Brejin Stulla

My Uncle Alexander Kimakia. After living in the United States for over 40 years, my Uncle Alexander Kimakia, at the age of 70, finally relocated back to Kenya this year, settling in his mega 5-bedroom house at Mushroom Gardens Estate along Kiambu Road, a project that took him nearly 10 years to complete. Now in Kenya and in his house, Uncle Alexander Kimakia lives in the living room of the house downstairs while his caretaker lives upstairs in his huge master bedroom. This is because Uncle Alexander Kimakia cannot climb the stairs without the help of another person. Even with help, it takes him 10 minutes to make the climb. As such, Uncle Alexander Kimakia has decided to stay downstairs in the living room as all 5 bedrooms are upstairs. The house has a living room, toilet and kitchen downstairs; 3 rooms on the first floor and another 2 rooms (including the master bedroom) on the second/last floor. This is surely not how Uncle Alexander Kimakia anticipated his retirement. But that is the reality of his journey. This will be the life of many other Africans living abroad and building mansions back home. In fact, if you are building a dream house for yourself to live in and the house is not ready by the time you attain the age of 50, forget about it! Uncle Alexander Kimakia virtually wasted 40 years of his life doing menial jobs abroad, hoping to go and retire back home in his mansion and enjoy life. But, now he has no life to enjoy and someone else is sleeping in his master bedroom. Like most aged persons, Uncle Alexander Kimakia is not even able to enjoy a bottle of Malt because it will shoot up his blood sugar level. Yet, he said he was working hard all his life in order to enjoy life, which includes eating and drinking the finest foods and drinks, when he retires. Now, he is only able to eat fruit and vegetable salads - and even that, without dressing! He cannot even eat any of the fine meats out there without his cholesterol sending warning signs. That is the life of Uncle Alexander Kimakia in retirement. This will be the story of more than half of us. The best thing to do is to take mini-retirements now and enjoy.