I bought an internet modem from Safaricom about a month ago. It was at a time when the modems were going at a huge discount and it took me at least 2 hours of queuing before I could purchase the modem. After getting the modem, I asked for help from one of the assistants who showed me how to set it up on the computer after unpacking the modem from the box. But as soon as I got home, I realized that I had forgotten to re-park the card containing the details of the pin number for the sim card that the modem was using. However, the thought of the crowds as Safaricom lounge along Kimathi Street kept me from going back to look for the card. I wondered, where would I start looking anyway?

Today, I needed to load more credit in order to continue using the modem, but I realized that I needed one of the numbers on the card that I left on a bench at Safaricom about a month ago. So, I decided to go back to the Safaricom lounge on Kimathi Street and ask for help. Hopefully, the technicians would figure out how to add more money to the modem without the missing number.

When I arrived at Safaricom, there were relatively few people, and I went to the nearest technician to explain my problem. When I told him that I lost the card about a month ago, he put on a forlorn face and told me that customers always make the mistake of leaving behind their cards and it would be almost impossible to trace mine amongst the hundreds available. With that, he asked to see my modem. When I gave it to him, he turned it around and looked at the markings on the sim card. He them reached into his wallet and removed a card and compared the numbers on it with the numbers on my modem’s sim card. He then said, “This is the card that you lost. It is good that you have come back since I have kept it in my wallet since that day.”

Two things surprised me; that of all the cards that have been left behind, mine was the one in his wallet. Why would he think of putting it in his wallet? Of all the technicians that were there today, I went straight to him. How did he even think about comparing my modem’s sim card with the card in his wallet? I couldn’t hide my curiosity and so I asked him about the coincidence. To which he said that he remembered me from that day that I bought the modem and he knew that I would go back.

I have now become used to these kinds of coincidences and no longer spend too much time with my jaw hanging open. But as I was walking away from Safaricom, I was reminded once again that despite our not knowing it, there are forces that are always working in our favor in the background. Our Keepers. About the incident, my friend said, “Some things are meant to be.”