Edwin's Corner

He made a living collecting things we no longer wanted. Then he lost something no amount of money could replace.   I once gave a man some old clothes and walked away feeling like I had personally rescued humanity. You know that feeling? You finally clear out your wardrobe, give away the things you haven’t worn in three years, and suddenly your conscience starts behaving as though you have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The man’s name was Jeremiah. He collected our garbage, found value in things we had discarded, and somehow managed to smile at people who barely noticed he existed. Then one night, my phone rang. Jeremiah needed six hundred shillings. His little boy was in hospital. I sent the money. A few days later, he sent me a photograph. Underneath were four words. “He died yesterday.” And suddenly, everything I thought I understood about generosity, friendship and being a good human being became considerably more complicated. There are people you meet who make you qu...

Some men escape death. Others simply learn how to make a living beside it.   Joshua was supposed to die that evening. Four of his friends had already been shot. The policeman standing over him was preparing to make him the fifth. Then the gun jammed. Now, you would imagine that a man who had just escaped death would reconsider his career choices. Joshua did. Eventually, he entered politics. Which, depending on how you look at it, was either an extraordinary transformation or a rather interesting career progression. Because Joshua was about to discover something fascinating about power in Kenya. Sometimes the difference between a criminal and a respectable man isn’t what he does. It’s who employs him. And the young man who once lay trembling in the mud would one day dream of becoming an Honourable Member. The Fifth Bullet They were lying face down in the mud. Five young men, barely out of their teenage years, their faces pressed into the filthy ground of a backstreet in Huruma. Behi...

Part Two: The Price of Peace   Karmali had survived a steel rod to the head, discovered that his accident was probably attempted murder, and acquired the extraordinary ability to hear what people were thinking. You would imagine this was enough excitement for one lifetime. Apparently, life disagreed. His wife had betrayed him. His colleagues wanted him dead. His doctors were keeping secrets that could fill a police station. And now he had to rebuild his life. But here was the problem nobody had anticipated. When you can hear everyone’s thoughts, you eventually discover that some people are idiots. And quite a number of them are thinking about you. The question was no longer whether Karmali could survive knowing the truth. It was whether he could learn to live without needing to know everything. Karmali left the hospital through the service entrance, between a delivery of vegetables and a man arguing about an invoice. It was not the triumphant exit he had imagined. But the alternati...