After some time, her elder sister informed her that a fast-food restaurant on Moi Avenue in the city centre was looking for a night shift cashier, but the proprietor preferred a male cashier, who he thought would better handle the sometimes dangerous incidents that took place during the night. Sitah convinced him that she could cope, and he relented, offering her Sh5,000 monthly for a 7pm to 6 am shift.
Sitah shakes her head when she recalls the late-night fiascos she witnessed while working here. An elderly man who used to covertly hawk alcohol sachets in front of the restaurant quickly appointed himself her bodyguard, and would intervene whenever an incident occurred in the restaurant.
Incidents such as thefts, stabbings and general assaults on sex workers and drunken brawls were common at her work place. She recalls sex workers who would walk into the eatery in the dead of night for a meal. They seemed to take a liking for her and would freely talk to her about their families and struggles to make ends meet and wanting to leave the lives they were leading.
“I ended up being their counsellor — they would buy food, but instead of sitting at the table, they would stand near my stall and strike a conversation. It was a friendship.”
She also recalls an incident where a screaming man ran into the restaurant with a knife lodged in his back.
“There was a knife jutting out of his back, with blood pouring out of his back…”
The injured man suddenly turned and left the establishment screaming — Sitah Lang’o does not know what happened to the man. She worked there for eight months, steadily saving her salary, her an intention of enrolling in college.
“For those eight months, I survived on chips and chicken for breakfast, lunch and supper,” Sitah recalls with good humour.
When she had saved enough, she joined Kenya Polytechnic, now Technical University of Kenya, to study for a year-long certificate in business administration, which cost Sh13,000 a semester.
After a while, her employer asked her to choose between work and school — he was tired of her seeking time off to study for her exams. Sitah, thought of her future and chose school, not sure how she would survive.
After completing her exams, she approached a classmate and suggested that they “tarmac” together, to motivate each other. They would meet at 8am in the city daily, determined to knock on every single office and restaurant door until they got a job. Sitah cannot count the number of rejections she got, but she kept going, there was just no alternative for her.