Mji unaoishi ndani ya jengo moja

Katika ghuba yenye baridi na rangi ya kijivu kando ya pwani ya Alaska kunasimama mji uitwao Whittier, ambapo karibu wakazi wote wanaishi chini ya paa moja, kihalisi kabisa, wamejaa ndani ya jengo lile lile refu. Ni, bila kutia chumvi sana, jamii nzima iliyokunjwa ndani ya anwani moja.

On a cold, grey bay along the Alaskan coastline stands a town called Whittier, where almost the entire population lives under one roof, quite literally, packed inside the very same towering building. It is, without much exaggeration, a whole community folded into a single address.

Jengo hilo lina ghorofa kumi na nne na awali lilijengwa kwa ajili ya jeshi, miongo kadhaa iliyopita, muda mrefu kabla halijawa mji kamili wenyewe. Sasa lina makazi, duka, ofisi ya posta, kituo cha polisi, kliniki ndogo, na hata kanisa, hivyo meya, daktari wa eneo hilo, na yeyote anayekuuzia maziwa wote wanaishi wamepangwa mmoja juu ya mwingine. Njia ndefu za ndani zinaunganisha kila ghorofa, jambo la bahati, kwa sababu Whittier hupokea kiasi kikubwa sana cha theluji kila msimu wa baridi, na wakazi wanaweza kuendesha maisha yao ya kila siku bila kuvaa koti kamwe. Hata watoto hufika shuleni kupitia handaki lililochimbwa chini ya ardhi.

That building rises fourteen storeys and was originally constructed for the army, decades ago, long before it became a town in its own right. It now houses flats, a shop, a post office, a police station, a small clinic, and even a church, so that the mayor, the local doctor, and whoever happens to sell you milk all live stacked one above another. Long internal corridors connect every floor, which is fortunate, because Whittier receives a truly formidable amount of snow each winter, and residents can go about most of daily life without ever pulling on a coat. Even the children reach school through a tunnel dug beneath the ground.

Kuingia mjini humo kabisa ni jambo la ajabu zaidi. Magari huingia kupitia handaki moja jembamba lililotobolewa ndani ya mlima, handaki linalotumika pia na reli, jambo linalomaanisha kila mtu lazima asubiri zamu yake. Usiku handaki hilo hufungwa kabisa, na hakuna kinachoingia au kutoka hadi asubuhi. Mji huo unabaki tu pale ulipo, wenye joto na mwanga dhidi ya giza, jengo moja refu likisimama peke yake katikati ya theluji, likizungukwa na milima pande zote.

Getting into the town at all is stranger still. Cars enter through a single narrow tunnel blasted through the mountainside, a tunnel shared with the railway, which means everybody must take turns. At night the tunnel closes altogether, and nothing moves in or out until morning. The town simply stays where it is, warm and lit against the dark, one tall building standing alone in the snow, ringed by mountains on every side.