From riding bicycles to duff mpararo: Nakuru residents share nostalgic childhood memories
Children play on the dancing grounds in Njoro Sub County.
Last week, Mtaa Wangu conducted a poll where we asked Nakuru residents their take on who had the best experience growing up as a child.
There were various options listed among them being a house with its own compound, villages (upcountry), an apartment, and plot.
Out of the 436 Nakuru residents that participated in the poll, 56.4 percent voted for the village (ushago) option.
This poll left me feeling a bit nostalgic and I decided to engage in the conversation with my friends to see which of us indeed had the best time growing up.
I grew up in a ploti briefly before we shifted to a house with its own compound.
With the shift, I felt lonelier since with ploti, I was able to see my friends and other neighbours on a daily basis but after the move, it wasn't as easy.
With most gated estates, it's a bit harder to play outside as much with the most fun we'd have being meeting to ride our bicycles.
Also, I missed the freedom of eating at my neighbours houses which came with living in a ploti.
Eugene Wamalwa
I grew up in kind of a ploti setting and it was mad fun. Since we were so many people that that shared the compound, there were always children to play with and many houses to eat at.
I appreciated the early exposure to people with different temperaments and upbringing.
The disadvantage I’d point out is where many people share space, there’s bound to be petty conflicts.
Example ni mtu akimwaga maji ya kumop vibaya imwagikie your shirt.
Also, ploti pia kind of lacked privacy since your friends would be able to overhear your parents giving you a msomo.
Evans Karanja
I was brought up in an ushago setting and I think I had the best childhood out of all of you.
My fondest memory of my childhood was my friend and I racing down a hill barefooted to swim at a nearby river. We’d call it ‘duff-mpararo’ since we’d jump into the water with only our shorts on, and by the time we’d go home we’d be so ashy.
There was also a lot of communion among us with us being free to eat at the neighbour’s houses.
The things that many would think of as hardship such as lack of electricity were foreign to us since we never knew a life with electricity so there was nothing to compare that experience to.
Which of these locations were part of your childhood? And who do you think had the best childhood?