The day Nakuru bouncer blocked me for having a baby face

For many rugby lovers in Kenya, a rugby weekend is not complete without a night of reckless abandon on the dance floor surrounded by revelers.

So, after the Prinsloo game last weekend, like many other people, my friends and I decided to go to one of Nakuru’s popular entertainment joints to blow off some steam especially after our team (Wanyore) lost.

At the entrance of the club, two guys had been stopped and asked to stand on the side as the rest of us went in.

Many people, like Nakuru resident Brian Otieno can relate to this moment,

Otieno explains to me how his first time, then as a university student, going to a club was not pleasant.

“After joining campus, I was very eager to experience clubbing. So, one of the first things did was to make sure I go to a club at the soonest available opportunity,” he says.

Therefore, in the company of some of his friends, and Identity cards in hand, they approached the entrance.  The security personnel even before frisking them checked their IDs.

“Haujafikisha miaka boss,” said the bouncer.

Otieno says he was confused, seeing his ID read that he was 19 years and then he asked him, “Na si mimi ni mtu mkubwa?

“Hapa tunachukua 26 and above, ebu simama hapo kando watu wapite” replied the bouncer.

Stubborn and determined to ensure their night was not deterred by an absurd statement, Otieno says he and his friends stood there for thirty minutes just watching people go in. After a while another security personnel came and asked us, ‘Mko na ngapi?

After negotiations, Otieno paid sh. 500 to gain entry with his friends.

As we laughed off at Otieno’s predicament, I remembered being in such a situation years ago.

I too was in campus, and this bouncer too used the age old excuse of ‘you are not old enough’ and he decided to follow it up by ‘ata hauna ndevu’. Very unnecessary if you ask me.

Because where exactly was I supposed to get a beard at 12 am? Some darks days those ones.

Unlike Otieno, I counted my losses, got on a boda boda and took my beardless face back to my bedsitter in Shabab.

As we sat in the club enjoying the set of old school music that was blasting the speakers, Otieno and I could only sympathize with what the young lads were going through but there was nothing we could do.

That, gentlemen, is a right of passage!