Sabina Joy Just Got a Make-over! And there Is more!!

Sabina Joy has stood the test of time! God! Sabina joy is as old as history,actually sabina joy is history itself, it was here long before we realised that boobs are  actually cool!

Sabina Sabina, the woman who was named after this joint must have been stuff of legend!I have seen clubs come and go, but not Sabina joy! it it has stood nonplussed around the busy ambassador for as long as Nairobi has been in existence!

this morning i had a date with the  enigma, Sabina, after word got out that she has acquired a makeover, and what a makeover it was!

0900hours.

I leave the warm confines of my office and head for Sabina joy, cursing the weather under my breath, oblivious Nairobi-folk walk quickly past me , wielding all manners of paraphernalia to keep off the light rain, trench coats, sack-cloths, shower caps-you get the picture.

in less that 15 minutes i arrive at Sabina joy,one conspicuous thing is the sign at the entrance, the old sign has been replaced as has the interior, i take the long stretch of winding stairs that is reeking of stale beer and rancid tobbaco, just before i get to the top i encounter two guards,a he and a she, God bless Sabina, at least they are not sexists! 

“Nini hio umebeba hapo?” the watchie cum guard asks (never mind that he looks twenty years  older than Sabina Joy)

“Ni camera tu”

“washa nione, ii alshababu itatumaliza”

so he asks my business there, i tell him that i am a photo journalist from ghafla and i’m there to take photos of the new look Sabina

“Ghafla ni nini”

“ni media company”

“Wewe ni hao watu wanapiga bisha harafu munatuweka kwa magazeti”

Never mind he doesn’t give a hoot who ghafla is, i ask to talk to the management, i’m ushered in, the watchie has taken my camera bag, and means to delete all the photos i have taken of Sabina(how sad)

There are scores of humankind,older men of about 50 years, there is unnerving contrast though,there are very young girls here, probably 18 years or so, one of them,winks at me and smiles, fat girls who look like a fat cellulite advert,thin girls with gigantic breasts,they look like snowmen melted all wrong, there are scores of pretty girls,and girls with faces that only a mother would like, they are all here, this early, to hawk and peddle their bodies. (none of my business)

Well I’m ushered unceremoniously to an old man, he looks like he is 2 hours away from his 1000th birthday,

The watchie makes the introduction

“huyu nimempata huku na kamera anataka kuharibu biashara”

God , this is crazy! i havent even taken any photos… yet.

“wewe ni nani?”(insert really heavy Kiambu accent)

‘I’m a journalist from ghafla”

“ongea lugha ya taifa”

(These guys have decided to go all rough on me)

“mimi ni mwandishi wa habari…”

The guy doesn’t even let me finish, he cuts me short, he tells the watchie to give me my stupid cameras and make sure that i leave the pub.

“sawa”

So i leave the club, but not before i notice that they have truly renovated the whole place, its all themed with red and black and some very sombre lighting, the couches look quite comfier than they were, not forgetting newer, one thing hasn’t changed though, the ambiance is still redolent of cigarette and beer all wallowed together in an eerie miasma of evil-

But Ill bring photos soon!

I promise.