Would you have bought what this hawker was selling?

What you need to know:

  • There is always something wrong with the world; if not bringing back our girls, it is a conspiracy theory on Ebola, or death toll from Pakistan.
  • A hawker was emptying out his sack onto the corner — you know, the sacks that carry the day’s business.
  • People were beginning to gather and also look at this rat, whose gnawing seemed too pleasurable for it to leave the thing alone.

It was a hot day, the kind Nairobi has been blessed with every so often in between downpours of rain.

On days like this, hawkers come out to play. And we all know Nairobi hawkers. They sell everything.

They deftly jump ship as soon as there is any sign of a police van, sometimes so rapidly that it makes me wonder who the real Kenyan superstar runners are.

It makes me feels sorry for them. The fact that we have failed somewhat as a people, if you think about it. As a nation, we have not provided the resources that should enable people to make a decent living.

Our education system is drastically flawed, placing more emphasis than is necessary on grades. For someone who does not get the grades, what next? A polytechnic, perhaps. Or a life of "crime".

The evidence is apparent; in the last few months, there has been a distinct upsurge in the numbers of street children around, and more assaults and faecal-matter slingings.

CITY COUNTY RESPONSIBILITY

Who is responsible for this? The Nairobi City County, you would think.

But the Nairobi City County is reportedly woefully underfunded and overdrawn, so street children are not the first thing on their agenda. Salaries and debts are.

There is always something wrong with Nairobi.

There is always something wrong with the world; if not bringing back our girls, it is a conspiracy theory on Ebola, or death toll from Pakistan.

But what I saw on this hot sunny day surprised my jaded Nairobian self more than usual.

It was at the junction on the lower side of Mpaka Road, the junction where Burger Hut used to be.

A hawker was emptying out his sack onto the corner – you know, the sacks that carry the day’s business.

It looked like a sack of entangled wires, knotted together and separated in short pieces; almost like a child’s plaything, a puzzle to be unfurled.

OUT OF CONTROL

Then we noticed what appeared to be a rat small in size, for a Nairobi rat which was already revolting enough, chewing on one of these wires.

The hawker was watching the rat, seemingly not concerned by it.

People were beginning to gather and also look at this rat, whose gnawing seemed too pleasurable for it to leave the thing alone.

Then it dawned on me that what the hawker was selling was rat traps.

He had trapped a rat to act as a real-life exhibit proof that the product worked, if you will.

Of course the rat was in pain. And it was dying right there on the street, so that this nonchalant hawker could make a buck.

Is something wrong with this picture?