Alex

Does one ever recover from the traumas suffered in childhood?

I don't know. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. One thing I do know is that you never forget what happened and who did it to you.

So back in the day when I was a young'un with only a lunchbox and juice bottle to my name, I had this boy in my class who in the course of 7 months caused me sooo much anguish.

His name was Alex.

Alex already had a body bigger than most boys in my class. He was scary looking too: like a young version of Busta Rhymes...I kid you not. He was a Tzdian by nationality and the worst part was that he liked me...A LOT!

You see when I was growing up then, unlike today, having a boyfriend or rather confessing your feeling about someone when you were not yet old enough to vote was unheard of, sort of taboo.

So here I am in 3rd grade and this boy is going round telling everyone in my class that I am his girlfriend. I have no clue what that word meant but I didn't like it tagged on to me esp when I had not asked in the 1st place.

At first when I heard the fununuz going round, I denied them and continued doing my coloring. Which I was pretty good at. Coloring within the lines was my specialty.
I kept on ignoring Alex's moves towards me.

1) If he was planning to talk to me during breaktime I would run off with my best friend to the girls' swings where he would not dare come close.

2) During assembly (thank God I was made a prefect after a few months so I did not have to hold hands with the boys to and from in the lines).
Alex would wait and see where I was position in the line and then come and cut the guy I was holding hands with so that it would me and him. Sometime I refused to hold his hand other times, I would give him the cuff of my sweater to hold and turn my face the other way so that I would not have to look at him.

3) During hometime I would make sure I was in a group (because I had informed a few people to be my bodyguards) LOL! That way he he would not try to zindi me home (they used to live across the street from us so which literally ruined my chances of hepaing him every single day).

This went on for about 2 semesters. The more I ingored him and tried to shake him off my trail the more persistant he became. It was soo stressful going to school knowing that Alex was going to be there. I would pray that he would fall sick and not show up...alas! He used to be among the 1st people I would see when I entered the class. I could not tell my parents about it...please that is like the least of their worries, they have hungry mouths to feed. I did not have any evidence to take to my teacher about it, I mean he wasn't shaking me for my lunch money,he wanted me for lunch! LOL!
He tried to buy me mabuyus and kashataz as a way of appeasing me but I still did not want anything to do with him.
Things came to a head one day when my one of my close friends told me that there was a picture of me in the boys bathroom with Alex doing tabia mbaya. I sprung into action so fast it would have made the Pangani Flying Squad look like retirees.
I went to the boys bathroom and lo and behold there was a stick figure of me with my name alongside it and Alexe's stick figure next to it and they had drawn a line from his genitals-or rather where they are supposed to be on a stick figure- to mine(which indicated having sex).
I got out and went and asked around if anyone saw who had drawn that picture of me. Word got back to me that it was Alex who did it and was seen in the flesh doing it during the evening recess.

I went home and cried my eyes out. I could not believe the humiliation. After a few days of being simmering in anger I finally decided to end this harassment. I went up to him and asked him if he was the one who had drawn me in the boys bathroom. He answered in the affirmative. I asked him why he did it. He had no answer. I proceeded to give him a msomo that set his ass strait. I forced him to go to the bathroom and clean up the wall where he had drawn me and apologise to me. Oh and I went to check to see if it was done. I told him to never speak to me again...Ever in class. I he needs permission to go to the bathroom (coz I was a prefect) I was never going to give him and if he dares to disobey me I will not only staki him to the class teacher but I do have an older brother that can teach him a lesson as well.

After that incident Alex kept away from me and there were no more sightings of my stick figure in any bathroom. Later on, he transferred to God know where and I was sooo happy to be left in peace that lasted for a few years until I got to 7th grade and then another boy started professing his love...

Unlike back then when only a handful of classmates knew and class would close out at 1pm with the famous tune of: "Naskia sauti, sauti ya mama, sasa ni saa sita, kwaheri mwalimu..."
This was when I was a tweenie, puberty had kicked in and we used to stay for after school classes plus the whole stream knew about it!!