Maze si rahisi kukumbuka ile time. My wife had just given birth — like, the ink on that birth certificate was still wet — and bana, I had no job. Nothing. I was doing mathree tout work here and there but that is not a salary, that is survival. You cannot tell your wife tutaweza when you do not even know where rent is coming from.

Someone told me Crystal Africa wako na openings. Nikasema si nijaribu tu. What do I have to lose? I showed up. Walinipeleka kwa training — two weeks ya classroom, then one week field. Kwanza nilifikiria, hii ni serious? Training ya cleaning? But bana, walifundisha vizuri. Not just how to clean — how to talk to a client, how to show up looking sharp, how to be professional. Nilijua hii si job ya kawaida.

The thing that hit me most? They gave me a uniform. Actual uniform. Badge yangu. Name yangu.

It sounds small but when you have been doing casual work your whole life, nobody gives you a uniform with your name on it. That uniform told me — hapa wanakujua. You are not just a body filling a space. You are Antony.

Ile siku ya kwanza nililipwa — proper payslip, NHIF, everything — nikapigia bibi simu. Akalia. Mimi nikalia. Mtoto alikuwa bado mdogo sana na first time in months, niliweza kulala without that kubwa stress kubeba asubuhi.

I have been here six years now. Six years, same company. In Nairobi, that is something. Watu husema kazi ni kazi but hii ni zaidi ya kazi kwangu. Crystal Africa ilinipa dignity wakati sikuwa nayo.

Kama mtu anakuambia kazi ya kusafisha si real job — ambia waambie Antony.