MY NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOURS!
I went for a walk through my neighbourhood yesterday and I can tell you it affected me more than I can describe. I live in an estate about ten minutes away from the central business district in the country's capital. Right next to all the beautiful houses is a motor park, its about a ten minute walk from my house and I had never gone through it as my daily commute to and from work or church or any of the places I go to gives me no reason to walk through the park!
Well yesterday something took me through the park and it was not a very pleasant experience. The park from the entrance looks like a typical market, cars and buses parked all around the periphery with traders and their stalls spattered like a paints on a collage. Once we began our trek through the streets (they are really just footpaths) it was another picture entirely, the paths were filled with (non-degradable)plastic products, pure water, human excrement, cow dung, my people it was horrible.
Between the criss-crossing of the paths were little mud houses, some of them were made of cement but this did not make them look any more appealing than the mud houses. People sold all sorts of items in front of their huts, waste-water was stagnant in pools beside the houses. Of course the smell is better imagined than smelt. Women of easy virtue lounged in front of their apartments calling derisively to men passing by, half clothed seductive nymphs looking for their next customer!
Children played in their under things without shoes , besides the heaps of refuse playing with discarded tins, sticks and tyres making toys from things in their immediate environment. Young men lounged in front of their houses, smoking or talking to other young men, the few young ladies one saw were bent in front of their pots trying to cook a meal for their families. It was a real jungle and I wondered how these people live without any privacy it was obvious even without going into the homes that this was non-existent, without running water the grime of the day can't even be washed off with the luxury of , without the few comforts that make life a delight.
To Be continued……………………
Well yesterday something took me through the park and it was not a very pleasant experience. The park from the entrance looks like a typical market, cars and buses parked all around the periphery with traders and their stalls spattered like a paints on a collage. Once we began our trek through the streets (they are really just footpaths) it was another picture entirely, the paths were filled with (non-degradable)plastic products, pure water, human excrement, cow dung, my people it was horrible.
Between the criss-crossing of the paths were little mud houses, some of them were made of cement but this did not make them look any more appealing than the mud houses. People sold all sorts of items in front of their huts, waste-water was stagnant in pools beside the houses. Of course the smell is better imagined than smelt. Women of easy virtue lounged in front of their apartments calling derisively to men passing by, half clothed seductive nymphs looking for their next customer!
Children played in their under things without shoes , besides the heaps of refuse playing with discarded tins, sticks and tyres making toys from things in their immediate environment. Young men lounged in front of their houses, smoking or talking to other young men, the few young ladies one saw were bent in front of their pots trying to cook a meal for their families. It was a real jungle and I wondered how these people live without any privacy it was obvious even without going into the homes that this was non-existent, without running water the grime of the day can't even be washed off with the luxury of , without the few comforts that make life a delight.
To Be continued……………………
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