The times we have to live through

I was recently listening to a late night TV show where the guest panelist was saying, "I remember when we were young, a blue collar wage was enough to buy a home, feed the household and put the kids through college. Nowadays, a white collar worker has to hold down two or more jobs, take up a lot of debt, or start several side-businesses just to get by." He narrated how in the 70s and the 80s, when he was a young boy growing up in the rural western part of Kenya, a single shilling could buy bread, milk, and leave some cents to spare. The highest denomination in Kenya is the KShs. 1000 note - that was the equivalent of a civil servants basic salary for an entire year. In the span of four decades, cents are worthless, shillings are out of fashion, and KShs. 1000 is barely enough to feed a family for two days.

These are the times we have to live through : unemployment has reached a critical mass, inflation is going through the roof, and wages have been stagnant for a long time.

Unemployment

My cousin Johnny graduated from the University of Nairobi four years ago with a Bachelors degree in Actuarial Science. I remember the hopes he had and the optimism that he had inspired in all the members of our family. He was among the few people in my extended family who had made it to college. The mere fact that he had made it to the most prestigious public university in East Africa was worth celebrating. We gathered in my Uncle's homestead after receiving this wonderful news and had a barbeque feast. As is the tradition in many African homes, we do not buy meat from the butcher or the store. The burden of looking for the meat fell upon me and cousin Jimmy (Johnny's elder brother).

We travelled from Nairobi City to upcountry, where cattle are abundant and cheap, in a dusty and rickety Mazda truck that we had hired from my neighbor. We dressed in our oldest, most rugged pair of jeans, and plain cotton shirts, and worn-out shoes. we wanted to give an impression that we were poor, common folk, lest we get ripped off. We negotiated with the ranch manager in vernacular, instead of Swahili (which is more urban), and we did not mention (nor hint), that we came from the capital city.

The ranch manager was a jovial and friendly man, and he cracked some jokes to establish rapport, and asked us some indirect questions to establish where we came from, and what our social status was. My cousin (who did most of the talking) was wise enough to deflect that line of questioning by giving brief and ambiguous answers. When asked where we came from, he responded, "From the other side of the valley." When asked whom we were related to, he replied, "Mutungateri.'' (Which translates to shepherd or preacher, depending on the context. Either way, Jimmy communicates that we have been sent by a person of high religious and moral authority, or someone who is an expert in cattle.) The ranch manager did not see the point of further small talk, so he gave us the quintessential Hobson's choice - he just pointed to a fat bull in the first pen and asked us to take it or leave it at KShs. 10,000. The same bull would cost KShs. 50,0000 if it was being sold in Nairobi city. My cousin Jimmy started to bargain but I stopped him by hitting him at the waist with my elbow. We had received the fairest deal we could ever possibly hope to get.

We hurriedly departed from the countryside with some 100 kilograms of live flesh, to be received like heroes when we touched down in my uncle's yard in the city. We hired a few locals to slaughter the bull, and contributed in preparing the dishes and roasting the meat. It was a big ceremony to celebrate cousin Johnny being admitted to the University of Nairobi. If being admitted to the University was like a nomination to the Oscars, being accepted into a STEM course was like winning the trophy and the prize money. My uncle announced to everyone with pride (too much pride for a preacher-man), that his second son was going to do 'ACTUARIAL SCIENCE.'

After spending four years paying his son's tuition fees, accommodation and other expenses, my Pastor Uncle was vexed and exasperated by his son's inability to land a 'good' job, almost to the point of cursing. My cousin was depressed for not being able to land on his feet after his lavish graduation party. Our hopes of using the college degree route to upward social mobility were dashed, or put on hold at least. Now Actuarial Scientist Johnny is an errand boy for Glovo (a food delivery startup), and he lives with his parents who persistently pray that he gets a job soon, when they have spent their emotional energy cursing him out.

But who can blame cousin Johnny? Being in the dole or underemployed is not his fault - it is the times that we live through.

Inflation

Food prices have become extremely volatile. In fact, the prices of virtually all commodities change on a daily basis. A while ago, it made sense to have a budget before going shopping. And while shopping, at least you could select what goods were cheapest. Nowadays, retail stores do not invest in price tags anymore. As soon as they have put up the new prices for the day, they change again.

You would think you are in Turkey based on how the currency is devaluing. As we wait for the government to do something about it, we are adjusting. We are implementing austerity measures that are unprecedented in the history of this this country.

Last evening, my mother bought a whole three month's supply of cereals and groceries. Initially, I thought that company was coming over (perhaps some body-builders with gargantuan appetites). I asked my mother the rationale for this mass purchase, and she told me that she was afraid that the prices of these foodstuffs might skyrocket in the next weeks. Good for us!

I am sorry for them that do not think like my mother does, and I am afraid for the people who will be in charge of our society in the coming weeks. There is historical precedence of economic crises like these and people being resilient and adaptive; but what if people cannot bear the strain? What if the pinch becomes a thorn in the flesh and they cannot take it anymore? What then?

Stagnant wages

The panelist on the late night TV show shifted the blame of the high cost of living from the government to other 'external factors' that are outside the control of our society. That statement made me irate for I need a scapegoat. And not some mysterious and malicious spirit called 'external factors' - I am religious, but not that superstitious. Anyways, had he more time to explain what these 'external factors' are, I would have understood and become less furious.

He said that the solution is to raise people's wages so that they are commensurate with the higher cost of living. At this point, the host chuckled in the joy of being vindicated - perhaps he had been negotiating with his boss about a salary raise behind cameras. He smiled like he had heard the Good News from Jesus himself, ''Rejoice thee that are miserably paid, for your compensation will be multiplied.'' He looked at the camera with a sense of schadenfreude - as if to tell his boss, ''I told you but you would not listen. Now I hope you feel embarrassed after hearing this man's facts!''

As I slid into my sheets long after the show was over, I could not help myself but remark, ''How convenient for an employed and remunerated public policy civil servant to propose on live TV that the solution to the current financial recession is to raise the salaries of the employed! What about the majority of young people who are unemployed?''

With that, I slept soundly so that I could dream of better days.