By CAROLINE NJUNG’E

Last week, I edited a story about a Finnish man who sells mitumba (second-hand clothes) at a slum in Eldoret.

Here was this mzungu, a chef who has worked in various hotels around the world, standing on a dusty patch by the roadside calling out to amused Kenyans to buy used shirts and skirts. If you are wondering why a chef would resort to such “lowly” work in a foreign country, then you would have to read the story.

Anyway, this man was not bothered by the attention he attracted, pointing out that it was good for business. He told the writer that he makes a profit of between Sh4,000 and Sh3,000 daily.

AVERSE TO WORK

While this is all interesting, what stood out for me is the fact that in his short stay in Kenya — he came calling last year — he has noticed that our young people are averse to work, and would rather while away the day sitting on a bench or a stone at the shopping centre, gawking at other people as they go about their business.

Where I grew up, there were many such young men — men in their early and mid-20s who woke up and headed to the shopping centre to do nothing, after drinking the tea their mother had woken up at cockcrow to make.

They would sit at strategic places where they could comfortably direct cat calls at school girls as they went home from school. Late in the evening, they would head home, just in time for free supper, and then sleep, after a long day of doing nothing.

Fast forward to the present. Where I live, I see many such young men just sitting, or wandering aimlessly around the local shopping centre. I bet this is a common sight in other places across the country.

I look at these young people and think to myself, “What a waste!” Your youthful years are your most productive, and if you don’t do anything meaningful with them, then you are looking at a very bleak future.

You have probably heard, or even know, of men in their 30s and 40s who still live with their mothers, and rely on them for everything — even for a pair of socks. No, they are not handicapped; their hands and feet function like yours and mine, and their mental state is in tip top condition.

There is something else I have noticed — most people who never move away from their places of birth don’t thrive. They end up leading the same mundane lives that they have seen other live.

COMFORT ZONES

I mentioned this to a friend who happened to study a unit about counselling at university, and from the little knowledge she gathered, she figures that this lack of motivation is probably because everyone around them seems to be doing no better than they are.

They have no one to look up to, no one to challenge and inspire them.

It made sense. If all you see around you are mud houses, you too will build a mud hut, and if the richest man in your village drives a bicycle, that is what you will aspire for when you “grow up”.

Not to sound like a broken record, but unless you get out of your comfort zone and take a look at what others are doing and how they’re going about their lives, you will assume that everyone else lives the way you do.

Dare to climb down from your mother’s lap, get out of the village, town, or city, and find out what your peers are doing with their lives. Chances are that you will be motivated to make some illuminating differences in your life.

Source: Daily Nations