Joys, exploits of school vacations in the 1990s

The joy of school vacations in the 90s was something to behold. It was a time to travel far and wide to mingle with relatives and friends.

It was an open moment to know and learn the family lineage, play with close and distant cousins and strengthen family bonds.

Every one of us during the era looked forward to the season more so the December holidays which came also as a festive season.

The beauty of the season was that the host families handled the visiting children or youth with utmost respect and concern. There was no segregation of children along with family background or financial status.

The aunts and uncles made sure the visit strengthened family bonds by having the visitors and hosts do things together, mainly manual work at the shamba, looking after goats and cattle and playing together.

It is through these activities that the 90s generation and the millennials forged a very close tie with relatives - quickly diminishing agenda in most families.

Today the visits have reduced to near zero with most children and parents keeping to themselves.

The 90s kids, without the luxury of the internet and modern gaming equipment and apps, made interaction and hard plays their game and this went far and wide to cement their interpersonal behaviour and their way of relating with people.

It was also at this time of the year when the millennials met their village lovers in far flung areas, love that was facilitated by their cousins.

Ordinarily, when we went to visit our relatives they introduced us to their family friends and before long some would hit off another and love would develop. The next visit was, therefore, looked forward to with a lot of eagerness.

During the long school holidays, lovers without the luxury of phones and internet wrote spicy and well worded letters to their village lovers. The letters would be delivered by the duty teacher at the school parade on Fridays.

Nothing beat the anxiety upon receiving such a letter, which would be opened at the slightest opportunity. This included a dash to the toilets to get a peep into the letter’s contents.

The very close friends of the recipient would later be told about the contents or allowed the privilege of reading it first hand.

Many millennials married their cousins and family friends or made great friendships that survived for years.

The 90s was the last era when families sat in a grandmother’s smoky kitchen in the evening to roast sweet potatoes or maize. It was the last era when people would stay up past midnight catching up and sharing exploits, misses and hits.

Gen Zs will miss this fun. They will miss opportunities to know and understand their families as their kind are now mostly holed up in their homes, their eyes fixed on gadgets.