Ten years ago is a long time to me, but somehow the memories I have of Malinda have managed to remain through the years. Ifl close my eyes, I can vividly picture how beautiful was it. Malinda is a beautiful city in Kenya, and it was the place where I grew up. Compared to the other city of the country, this city had more opportunity such as schools, entertainment, and good neighborhoods. Living in this town is quite luxurious because there are many rich people who were ready to invest much money to make the city nice. Life is all about learning. Going to school in Malindi was my happiest and the best days of my life. I was three years old when I started school there, and that program they called Nasriet. After two years, I went to first grade, which I struggled with because the school taugh us three different language (hindi, English, and Kiswahili) and none of these are my native language. Later on, I caught up because I study very hard. my mom always helped me after school.
The school started 7am and ending 4pm whether high school or nasriet student. The teachers were helpful and well-educated. They were very capable what they taught. The one thing I have never forgotten was every week we had gift; if the student had good attendance, they gave gift. Also they gave money as gift the students who got As all his or her classes. Every Saturday, I woke up a lot earlier than usual because something pleasant was going to happen. Rapidly I cooked breakfast and dressed up. I ate breakfast with my family. After everything was done we were ready to begin our journey to the Malindi beach. The sand on beach was in golden color, soft and smelling like flower. The combination of the sky, the ocean and the sand made the beach very beautiful scene like paradise. The water offshore was light blue and crystal clear and tasted like salt.
The beach was not very crowded with people in the morning. Although many tourists came every year in summer time, my family were busy doing many things for example running, taking boat rides, walking and relaxing. There were many fish in the ocean and it was easy to catch them. My uncle who is fisherman brought us five or ten sailfishes every time when we visited the beach. He had never missed cat; he always got it. After we finished playing my mom cooked us the fishes with salt and chili, and it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. Therefore, our neighbors were friendly and nice people. Every other weekend night, especially Sundays, we played a dance which I called “Dhaanto”. Dhaanto is the most traditional dance among Somali people, and it performed by group of women and men, who are often dance opposite one another, sometimes they play partners and sometimes they dance in their gender group. Malinda people played same as Somali people. The dancers entered by skipping: they began on their right foot, pushed off and jumped up.
Then, they Land on their right foot again, and hop on their left foot pushing off and jumped up. At that moment, they land on their left foot and repeated the entire sequence of moves. Also, it mixed up a lot clapping. Dancers were clap on beat one and three of four-beat bar. Exchange which hands went on top as they clap .finally, they started to sing a song with soft and touchable voice. Watching dhaanto made me very happy, I looked forward to see evew Sunday. Even if I was sick, I had to go. I liked to learn but I was so busy with my school and family. I will forever treasure the time and memories I gained from this experience. Malindi is my favorite place which I will never forget. This place is meaningful to me because it is part of the country where I grew up, and it is part of my childhood. It was wonderful place that made me happy a lot of times.
There were nice schools which I went there. I It located nice and clean environment. The government sent our school best teachers who had good education. These teachers were kindly and pleasant. I took for granted what they taught me. Also, evew week end, when I went to the Malindi beach, I lay down on the sand, I listened to the wind, and I watched blue sky to feel that l was in heaven. It reminded the time that l was playing in my childhood. Malindi people have many good traditional dances, but watching dhantur (also known as dhaanto) was my desired dance. It was very fun and my family and I went there to have fun.
