HEARTSTRINGS SYMPATHIZES WITH THE WOMEN OF HUSTLER NATION

By Margaretta wa gacheru (composed 12.12.22) Heartstrings Entertainment was true to its Hustler Nation roots this past weekend when they staged ‘If the Shoe Fits’ at Alliance Francaise. The show illustrates a catalogue of various hustles (also known as survival strategies or jua kali gigs) that many people pursue as means of keeping themselves alive during these post-COVID times. The scene looks strangely like present-day Kenya where inflation has compounded the problem of a bad economy, joblessness, and inflated prices of everything from bread and unga to petrol and cooking oil. They take a 24 hour-day and break it up into separate segments of time in which hustlers practice particular ‘professions’ at specific times of day. Then, to reinforce the point of how difficult the hustler’s life must be, all the jua kali jobs are played by Vivian (Bernice Nthenya) who manages them all and still retains a positive spirit without complaint.

She’s initially up at 4:30am at the local bus stop where she’s given herself the job of shining shoes. Her clients include everyone from a child awaiting her school bus to a job seeker needing to look smart to impress his prospective employers. And as Vivian doesn’t have kids, the un-paid hustle of motherhood is also illustrated by Esther Kahuha who offloads her child onto the school bus so she can rush home to cook and clean for the rest of her family. Vivian quickly moves on so that by 6am, she is selling hard-boiled eggs with kachumbari to everyone from old men leaving the bar and looking for a cheap meal to chokora (street kids) who she contends have money to buy her eggs.

The egg market reduces by sun rise, so by 9am, Vivian has moved out again into the fringe of the City Centre where she serves as a ‘consultant’ helping job seekers fill out job application forms, even forms to get work in Saudi Arabia. Next is noon, and Vivian is now at the hair salon, working on women’s hair and listening as her clients critique her humble, clean-hearted life-style. They can’t understand how she can be the sole breadwinner in her household, and yet she has a man there. The character played by Zeitun Salat wants to set her up in a ‘business’ comparable to her own. She is basically a high-class prostitute who enjoys having men cover her expenses in payment for the services she provides. But Vivian doesn’t have time or inclination to cheat her man. She will see him at 6pm when she has already figured on what to cook for him. First, she must get to her 5pm gig, working as an Uber driver and listening as couples quibble. By the time the clock strikes 6, she reaches home, exhausted but prepared to continue working. She is not prepared for more complaints. Her jobless hubby (Fischer Maina) has been sleeping, preparing for an evening out with guys and spending money he expects her to give him so he can buy booze for his friends.

She is too weary to argue with him. She’s about to send him cash, when something miraculous happens. A rich Congolese General (Tim Ndissi) arrives at her flat with his entourage of bodyguards. He seems to know everything about her, and she supposedly has been communicating with him for months. He has even sent her millions for her to build a house of her own. The scene is baffling until Vivian figures out it’s her hubby who has orchestrated the communication between the General and ‘herself’. He also must be the one receiving millions in cash. The General clearly adores Vivian and wants to marry her straight away. Initial;y she ignores his suggestions but once he goes off to greet the Head of state, she confronts her spouse and gets him to admit he took took the money under false pretenses. But when he claims he took it ‘for her’ and he’d set up a separate bank account in her own name, she’s not deceived. So upon the General’s return, he insists they wed that very day. Hubby, who has slipped back into the flat and heard all the aspirations of the General. He now tries to scuttle everything once he sees the Boss about to get down on bended knew to formally ask Vivian for her hand in marriage. But this time, it’s Vivian who, in the last moment of the play, decides it is she who will ask (or even plead) for the General’s hand in marriage. It’s something she’s entitled to.