On the last week of the year, the petrol station is never quiet.

People arrive with tired faces and full tanks. Some are rushing to villages. Others are escaping them. Engines hum, radios play festive songs, and conversations drift easily — lighter than they have been all year.

That morning, Uncle Rwamiti leaned against the old pump and watched.

A man in a fine jacket said, “This year nearly finished me.”

Another laughed and replied, “At least it did not bury you.”

Rwamiti smiled.

Later, as the sun softened, a regular customer asked him,

“Old man, what do you think about the year that has gone?”

Rwamiti did not answer immediately. He looked at the forecourt — cars coming in, cars leaving.

“Every year,” he said, “is like a petrol station.”

People arrive carrying many things — plans, regrets, wisdom, mistakes. Some refuel and move on. Others stay long enough to complain. A few forget why they stopped in the first place.

Then he added quietly,

“The saddest thing is not a bad year. It is a year that teaches you something — and you carry it alone.”

The man frowned. “What do you mean?”

Rwamiti tapped the pump.

“Fuel that is not used spoils. So does what we learn.”

He told them of people who had lived long, seen much, learned deeply — but kept it locked inside, waiting for the ‘right time’. The year ends. Another begins. The wisdom remains parked.

“In our culture,” he said, “an elder who dies without telling stories does not leave silence. He leaves confusion.”

The forecourt went quiet for a moment.

Then Rwamiti smiled again, as he always did at the end of such conversations.

“This year,” he said, “before you rush into the next one, ask yourself one question:

What did I learn that should not end with me?”

Engines started. Cars pulled away.

Rwamiti watched them go, as the year slowly did the same.

If this year taught you something worth carrying forward, perhaps it is time to let it travel.

—

Dr Petero Wamala

The Petrol Station Sage

Translating examined and lived knowledge into public narratives such as books, audiobooks, and documentaries.