The Matatu

by CJ Maleney   Feb 26, 2019


Come climb aboard and pay your shilling.
Ride this death trap if you are willing.
Stack your possessions upon the roof.
Only people inside and this is truth!

A taxi is the best way to think of it,
But a mini van does better fit.
Designed to take 15 bums on seats,
But they crammed them in until they could not breath.

This is not unusual it is every day,
But that bust up Nissan still must pay.
It will groan and lurch at every turn,
But that rusty bucket still does earn.

Yet on one occasion it made a loss,
When into a river it's passengers were tossed.
This was Kenya, so it's not the Nile
But in that water there were crocodiles.

People tried to help and many prayed,
But Limbs torn off won't float away.
One guy tries to climb a rope,
A breaching dinosaur takes his hope.

Another clinging to a steep bank
After over an hour his hope was sank.
Exhaustion won and in the mud he did slide
Those jaws were waiting open wide.

Over 20 people died that day,
And this memory still won't fade.
People just trying to lead a life
Thrown to their death and crocodile.

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Latest Comments

  • 5 years ago

    by Hellon

    Ha Ha...more familiar with the name Tuk-Tuk (Thailand @ Indonesia) but...same story...hang on for your bloody life!!!

  • 5 years ago

    by Milly Hayward

    I have memories of dangerous coaches and jeepneys :) Not as bad as that thankfully. Had to nominate. Milly x

    • 5 years ago

      by CJ Maleney

      Thanks Mills

      I've been on a Matatu although it was only for about 15 minutes. It was quite unpleasant. Not anything like the one in the poem though

      Craig x

  • 5 years ago

    by Star

    Goosebumps!!! This poem is devastating, that’s all I could say.
    I’ve been avoiding news lately, and this took me by surprise!!
    We could at least remember them. As much as I hate reading this, I love it!!

    • 5 years ago

      by CJ Maleney

      Thank you

      I'm avoiding the news too, so so bored of brexit.

      I can only imagine how horrific it must have been for those poor people

      Craig

  • 5 years ago

    by CJ Maleney

    This actually happened when I was in Kenya. Thankfully I did not witness it. It was a news article and over there, back then they printed everything including graphic pictures.

    What happened was this.

    Matatus were common place all over Kenya and Africa in general. They are absolutely rammed with people, they are not maintained and they stink. Yet for many it's the only means of transportation.

    In 1999 a rival tribe (It may not have been a tribe as the Mongiki were very active then) from the Nairobi area stole a minibus, crammed it full to bursting point and then drove it and it's passengers to a near by river. The passengers were thrown down the bank into the water.

    The poem pretty much describes what followed.

    It's a thing that sticks in my mind. I keep thinking is there no end to the horrors our species can inflict.

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