KAHLIMAT EVENT

Design by Deng Afrika

There was an arousing air conditioner that glows your body and erects the hair on your epidermis in this boutique where I was hawking the valentine tickets. I wasn’t wrong. I was standing before the client I was looking for.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Fine! How are you?”

“I am doing fine.”

This was my introductory message with the lady that I first interact while making my sales on Monday morning. She is a business lady. She owns a classic boutique at CITY MALL. I am not so sure how she meet her clients’ taste, but she is an ever-smiling lady. In fact, se is awesome. Her name is Adhieu and that’s the name I have always known her on Facebook: and, even though we have been interacting couple of time in a chat room – especially on Facebook, we never have time to chat in persons unlike under those funny memes we accidentally meets.

“How can I help you?” She said cordially like a waitress aiming for a total attention from the herd of male VIPs who are filthy rich.

It was nine o’clock – and as the grand rules of Juba dictates, no business like boutiques and human hair sellers are expect to sell at such hours. Surprisingly, she had two clients who were walking from male’s clothes section to females’.

I opened the bag and then produce the bunch of the valentine tickets that I had taken the previous evening; actually, the highest number of tickets because I am known to be the only guy who work for a small marketing agency and have more knowledge about sales approach.

“Well, niko na tickets hapa”, that I’m selling tickets. I then extended my hands to give her.

“What are they for?” She asked me back in Kiswahili.

“There are lines of the hearts to be written on your mind and heart that day by a group of poets in Juba. The super natural language that poets speak when they romance the microphone and arouse your mind. That’s what this event is all about.”

“Can I take a look at them then?”

Of course no man will deny the chance for a woman to crosscheck something she intend to buy, even if it means there is a payment needed and the taking is free.

“These tickets”, I removed the tickets for the couples “goes for SSP 2000 for the couples, and these other one here,” I gave her the single or the individuals’, “goes for SSP 1500. But, since that you look like you are not spiritually and physically alone, you can take the one for the couple. It doesn’t matter whom you will go with; you can as well pay for yourself and the handbag, it is allowed.” I said while she laughed her lungs out loud.

I was serious about it. I know women got super natural powers and wisdom associated with love and beauty. Talk of love movies; women will translates even the damn freaking ancient Greek movies to you. Talk of beauty, women will lead the forum by explaining it in details what beauty is and how important it is to women than to men. They will actually try to quote all the research work from the beauty scholars and convince you how good it is to look beautiful. If you doubt this, then you will have to show me how many make up artists have you met before here, in South Sudan, Kenya or Uganda and they are all men?

The event that I was marketing talks about it. Dheng Dotcom, which is owns by Adhieu is also another definition of beauty. Coincidentally, though I am not a good observer, at some point, the interior design of her boutique matches the colour of my sky blue shirt that I was wearing that. It was some cooperate kind of Monday, which the lady from a supermarket across the street, opposite my work place was complaining that I was not the same anymore.

“How did you know whether I have someone who will go along with me or not?” She asked. Well, it wasn’t an offensive question; and even if it was, then I would have apply all the customer care management nonsense I was reading from the module back in school.

“You’ve to be a beggar if you really want your products to sell or if you have a sales target you want to meet”. This is it. Adhieu wasn’t going to get hold of me even though she was pissed with me. But thank God, she was cool with everything.

“Valentine day is not a day for the lovers. Africans, and Junubin more especially misunderstood me.” Said a client who was shopping across the room at Dheng Dotcom.

“So what do you understand by valentine?” I asked with a smile. I didn’t want to show her that she was scaring away my potential client. I wanted to tell her that if her heart was broken, then it doesn’t mean that valentine means nothing to other people in Juba. But again, I was protecting this darkest part in me so that I go home with a good PR.

“I don’t know, but it is not about woman and a man holding their hands that day as they walk into a lavish restaurant.” She said

Here we go again.

She doesn’t know what valentine is and yet she doesn’t know what the story behind valentine is about. “How come?” My inner man asked me.

“Well, I am going to buy one ticket, for the couple and then you’re giving me the other one free of charge.” She said jokingly.

“Unless you buy five more tickets then I will give you one free.”

She frowned and walked to her counter.

“Do you stay around this area?”

“Yes!”

“Can you come over some other time, maybe later on in the day? How about that?”

“Do I have any objection? When boss says yes, nobody can say no?” and then I reached for an exit door. I got my first customer. Hurreeeeh!

Later when I made my way to Dheng Dotcom, because I have asked her like one hour before when we had a chat on WhatsApp, asking her if I could do little content creation for her boutique, I saw that the colour of painting in her boutique perfectly matches the colour of my sky blue shirt which I was wearing. I didn’t comment about it, though I am a big fanatic of blue colour. Maybe, when I need an interiror designer, before I go for those commercial designers, I should first approach her to design my small library, which I am planning to initiate the plan one day before I die.

In the meantime, she is in the list of those that will be coming for our poetry show that is going to take place at Club Vegas.

You can as well go and check out cool stuffs in her shop, at City Mall and buy yourself and your partner (if you’re taken) some Turkish made clothes at affordable prices.

You can as well try to check her page: Dheng Dotcom on both Facebook and Instagram to order and get them delivered to your office or home. Her business number is (+211) 091681441.

Buy yourself a ticket to attend the Kahlimat Poetry event before they gets done. There are limited copies left.