I hustled selling second hand shoes for more than four years. During those years, I managed to save some dimes. With a loan from a friend, I started a small business selling used phones and accessories, within less than a year, I had already paid the loan and my business was thriving! My standard of living changed. When I had saved enough, I bought eight cows in the village adding to the seven my late father had left me. With strong roots in the village and town, I thought it would be hard for me to go down ever again. One fine evening, chatting with my buddies after work, we were marvelling about how Dan our friend managed to make loads of cash in a short period of time. “Black dollars!” Juma his closest buddy ruptured, revealing the secret. “Man, he ventured in black dollar business.” Black dollars? I inquired, I’ve never heard of such a thing. Sensing my naivety, he promised to fill–me-in. I pestered him the following day,“Some guys came with boxes full of black dollars,” he divulged, “Problem is, they lack money to buy some chemical to clean them, you know it is a little expensive, so Dan came across one and injected in some cash, what you see is the results. “Tell me more about these dollar”, I demanded, “these dollars are real! The sender tint them to avoid being stolen before it reaches the destination, actually I know a guy who is practically sleeping on a box of them, he failed to get money to buy the chemical, he needs three millions to buy a bottle of chemical that can wash about 200,000US$, “You’re kidding, right”? I asked, First, this information didn’t sink in, but I slept on it, in the morning we went to met the x- combatant, I took one glimpse at the dyed ‘Obama cash’ and I asked him to give me three days to raise the three millions, I didn’t consult anyone or ask for advice simply because I didn’t want to blow-up the deal, what if someone steals my gold mine. I sold everything I owned, I emptied my bank account t to the last coin, and we went together and bought the chemical, to cut the long story short, the chemical didn’t work, he asked me to part with another half a million bucks to buy some powder to add in the chemical, I had no coin left, when I confided in a close friend, he cried, revealing that I was hit by a con man; his boss was also robbed using the same technique, I spent three days at my friends home crying and pondering my next step, how was I such a fool to let those bastards defraud me I convinced myself to let the past in the past; I went to the village and sold all my cows amid my elders protest, I had planned to come back in town and go back to phone business, I boarded the Kigali bound taxi, I don’t know how thugs, got a whiff of this, later I learnt that when I entered the taxi, two men came following me, they told the taxi driver that they are my brothers taking me to a ‘mental hospital’, that I had ‘mental issues’, they asked him to help and pull-up when we reach at the road that branches off to the hospital, the second guy informed the taxi conductor about the situation and even proceeded to came and sit with me, I didn’t know what was going on, when we reached at the hospital, the driver stopped; the guy seated next to me told men, “kamanzi we have reached”, excuse me? Now, the taxi conductor was filling-in other passengers about my condition, “give way so that they get out the ‘Patient”, he demanded. “Satan is cruel! Imagine such a fine young man getting mad” I heard one woman saying, “it’s ok Kamanzi”,the first robber had now joined in the scuffle, even other passengers helped to push me out, I’m not mad I screamed ! I don’t know these guys, the more I argued the more I looked like a real lunatic, help! I screamed, they are trying to rob me, people just shock their heads in pity, they wished the robbers good luck and the taxi speed off leaving me in the hands of the thugs. They hauled me like they owned me; I was beaten to pulp, robbed and dumped on the road side, they jumped in the awaiting car and drove off! My clothes were torn in the scuffle and I lost one shoe, in this state, I perfectly fit the picture of a lunatic, each time I tried to approach someone for help, they just took off or threaten to thump me up, I couldn’t go back to town or to the village I was left quivering like an old gondola in a Turbulent ocean. martin.bishop18@yahoo.com
