A TRIBUTE TO A BEAUTIFUL SOUL

We laughed at the memes doing rounds on social media upon the introduction of the Alco-blow.We enjoyed the ingenious ways drunk drivers used to evade the Alco-blow. We tweet to inform our friends still getting intoxicated at the bar of where the police are so that they can evade the police.We make jokes with one another when we after a night out get into a vehicle drunk as a skunk and say to one another that the vehicle knows the way home. It is somehow a heroic act-you know(driving under the influence of the damned alcohol).

I too have laughed at these incidents. Especially the one where people mange to avoid Alco-blow.
Maybe I should start by saying that I have been blessed enough not to have lost somebody I have been close to all my life.I have lost an aunt,both my grandmothers,a former classmate but never someone I have shared moments with.Never someone I have shared jokes with,never someone I have worked with.In an industry like the one I am in,working with someone is a bond that lasts forever. Going on set everyday,shooting together,eating together,sharing ideas; we become family. We develop from just people out to make a buck into brothers,sisters,mothers and fathers.The bonds formed on set or on stage are usually very very special.

Well,on 20th September, 2016,one of the drunk drivers in Nairobi hit one of my Auntie Boss family members and I lost him.I lost someone I laughed with,someone I shared my passion with. I lost family.You see the jokes and the memes are funny only when you are not involved,only when the reality if the NTSA statistics is too far from home.They say 3,000 lives are lost annually on Kenyan roads.These are just numbers before you loose family.They are just numbers before among the 3,000 is one of yours.
NTSA says that young people between the ages of 24-44 years are most at risk of dying on the road and you know why? Because of drunk driving.

You see,it is never that serious until it is.It is still funny to drunk drive and be congratulated for arriving safe and high as hell until it is not funny.Until it is too painful to even cry.Until it is too shocking to know what to say.Until it is too abrupt to believe.Until you loose a beautiful soul.Until Maina Ndirangu is hit from behind by a Toyota Premio while holding a torch to redirect traffic on the road.I hope I did not forget to say the driver of the Toyota Premio was drunk.Then it becomes well,not funny.It becomes a call to quit driving while driving. It becomes full support of the Alco-Blow.

Maina was an amazing Director of Photography or a Cameraman. He was a father of two sons and a dedicated husband.

He was always happy.Always happy ,always smiling.And he is gone; forever.

Maybe when we go back on set and find a new camera man,we may believe you left. Maybe.

So,before you loose someone you care about,before you loose family too,DO NOT DRINK AND GET BEHIND THE WHEEL.
I will list a few things you can do;
* Get a sober designated driver.
*Call uber/little cab/Njoro wa taxi to take you home
*Buy alcohol and take it in your house
*Book a room and stay the night
* Quit alcohol(last but not least).
Accidents do happen but it is very hard to come to terms with one that could be avoided.

All in all:let us live a complete and full life because no one knows their time to leave the earth.Maina lived a full life-loved by many and the memories he left us with are all we have now.