This archive report was first published on 24 September 2019.
BORN TAO: The Wheelbarrow Safari Rally ¶
It was the 1990s, and a group of adventurous boys in Kenya had a dream of becoming Safari Rally champions. But instead of cars, they used wheelbarrows to practice their racing skills.
Each team had a driver and a co-driver, with the sturdier person automatically becoming the driver. The teams were: Nguchu's team, Chombo's team, Makaveli's team, and Dush Mwitu's team.
Nguchu's team, consisting of Joni and Caleb, was known for their absurd branding, including 'nyayake supuu' (cute grandma) and 'machozi ya mamba' (crocodile tears). Chombo's team, with Solo and Mbalach, had a wheelbarrow branded with a vampire's canines dripping with blood.
Makaveli's team, consisting of Difre and Kanja, borrowed lyrics from Tupac Shakur's album to brand their wheelbarrow. Dush Mwitu's team, with Shei, replaced the wheelbarrow wheel with a modified tricycle wheel.
The teams had a cardinal rule to recruit more members at a non-refundable fee of five shillings. By the end of the week, they had managed to bring twenty people on board paying them one hundred shillings.
On the day of the eagerly awaited racing event, the teams gathered at the designated slope running into a shallow stream. The event referee, Joshu, the school head boy, had promised to disqualify the team that did not make it to the finishing line.
The race started on the count of three, and Dush Mwitu's team dominated the race, followed closely by Chombo's team. Makaveli's team was third in pursuit, but they used a simple trick by swaying side to side before suddenly coming to a sudden stop and abandoning the wheelbarrow in the middle of the path, causing Chombo's team to crash into it.
However, Dush Mwitu's team's tricycle wheel gave in, breaking the center cog, and the wheelbarrow plugged into the earth, burying the driver into a universe of darkness. The driver was later bedridden in hospital with his family members around him.
As it turned out, wheelbarrow racing was banned in their estate forever and ever.
