When was it okay to beg your loan back?
Yaani, it’s that time of the month. You know that week before you drown? And because you’ve suffered this before and resorted to taking biscuits and water, you decided to be a good, no, a better saver. You save enough for survival, then that ka-close friend calls you for an emergency loan of, let’s say, 5,000 bob. You start getting worried and ask questions like, are you kidnapped? Is your life in danger? Did you do a Shylock bizna? And before you get a clear answer, you send them the money and call to confirm if they have received it, threatening them that you will need payment by the end of the month, and the friend ‘promising’ you that you will get the money as soon as theirs comes in.
End month inaingia, and being understanding, you give your friend a grace period of one week. Then you decide to go on WhatsApp zile za “Hi!” No reply. But you see that you have been blue-ticked. The next day, you decide to use the direct phone message because you assume that maybe the kids were playing with the phone, and they were the ones who opened your chat by mistake, and that is why it was ignored. Again, no reply. So, you decide to call. They don’t pick the first call, and 5 calls later, they pick up and throw you the famous line, “Ebu chill, niko place mbaya, ntakucall!”
Patience being your virtue, you wait. Day one, day two, day three – all gone with no calls, no texts and definitely no human messenger. You start getting agitated and decide to go straight to the point with another direct text message, “Weh! Pesa zangu niaje?” They reply with a none-of-your-business excuse of how things have been tough, and life being messed up, blah, blah, blah. “I just want my money,” you retort, “I want to do something with it!” Then they use that ka-phrase of, “Right now, I have 500 bob. Can you start with that?”
“No!” you reply, “Ebu borrow a loan elsewhere and give me back my full amount! Sasa, 500 bob itanisaidia aje? Nkt!”
Two months down the line, you are still begging and threatening this friend, and they keep on giving you stories, mara they will be getting their chama, which they are planning to pay you with. Chama comes – still nothing. You decide that the best course of action is to go to their spouse, parents or police. Then and only then do you get your money back. Friendship lost, loyalty in the bin, and trust…, well, that is gone with the wind.
I mean, why borrow what you can’t pay back, jameni!
By The Tazmanian Angel
