Homecoming

Phew it has been a minute and I have to be honest, I missed doing this (writing). So I traveled to Bulawayo with the little man and I learned one thing, I need to pack my husband as well so that I can be able to do the little things I take for granted.

We had booked the 10:00am Eagleliner bus because there was no way I would make it to the boarding point to catch the 7:00am bus with a baby and I couldn’t take the 2:00pm bus either because I couldn’t risk traveling with a baby at night. I hadn’t been to Bulawayo since the beginning of 2018 so the journey was definitely going to be a long one.

I had the window seat on the e seater side and I was glad that the other 2 seats next to mine were empty, that way I could carry my son easily and be able to feed or change him without any hassles. The bus was halfway through the gate when it was flagged down to let in 2 gentlemen who had just finished buying tickets and to my disappointment they had been given the seats next to mine.

As soon as they sat down, they exchanged greetings with me, they were traveling together to Bulawayo to hold interviews for some program their company was running and they had arrived in Harare at 6:00am from another city, I picked that up from their conversation. I am sure they had not bathed because the stench that was coming from the man in the seat next to mine was enough to turn my stomach. I have a huge appetite of late but I put my food away in that instant.

It was hot inside the bus and my son was sweating and irritable, the air conditioner in the bus was broken and the air coming through the windows was hot. I guess fatigue finally caught up with them because in a short space of time they were fast asleep. The next thing I know, the man seated in the middle seat, let’s call him B since he was wearing black, was using my son as a pillow. I nudged him and told him to use his friend as a pillow instead, thankfully the bus was not full so he made his way to the back of the bus to occupy an empty seat.

I realized the importance of owning a car on that journey, the heat in the bus became unbearable even for me. My son was now sweating, screaming and refusing to feed and I was on the verge of having a meltdown in the bus. Thankfully, the bus driver was kind enough to add a few extra minutes to each stop so we could board off and get some air outside, which seemingly helped in calming him down.

When we arrived in Kwekwe, the other gentleman went out and bought a packets of chips which he shared with B who came back to join us. After they were done eating, B went back to his “seat”, the other gentleman wiped his hands with a tissue and started going through his phone whilst picking his nose and flicking whatever came out. I was being tested!

My son started crying as we were entering Gweru and this man reached out to play with his cheeks using the very same hand he had been picking his nose with! I wanted to scream, yell and shout but all I did was tell him in an icy tone to not touch my son without sanitizing his hands because his immune system was not strong enough yet. I proceeded to take some wet wipes and wiped his entire face then applied some Vaseline on him much to the amazement of the gentleman.

When we arrived in Gweru and the passengers boarding off there got out, he went to join B and they sat sat at the back for the rest of the journey. Thankfully the journey back was not dreadful and well I had a lot of fun in Bulawayo it made the nightmare of that journey bearable.

So next time you travel using public transport, please take a shower, brush your teeth and put on some deodorant. Just be considerate of your fellow passengers. Ooh and please in as much as pregnant women don’t like having their bellies rubbed, mothers do not like having strangers touching their babies, so let’s learn to respect each other’s space.