Dating a typical Kikuyu guy has always provided me with moments of laughter and moments of utter complementation where you ask yourself ‘Am I really this desperate?’ Recently I went out with one and here are some of the things that I picked about those typical ones: -
1. They know some of the really cheap places they can take you for a date, at times that means walking around Nairobi as he does calculations in his head on how the cost differs from one hotel to another. I know of a very cheap Kikuyu guy who kept wondering why girls were leaving him. I could not tell him but this guy was really cheap. He takes a girl all the way from Kiambu to Arboretum so that he could ask her to be his girlfriend and he had a well paying job to make it worse, she said no! Then he took me a hotel in Nairobi where we had tea and mandazis or was it sodas, as he shopped for a TV worth over Kshs 25,000/-. If you dare ask for chips, he will remind you how unhealthy that is.
Their perfect idea of a date is buying a kilo of meat and you cooking it in your house followed by sex and then they will leave you to wash up after, as they relax on the sofa, typical. During my date with that Kikuyu guy, he told me he loved a home cooked meal and that was his perfect date and so I asked ‘So do you know how to cook?’ Your guess is as good as mine.
While Ujaluo ni gharama the opposite is true for Kikuyu men, and they firmly hold to the belief 'Ukikuyu si gharama'
2. Is it a business deal or a date: - A typical Kikuyu guy can make a date sound like you are in a business meeting, as he is telling you what he is currently hawking, sorry, selling, he is like you know I can get it for you at a price cheaper than the market price, do you want the original version or the Chinese.
3. They have really hustled: - the last Kikuyu guy I went out with, had dropped out campus, he was into sales and marketing, he constructed websites, he had been a mtu wa mjengo, he owned an mpesa once, he had written academic papers and proposals, I really could really help but smile as he went on and on about everything he had done in his short life and how much more he wanted to do, including owning a plot and a matatu, which led to his ultimate dream of being a millionaire. I know everyone wants to be a millionaire but Kikuyu men desperately want to be millionaires, their motto is get rich or die trying.
4. They hate gold diggers, they like women that work.
As he buys you that plate of chips, he will gladly remind you of how much you can save if you ate at home and how much he hate gold diggers. They forget you cannot gold dig a poor man or a hustler.
5. They have a typical Kikuyu accent, there is nothing annoying as a guy with a typical Kikuyu accent trying to sing along to ‘ronery’ sorry ‘lonely’ in a matatu full of people and he is looking at you. Is there a way you can pretend you do not know someone without hurting their feelings.
6. They will never help you with your bag, the other day I am walking in town with this typical Kikuyu guy and I am carrying this heavy bag on my back and all he noticed was that the straps were inside out and he was scared that was going to leave a mark on my back, so what does this gentleman do, he adjusts the bag on my back so that I am more comfortable carrying it. Yes I blocked his hand angrily.
7. They have a low opinion of women generally, that typical Kikuyu guy believes that Kikuyu women prefer to be single mothers and they love money.
8. While he might have problems spending money on you, he does not mind treating himself to one for the road or maybe two. I am sure we all know who has a problem with alcohol in Central Kenya
Yes it will be a while before he pays your parents a visit. The most amazing thing is that they are always saving but they are always broke.
9. They will make statements like ‘this mountain imagine if it were sub divided and sold, now people are paying 300 to just hike it, how does that help the economy?’ ‘This Uhuru Park imagine owning it.’
10. His pet name for you might be 'nyina wa Ngania (mama so and so): - I dated a guy who used to refer me as Mama (insert his mothers name). That really used to annoy me. How is referring as the woman who gave birth to a child named after your mother supposed to be a turn on?
This is not talking about your average Kikuyu guy this is about that TYPICAL KIKUYU. Yes there is a difference. So I have not generalised men from any community.
A couple of years ago, I had the worst Christmas ever, no one noticed because I am really good at hiding my feelings at times but it was terrible. My heart was breaking inside, I had been rejected by my perfect guy, he was everything that I have ever wanted in a man, he was tall, he was kind, he was cute, he was a university graduate and he was working, and most importantly he was a Christian. On our first meeting he noticed me, you know when a guy looks at you with those eyes that says he is interested and he asked me out and I will not lie when he sent me an sms later that evening and when he called I was burning up, my heart was on fire, I was in love. Well, things did not work out the way I anticipated and when it really hit me that he was not interested in me it was a couple of days before Christmas and I was really hurt, my heart was shattered. We have all been there were someone you are interested in rejects you.
This is what I have learnt about rejection: -
• A rejection is always better than a false promise; with that guy, who ruined my Christmas, just imagine if he had lied to me and put on a show to prove that I was the one, while in reality he was not interested in me at all. Hey, I should be glad that it did not take me years of being hopelessly in love to realise that this man had done to me single nicest do someone can ever do to you, walk away at the very beginning when they realise they were not interested. He did not string me along, he made no false promises and he needs to be commended. You see it’s allowed to be sad and depressed for a bit, but you can never hold grudges against someone who is totally honest with you and you must move on, otherwise you are the one with the problem.
• Rejection is a good thing, when a guy who I thought was serious and had spent months calling me all sorts of lovey dovey names went silent after I pointed out that despite all the I love yous and I want us to get married, he did not know what my second name was and he had never asked and I did not know anything about him and I kinda asked or stated the obvious, maybe it was the wrong way of asking but he went silent and I would send like 500 words for every 3 words that he sent. The worst part was when I said I just wanted to know him deeper and he said ‘thanks’ I felt devastated but I realised I had been so afraid of being rejected that I was scared of asking him all these things I needed to know because I thought he would leave, and I was right but then I realised that was a good thing. The rejection was worth it. Imagine being in a serious relationship with someone who knows nothing about you and you do not know anything about them either. Attraction is part of it yes, but if one of the parties is not interested in something serious, you have no option but to walk away or let them walk away. I really did like this guy and I am sure if he was in the country and proposed at that point, I would have said yes because I was so attracted to him. Then I started thinking about it and I thought, if I am to base my relationship on feelings then I when I settled into marriage life, and I really got to know this guy, chances are my feelings would decrease and resentment towards him would grow. His silence was golden.
I needed to know how serious this guy was
• It has nothing to do with me most of the times, when we are rejected we wonder what is wrong with us and it eats on our self esteem. It should not; at times the heart wants what the hearts want. I have had my fair share of rejections and I have rejected some men as well and most of the times I simply was not interested, then how can I be angry when someone is simply not interested in me.
• They will be happy without you stop waiting for them to realise what they are missing; most of the times we wait for the people of rejected us to realise what a mistake they made in leaving us and to see them regretting not loving you. Well, this never happens. They will probably get married and they will most likely be happy without you, that is why the decision to move on is for you and only you. At times I look back at the people I rejected and I am happiest without them, I am sure they feel the same way too.
In all honesty rejection is the single nicest thing someone an ever do to you, that way you do not have to spend your entire lifetime with a partner who will never love you and return your feelings. When you force that person by sticking with them no matter how many times they show you they are not interested, you are setting yourself for a miserable life, twenty years wasted on a man or woman who never loved you, while getting over them could have actually taken a couple of months.
