It happened in a jambo junior event at the voyager hotel in 2004, coop bank used to invite all jambo junior account holders to a full day party in major towns na mimi nilikua nawapeleka my boys together with the junior members of our cycling club, the parents trusted me with their kids, we would ride from Bamburi to pirates then to voyager for the event. It so happened that that year the event was poorly organized, gate crushers who were not members made their way inside and by 2pm the place was overcrowded, when free lunch was served it was mwenye nguvu mpishe and shameless fat women in deras were pushing little ones aside going for more food, after the lunch and awards to the kid with the most savings ikakua ni saa ya kuingia pool and the action changed to that side, my youthful team changed and got into the water, although I was confident of their capabilities but still had to keep an eye on them kaa nasafisha macho pande ingine, pool ilikua imejaa kabisa ata if you are an accustomed swimmer haungepata raha ata kidogo ukiwa ndani ya hio maji. And then there were no life guards, there was a small discreet sign that said “SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK”
Punde si punde nikaskia nduru from the pool, a momo had strayed to the deep end and was having difficulties keeping afloat, you would be mistaken to think that with all that hippo fat a momo will not sink but they do, by the time momo ikuje juu tena ipige nduru ya pili I was already in the water fully dressed with my T190 in my pocket, swimming to me came naturally, had learnt in our river on the happy valley, then the chinkus had completed the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani and then there was the KU swimming pool. So ata nilipo hamia Mombasa I was not a stranger to bodies of water.
I dove under the momo and pulled her inside again, you see, saving a drowning person is an art ama muende nyinyi wawili ukiruka hapo na ujinga, a drowning person is panicked and will grab at a straw and hold tight, the trick is to tire them for a minute na akiisha nguvu unamshika sasa na unavuta inje ya maji and that is just what I did, kufika edge of the pool all the gawkers who were there gave me a helping hand tukamtoa, as a doctor took charge of pumping the water out of her lungs and reviving her mimi nikaamlisha watu wote out of the water, hakukua na complain ata moja, then mad Meria went ballistic on the organizers, we had a nasty exchange when they said the safety of the guests is the hotels responsibility. Karibu tushikane makonde pale and it was only after we had got several life guards around the pool ndio niliskia simu kwa mfuko. Kuitoa the screen was blank, faster faster nikatoa batteryand shook the phone to get rid of the excess water, feeling sad nikachukua team yangu ya riders tukateremka kwa beach kucheza boli.
Na hapo ndipo ile momo nilisave walikuja na family yake kunirudishia shukran, they had looked for me all over the hotel. They were so grateful na wakti waliniuliza if theres anything they could do for me nikawaonyesha my brand new now dead Motorola T190. Vile ilikua Sunday afternoon with no safcom shop open nikapewa business card and directions to an office in the CBD pale I was to go on Monday morning to get money for to buy another phone.
All is well that ends well, following day I upgraded to an alcatel ile ulikua unafungia kwa mshipi, vile momo alinithank with niceness is a hekaya for another day, leo ilikua ni ya T190 thanks to @wildfrank for triggering this memory from the vaults.