Last Saturday I met up with two of my friends at Coco Jambo, Valley Arcade in Nairobi. It was a lovely afternoon; warm, not hot. We sat outside under umbrellas and had chicken and ugali and greens.
The cars were getting washed. A controversial celebrity couple sat two tables away. We were going nowhere, afterwards, doing nothing. Saturday was ours to shape, which is the perfect day to go to Coco Jambo. To pass time with beers, and talk.
Only my friends weren’t drinking; they are recovering alcoholics. One had been in the pits of alcoholism and now was clean for six years. The other has been clean for six months. My brother, who I was meeting before the friends joined us, was having his whisky. I couldn’t drink; acidity issues.
The comfort of Coco Jambo Bar is in the camaraderie, never the decor or ambience. There is something very laid back about it, something that says, “This isn't serious. Nothing is. We all lose our hair eventually.”
I prefer the Valley Arcade branch because there is that carwash and what better way to spend your Saturday afternoon than to sit with recovering alcoholics and catch up while your cars get washed?
“The thing with staying on this path is purely a matter of spirituality,” the six-year clean friend told the six-month-old clean one. “Sobriety is a matter of faith. And faith isn’t necessarily biblical. Faith is holding onto the hand of a force that wants you to overcome.” I’m quoting this verbatim because I asked him to say it again so that I could write it down. The six-month clean friend nodded in agreement. He reads the Bible like one who belongs to a book club.
I have been to Coco Jambo at dusk, at least not that one. So at 6 pm, we bid each other adios and parted ways. Off to our homes, to watch TV and get ignored by our children. The cars were clean, and so were my two friends.
