profit these pieces were bound to fetch.  He however mentioned that the daughter had woken up with some stomach upset and had gone for a medical checkup, but Phillip was confident that Maggy probably had just eaten something strange and would be alright in a few moments.  Ann called me about five minutes later on, after taking just enough time for me to absorb the contents of the forwarded email.
“Sasa imagine Maggy ni mgonjwa tena!?,” she sounded worried.
“Leo huna salamu!,” I brought her back to reality.
“We wacha hizo, coach,” she brushed me aside, “Tunaongea mambo ya Phillip na wewe unalete mambo ya salamu!”
“Sawa, lakini date ya kuja Kenya ulipewa?,” I asked, remembering this very discussion since three days ago.
“Hakuwa amejibu.”
She did not just want to say “Hajajibu”, choosing instead to give Phillip the benefit of the doubt.


It was later the same two days ago, while I was still in the office, ready to leave work for the day when my phone kept ringing and ringing.  I had decided to ignore any phone calls to give me time to just walk home, enjoy the walk home, and not take any new joys or troubles from anybody.  I finally answered.  It was Ann.  She was emotional and shouting.  She was losing it, if not having already lost it.
“Maggy ako admitted!”
“What?”
“Maggy ako admitted hosi!”
“But how, why, when, what?,” I blubbered back.
“I am confused, I do not know what to do!,” she said, obviously agitated.  She sounded like she was even crying.
“Why?”
“Hebu nisaidie na hiyo email nime forward kwako,” she disconnected.

Hey, today the coach has become Mr. Love.  The things I do for the marathoners!  Anyway, I checked my email messages, forgetting my walk home for a moment.  There was an email from Phillip alright, addressed to Phillip’s email.  I had noted that the email messages tended to be self-addressed.  I guessed maybe it was to protect the recipient’s privacy, but it was a unique way of communicating.  I am used to the old school way of just writing to someone’s email address as it is, not those BCC BS.  It was a mail of worry from Phillip.

“My darling wife,” he started, “I have some bad news.  Maggy’s condition has got worse all of a sudden and she is now admitted to the ICU of St. Elizabeth Hospital South Africa.  I have had to pay a deposit of $3,700 from a bill of $4,330.  That is the cash I had.  The hospital however insists on getting the balance before they can commence emergency treatment that shall save her life.”

There was a photo attached of some girl that looked like the one I had seen in Phillip and Maggy’s photos.  She was lying in some bed that looked like an ICU type hospital bed, with a teddy bear somewhere on the bed sheet.  It looked desperate.  I could now imagine why Ann was that emotional and had almost bursting my ear drums on the phone.  I was taken aback myself.  This seemed like a desperate medical situation.

“Honey, my soon to be wife,” the email continued, “Please I need your help now more than never before….”
“Oh, for crying out loud!,” I said to myself while in the office.  I already had the jitters….

“…. I had already spent all my cash on the art pieces that I had bought and shipped to UK by DHL and my credit card does not seem to work over here in this country.  I have even called my UK bank and they tell me that the card cannot be used here in SA and some other 16 African countries.  I am really stuck honey, my soon to be wife.  I really need your help…”
“Oh, for crying out loud!,” I cried out loud a second time!

“… Please help our daughter get her medical attention.  This is a real life and death emergency.  Please, please my darling wife to be, send me that $630 balance so that our daughter can survive.  It is about our daughter.  I shall pay you back, even double when I finally come to Kenya next week.  The life of the young girl, our daughter, is at stake at this moment.  Do you really love me?  Do you love Maggy?  Do you love us?  We hope you do.  Maggy is looking up to you to save her.  Just look at the attached picture to see how bad the situation is.  You can send it by Western Union to this address.  I have called everywhere….”

I could not even read any more.  I was glad that I was a sober third party in this.  Otherwise I would for sure have done anything myself if I was faced with this situation.  I could have sold my land to save that girl that I saw in that ICU bed.  I could have sold my own kidney to save Maggy!

I was sure that Annabel was not in any listening and reasoning position at the moment.  I therefore just sent her a short message service text….
“Ann, if you send that 65k it shall be the last time you ever see that money.  Goodnight”

So, why did this misfortune befall a good marathoner friend?  Did she even get my SMS before sending the 65k or she already did?  Did it really have to do with love?  Is this love?  Was Maggy really dying in an SA hospital and I had advised against saving her life?  Will I be responsible for what shall befall an innocent ten-year old girl?  Did I mess up Annabel’s real chance of getting the love of her life?  How will Ann survive all these when the real reality, whatever it is, finally dawns – whether I was wrong or right,?  Will she even remain in the marathoners team or I have now heard the last of her?  Is she even going to keep her job in Kisumu and she will call it all quits in the name of love?  Were there any telltale signs in this whole virtual romance that could have made Ann think twice?  

But how did Phillip even manage all these photos which I saw with my own eyes, including those photos inside an airplane with Maggy!  How about that photo of Maggy in ICU that I also surely saw?  I walked home asking myself all these many questions and more.  

Of course when I reached home I did a few email message trace-backs and photo properties investigations, after which many of my own questions on this saga were answered fully or partially.  I am however not a party to the heartbreak.  What matters are the questions and answers that Ann shall face and whether she shall have the willpower to survive the ordeal.  I shall not be surprised when Phillip finally comes to Kenya next week as promised.  Surely, I am lying!  Phillip shall never come to Kenya.  Why do I smell some West African country in all this drama?

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 15, 2022