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Chieng’ Jamondo: The Sun is An Early Riser I

Ramogi Okello K’Amimo
5 min readAug 17, 2020

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Unlike every Friday night, that night, I made sure I had my machete by the door, a piece of old Chicago Bulls t-shirt that had now almost become a rag, and a sisal-made rope. I went to bed, knowing what waited for me the next day.

Photo from Robert Harding

The night was short, just like any other night in my life, they all seem to be getting shorter with every new night. All I can remember is going to bed, and the next thing I heard was a cock crow. We were to leave after the third cockcrow before everyone woke up. Leaving early enough made us reach Nam on time. This also agreed with our belief that starting early beats waiting for a miracle.

“Sani, chiew, piny oseruu.” My friend Okoth said as he shook me vigorously to wake me up.

He had left the door open when he had gone out of the house to pee, and the cold breeze blew into the house, sending chills through my uncovered feet to my spine without mercy. I coiled myself to fit into the little fleece blanket that I had overgrown. His wake-up call was a reminder that my time to hide away from the chilly breeze was over, and I had to face it head-on.

Asechieo,” I said as I switched my sleeping position to a prostate sujud with my head on the hard mat and my bottom up in the sky.

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