40 straight hours

So, last week was Aflewo worship night. This year has been crazy busy and quite hectic for me.  It’s been a year that I logged in longer hours in the office than I have done in all my many years of service-but that’s a story for another day. The result of all this is that I don’t pay much attention to what is going on outside of work because I am simply too exhausted to do so. I am an Alfewo alumni, and it amazes me how far God has brought this ministry. And as this year’s Aflewo night approaches, I know it’s coming but with everything going on around me in and out of the office, Aflewo night finds me sitting at home and I am thinking that I should be at the venue and not at home 😌. …and I can’t help but remember last year’s event and its aftermath.

My friend Mo and I attended the 2024 event when Aflewo celebrated its 20^th anniversary, landing there at around 10pm. As the night progresses, we have our own characterization of the different sessions of the night. The first third is old school for older attendees like us lol. We love it! And then comes the second third that we decide is for Gen Zs 🤣. At this point our generation is mostly retiring for the night but Mo & I hold strong and stay on. The last third is “moto-moto” [“on-fire”] to usher in the morning for all-nighters. There are prayer sessions in between which works out well as many respond for prayer. As morning approaches, we agree that it is a night well spent, and we both are glad that we not only came but stayed to the morning.  Just about ten minutes to 6am when it is ending, Mo & I decide to leave to stay ahead of the traffic jam that is sure to happen. The plan is to drop her home, a ten-minute drive from the venue as I head home.

We hit the road and with all the road reconstruction that has happened, I try to recall how to get to the other side of the highway.  I know I have done this several times from this end of the highway so it shouldn’t be difficult. Mo reckons we both know the way and there is no need to consult Ms. Gugu. As we are passing over the highway, I tell Mo that there is a left turn exit not too far and we keep a beady eye for it. But as we continue, I realize we are going too far ahead, and I tell Mo as much. I am also sure that we didn’t see a turn off because how could we have missed it? As we are still trying to figure it all out, I am now sure we are on the Southern By-pass with no U-Turn or exit until Lang’ata Road. Miraculously, I see Lang’ata Road below us! What??? How did that happen? OK, no sweat. We’ll exit on Lang’ata Road and dial backwards to Mo’s. But we somehow miss this exit as well and at this point I know our next exit is on Ngong Road. I tell Mo that will be the longest “ten-minute” drive I have done as it is now approximately thirty minutes’ drive to her home. I joke with her that if I pass Ngong Road for whatever reason I will take her my place lol. And then I see a left exit that I have never seen and because I look at it keenly trying to figure out where it’s leading, and then in the rearview mirror trying to figure it out, I fail to notice that it is our exit. By the time I realize this, we are way gone, and the next exit is Waiyaki Way a further fifteen minutes away.

I tell Mo we are going to my place seeing that when we reach the end of Southern By-pass and join Waiyaki Way, we will be thirty minutes away from my house and forty-five minutes away from hers. We are tickled silly and Mo says since we are not in her hood and therefore, she knows not where we are, the blame is all on me 😆. We inadvertently traveled about 29km along the Southern Bypass that morning! Followed by another 18km on Waiyaki Way to my place. To put it all in perspective, had we got our first exit right, it would’ve been 5kms to Mo’s and another 8kms to my place!

We get to my place, and I offer to make breakfast before she leaves. We get on it, have breakfast and are still at the dining table chatting hours later. As ladies we have a million little things to talk about and before we know it, it’s lunch time. Mo calls her friend to reschedule their appointment with an explanation that she’s not yet home. Friend offers to come and pick her up because she [Friend] has an errand to run close to my place. And because we are ladies and we need to get our 30,000 words per day out [or so I’m told], we are in deep conversation that we don’t hear Friend’s call to get directions to my place. Friend decides to go on with her errand first and by the time Mo’s calling her back, she lets us know that she will be an hour as she concludes her errand. By the time Friend gets to my place, it is around 4 pm and Mo and I have been in conversation since we got to my place around 7am.

The Africans that we are, Friend cannot just come and go, I offer her something to eat first. Mo & I realize we are hungry and join in. I say goodbye to Mo and Friend at 6pm and get busy doing a million little things around the house. By the time I am going to bed at 10pm that night, I realize that I have been awake for 40 hours straight! Not quite the day I had planned but it worked out beautifully. I had a rare opportunity to catch up with Mo, meet her friend and I was still feeling refreshed from the previous Aflewo night. What a day!

Back to the present, I can’t help but chuckle recalling the previous Aflewo night. I decide that it’s not the same following the event online and purpose to attend the next one, a year out… God willing. Time really does fly so it will be here before long…