Beryl, a good friend and colleague, was always filled with fear to go home alone after the 3:30Pm to midnight shift. It never occurred to me how horrified someone could be taking a corporate trip in a registered cab until March 30th 2022.
It was approaching nine, the night was already calm except for the shrill songs of insects, and as usual I began the hustle of finding a cab to work, for I was expected to work the night shift. My ordering experience that day was noticeably different from the norm, I couldn’t get a cab and the ones I did get kept canceling until I got Violet, my very first female driver. It seemed interesting , so as soon as she agreed to be my driver that night, I began to plan out the questions I would ask her during the journey, just like I always do with other drivers. As I had heard several times that lady drivers are sometimes discriminated and taken advantage of by passengers, this was high on my list of questions.
As Violet explained, I remained in place for the trip for about 60 minutes due to traffic . I was expecting a white Toyota Vitz, only to shock into a gray Toyota Ractis, and this is where it all began, it was not just right, I have been driven by different cars as opposed to those enrolled on the apps, but I have never felt threatened. Do not judge ! It wasn’t just right, I was uneasy not because the driver was a lady but because I was not feeling okay. I hope you all understand instincts.
The trip began with the lady asking to get a bag of psychoactive substance commonly known as “jaba.” She was working the whole night and needed to settle down with something to help her stay awake. The understanding me had no choice but to allow her get the stimulants which she did and asked me to pay for them, explaining that she would repay at the end of the trip. I paid and we quickly took Thika road, beginning the journey to Mukuru Kwa Njenga.
Through earnest appeals to follow the actions of making myself comfortable, I decided to engage the lady in a different way as she had started making weird movements and speaking ill-boding stories. I decided to ask her what was her experience as a lady cab driver, she quickly failed to answer the question and got back to her sinister stories. I just felt troubled, it felt like the devil was lurking around ! to make matters worse, the closer we got, the longer the journey became. It was simply hard to hold!
As we moved through outering Road, she switched from her horrible and improbable to believe tales and began to ask me questions that I did answer with a heavy heart, I did not feel like answering them anyway so I just responded to them as they came…Trying to learn everything about me, she started with asking my age as she stretched her arm towards the back seat, I wasn’t sure what she was reaching for but I felt scared, shaking as I stammered my age. Not as expected, she got nothing from the back seat. Instead, she brought her arm up in front of me, reaching for my lap claiming that she was looking for her phone which was on the dashboard, the same phone she had been using all the while. I was just surprised, It was like looking thoroughly for shoes that are already on your feet.
Wait, I slurred over how opposite she was from what is believed to be a female driver, she was driving in a devil-may-care type of way, very reckless. She drove down outering road touching herself in a tender manner as if she was sexually attracted to herself. In my mind she was intending to do something, it was the second time she was looking for her phone on my lap! What the hell ! I speedily behaved in response with total turndown. She then continued driving, having nothing to neither say nor ask but, “which road should we take ?”
We were approaching Taj Mall when Violet started complaining, she was muscled and had to let loose her bladder, she reached for her bag which was resting at the back seat, and slowed down towards a lorry which was right in front of another lorry. She parked between the lorries and took her bag towards a midnight dark place, I suspected something fishy, but this time I left it to God, I uttered a prayer and kept in good condition my cool. She returned, holding something on her hand, I looked at her keenly as she opened the drivers door energetically. She got into the car and for the third time and now continued despite opposition and discouragement tried looking for her phone on my lap. She had already started the car and as a result to defend myself against asault without doing anything stupid to her, I tried to jump out of the moving car. She never expected that, she expected me to comply, probably it was not her first time doing that…It was close to midnight, the road was clear and the night as silent and dark as a graveyard, It was a good distance left before I reached my place of work, but I was willing to walk. I ordered her to stop the car, I was terrified, and I wished I had cancelled the ride as soon as I felt something was amiss.
She was horrified at my reaction. I did not get out of the car, but all I wanted was to get out. I felt threatened, I had never felt this way before, the actions kept echoing in my head.
In the end, the trip came to a close. I just wanted to read the end code and get out of the car, but as if all that drama was not enough her phone was now locked and for her to key in the end code, I had to pay 95 shillings to get her phone operating again.She had gotten her phone from Mkopa Loan and she was expected to pay for it daily. I had no choice but to pay the money because the longer I stayed in that car, the more I was terrified of the environment that sorrounded me. I followed the payment procedure, read the end code and got out of the car without saying a word.
As I walked to the gate, I felt comfortable but troubled. My night became a blur of trauma that taught me how impossible it is to evade fear and that it is important to respect your instinctst.
The series of occurrences is no reason to judge female cab drivers, it was just a single persons action that would not allow for unnecessary statement and opinion about all female cab drivers as much as it was my first time being driven by a female driver.
@okelododdychitchats
okelododdychitchats 