I have a little story to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t usually give out my WiFi password, but I also don\u2019t go out of my way to deny anyone access to it. Why? I\u2019m not quite sure. Personally, I never ask people for their WiFi passwords either. If I\u2019m in someone\u2019s home or at a restaurant, I just use my own data unless they offer their WiFi themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My previous nanny, however, knew my WiFi password. I suspect she\u2019s the one who passed it to my gardener. He joined us permanently in December, and one day, he politely asked for my password. I entered it for him on his phone, and that was that. A few weeks later, his phone had issues and had to be flashed by a fundi, which meant his WiFi access was erased. Being the smart guy he is, he came back and explained what had happened, so I put in the password for him again. A few weeks after that, the same thing happened, but this time, he didn\u2019t ask me for the password. \ud83e\udd14<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January, I got a new nanny\u2014one with a smartphone that\u2019s always on YouTube. She works with it in her pocket, playing music at a very low volume, but it\u2019s running all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, I rarely notice when my WiFi subscription is due because my phone automatically switches to data when WiFi isn\u2019t available. The only time I realise it\u2019s off is when I try to use my computer. That\u2019s exactly what happened yesterday. I tried reaching my gardener on WhatsApp\u2014he wasn\u2019t online. I tried the nanny\u2014same thing. That\u2019s when it hit me: Alaa, why is no one online today? I checked my phone and saw it was running on data. That\u2019s when I realised I hadn\u2019t paid for WiFi. It didn\u2019t bother me much since I was resting for most of the day, but by 5:30 PM, when I needed to log into class, I paid the bill, and just like that, life in my home was restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, here\u2019s where it gets interesting. My last neighbour has finally started building, so as expected, the construction site has attracted several fundis. Every evening when I come home, I find them lounging outside, glued to their phones, having tapped into another neighbour\u2019s WiFi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One evening, I ran into some twin toddlers with their mum and greeted them. I casually asked if my daughter, Gracie, had come over to play. They said yes. That was my first red flag because I never allow her to leave home without my permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I got home, I asked her what she had been up to all day. She\u2019s as detailed as I am, so she told me everything\u2014how she had gone to see the twins with the nanny while the gardener returned a phone to someone at the construction site. And that\u2019s when it hit me: My WiFi password had been shared with the mjengo fundis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Am I happy about it? Not really. Does it bother me? Yes and no. I don\u2019t mind them using my WiFi, but I feel a little betrayed that my former nanny gave out the password without my permission. That part stings. But at the same time, it\u2019s not like the fundis are camping inside my compound; they only get a weak signal from outside, just enough to keep themselves entertained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or am I people-pleasing? Because I\u2019ve been asking myself\u2014what is WiFi, really? Even if I refuse to share the password, can I possibly consume all of it alone? It\u2019s not like food that I can eat by myself and leave nothing for others. Their access doesn\u2019t prevent me from working, attending school, or doing anything I need to do. So, is it really a big deal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve thought about changing my password, but then again, I figured\u2014let them enjoy it while they\u2019re here. After all, the amount I pay every month doesn\u2019t change whether I use it alone or share it with them. So, we might as well all use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s the end of my story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just to clarify, they\u2019re not outside my house. They\u2019re outside their own compound, not mine\u2014one house away from me. They sit on the road, using whichever neighbour\u2019s WiFi they can access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have a little story to share. I don\u2019t usually give out my WiFi password, but I also don\u2019t go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,6,2,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-at-home-in-my-body","category-coming-back-to-myself","category-life-and-livelihood","category-love-redefined","category-notes-from-life","category-raising-humans","category-the-quiet-bloom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.graceful.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}