“Garissa is a city in North Eastern Province, Kenya, it is the capital of the province and Garissa District…” this is the first line I come across when looking for information on Garissa – my next trip. I ask myself who wrote this on Wikipedia and how long has it stayed there not updated? If one is a visitor, this kind of information can mislead a person to think North Eastern is still in the dark ages of it being referred to as a Northern Frontier District. Actually a lot has changed; Garissa has produced a number of key people who occupy political seats (the likes of Faarah Maalim; deputy speaker, Aden Bare; livestock assistant minister etc) and a lot of professionals and business people who have excelled.
So in preparing for my trip, I open my mind to meeting a new place and hopefully good adventure. The trip is non-eventful compared to my previous ones; I actually slept through half of the four-hour journey miraculously on our very own Kenyan roads. As the dusk sets in, so do we glide into Garissa town where the roads are thinning as; women rush home, the men chew miraa (khat) and businesses close shop. Being a Muslim dominated town, am surprised to find not one nor two and neither three entertainments posts, but a slow drive around town reveals a number of them. There is even a ‘koinage’; let’s face it like a mad man, every town its own, hidden or not.
