27/07/2025
"Dedicated to Calvin... Kelly's friend and to the many Judases around the world"
One, None, One Hundred Thousand......
This is the thought that has literally been gnawing at my brain for several days.
I ask myself who I am. Is it perhaps that image I see reflected in the mirror when I look at myself, but which I often don't recognize? Or is it something else. Is it the one others look at doubtfully, thus assuming they know me well? Or is it something that only I can understand, but which I can't even reveal to myself, intimidated by the idea others may already have of me?
And who are these others around me, through whom I seek myself, but whom at the same time I try to observe or pe*****te with those same eyes with which I continue to seek myself, but often without recognizing myself; Dreamy eyes, sometimes in love, sometimes doubtful, sometimes inquisitive
Today I must assert, after the terrible discovery of a few days ago, that many of those who were placed in my path so that the encounter could generate opportunities for mutual understanding, ultimately chose to be "nobody," or rather, I should even say "a hundred thousand."
"Nobody" because they have no value other than belonging to the human race, for those who believe in the image of God.
"A hundred thousand" because they are ever-changing, transformative, chameleonic, only to construct in the eyes of others the image of something that not even a mirror can reflect, and therefore to remain forever "nobody."
I, Anto Nafula Pignataro (also known as Mwendè, meaning "the loving"), have been working in Kenya since 2005. I've reached the point of having to deal with the true reality of this country, which, as Jonathan, a dear Kenyan friend, says: "This would be a beautiful country if most of its inhabitants weren't thieves."
I personally have had this experience with many of the people I met in the Korogocho slum, and there are many—not all, but many, for sure.
People to whom, as an association, we wanted to give a chance at redemption, but who preferred to remain what they were: "Nobodies." The last one was C., whom we supported until university and who should graduate in December, but he too preferred to steal 120,000 ksh, intended for Kelly's education, and add his name to the list of other Judases who preceded him.
Have a good life, brother Calvin.
