Watamu Taught Me This.

Fidgeting on my office desk trying to concentrate on my to-do list, but the chilly Nairobi weather won’t let me prosper. It only blows my mind back to a month ago, when I finally experienced something that had been on my wishlist for a while.

Saturday 4.5.2019 and I am in the middle of a mini-vacay lost in thought, appreciating that this vacation is finally happening as I come to terms with how fast it’s ending. I’ll tell you for free; spending time with those that are closest to you at a distant, chilled location is something that you need to try out. In fact, put your phone on flight mode and just soak in the experience as you capture the memories.

On this day, we had our brunch on the veranda. It was a great meal, cooked and served by our very own. The table was covered in a good variety of brunch specials at a reasonable budget. Tea (a must on an African table), fresh passion juice, fried eggs, bacon, toasted bread, pancakes.…. I’m typing this on an empty stomach so allow me to save you from the details.

Here is the highlight of today’s blog. As we ate, we got some uninvited guests. They came out of nowhere (as they always do) and carried away anything sugary that was on the table surface. I guess you’ve already figured out who they are.

They stole my attention as they proved the truth to the “ As hardworking as an ant” statement. Being a hospitable host, I welcomed the guests to our high table by moving some of the utensils aside for them to enjoy their space. As a student of life, I noted some lessons (in my mind of course, because who carries a book to a vacation? Can’t be me!)

5 things I derived from what I saw which I believe can help us achieve “national cohesion” (I’ve been so addicted to this term lately)

1. Notify others when there are some goodies to enjoy: In the beginning, the ants on the table were few but when they went back to their ‘mansion’ they came back in larger numbers. I imagined that they were generous enough to spread the good news and share the goodies with everyone (everyone) to enjoy. Human beings, on the other hand, we’d rather hoard things which shouldn’t be the case. When we have an opportunity to reach out to others and pull them up, let’s not hesitate.

 

 

 

2. Have a systematic order of carrying out activities: The ants seemed to have a specific order on how they handled the goodies. They had one mission; it was all about carrying the particles into their hideout. A specific channel/route was used to stream in and another for carrying the sugar away. Their orderliness challenged me. What is my end goal? Are my days/hours planned? Do I stick to the plan? 

 

 

3. Teamwork: When it came to what I can refer to as the heavier particles, 2 or 3 would help each other drag each into their mansion or crush it first into smaller particles. How many times do we work in cohesion as a team without falling out? Do we even value teamwork in the first place? Do we have the right members to form a team that would lead us to achieve our goals?

 

 

4. Maintain focus: For you to successfully focus, you have to have a defined goal. A goal that you’ll focus on until the end without being distracted by sideshows. We placed some more sugar on a different end of the table to try and redirect the ants from the initial heap. Trust me, they finished transporting the first heap before they could all head to the other. Only a few uncultured ones went astray but you get my point? Don’t be overly excited about new opportunities that you leave your ongoing course pending. Follow One Course Until You’re Successful – FOCUS.  

 

 

5. Disaster management: We then decided to disturb their peace with loud music from a Bluetooth speaker that adds to the good vibes. You know how inseparable I am from music. The loud music was a danger to them, a kind of a ‘bomb’ I assumed. Anytime you would place the speaker close to where they were working they’d react differently. Though they were probably threatened, their synergy remained. There were two escape routes on either side of the heap and they left in a single file. I really don’t want to picture the kind of stampedes that occur during disasters in natural situations They say, everyone for himself and God for us all, right?

I don’t know, maybe you expected a review of Watamu or experiences from places I visited and all but to me, these are some of the greatest lessons I learned from this trip. As for the fun, describing it would be an injustice. You just have to have felt it for yourself.

 

A big shout out to my production crew: Isaac, Anita, Karani, Kirimi and Namwano.

#Famo #TheeSocialLight #PositiveVibesOnly #PVO