Two Things That Bother Me

Wednesday, 24th December 2008

In S.A. the issue of human trafficking is only really evidenced in the posters affixed to the scattered dustbins around Hillbrow and Berea. We don’t see much evidence of it even though some of us are quite aware of what the Nigerians get up to in our country. In Kenya it is quite another story.

Here it is not teenagers sold into prostitution but 10-13 year old girls, abducted from their families – or even sold by their families – to become someone’s sex slave in the middle- or far-east. Last week about 10 young girls (children!) were rescued from a house in one of Nairobi’s outlying suburbs. They had evidently been abducted under the pretext of some-or-other church’s ‘youth programme’, not to be seen again after their initial ‘enrolment’. They were found within a few meters of a house where another group of young girls had been rescued a few months ago. That the little girls were probably all very pretty didn’t help them much, I’m sure. The picture in the paper had their faces blurred out, but you could still see the fine features of most of those pictured.

From the picture, you could see that they had all been kept neat, clean and tidy (the pimp’s version of not damaging the merchandise I guess). It’s frightening and by no means a rare event. And I hope I’m not violating Shami’s trust by telling you that she very narrowly escaped the same fate when she was only eight years old! It was only through her mother’s mobilization of the whole neighbourhood that Shami was found in time. The thought alone horrifies me.

The other issue that bothers me a lot is the incidence of “Female Genital Mutilation” (FGM) in Kenya. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, FGM, or ‘the cut’, as it is colloquially known is essentially a ‘clitorectomy’. As with male circumcision in Africa broadly, this ritual is considered a rite of passage for women in Kenya. Exactly how widespread it is, I don’t know.

What I DO know is that no less than 260 women-to-be absconded from a village outside Nairobi recently, simply in order to avoid being ‘cut’. They underwent an ‘alternative’ ritual, the Daily Nation reported. Details regarding the nature of this ‘alternative’ are scant. There was no mention of the differences in the paper.

In my humble opinion it is the practice of FGM here that lies at the root of a few social ills, or, at least, some of the more discomfiting aspects of this society. Let’s face it; FGM has to be at the root of female subjugation and subservience. If a woman cannot experience complete sexual satisfaction and has to be dependent on male penetration for such pleasure, it can only lead to a degree of ‘hankering’ after the male species. And this ‘hankering’ is very much in evidence here (sorry that I’ve had to be a bit ‘graphic’ here).

During Citizen TV’s coverage of the year past the other night, one of Kenya’s few woman MP’s was urging women to take more initiative in politics. I couldn’t help but think that FGM must have something to do with the distinct lack of ascendancy by women in this society. Yes? No?

As I said, I don’t know how widespread FGM is but I DO suspect it is more widespread than most of the women will themselves admit. I have heard that many of the women will proudly say they haven’t been ‘cut’ but yet their sexual behaviour belies this claim. And here I'm talking about the rampant sexuality that so many mzungus find attractive about Kenyan women. It's lustful, but not attractive at all.

Yes, the above two aspects of this society bother me A LOT.

On to lighter subjects:

My friend, Dion, from "Woester", tells me I must get yellow fever shots and the same for hepatitis. Without the former I probably won’t get allowed back into S.A. Without the latter I could seriously compromise my liver after visiting remote areas, where hepatitis is virulent (but the local populations are immune). Also, he said not to mess around with malaria. The difference between getting tested and taking meds today versus tomorrow morning, is another two days of illness. He has already lost a couple of friends to the cerebral strain (as I have lost one friend).

Sunday, 28th December 2008

Yo, ho, ho. It’s now a few days later. Dion is in Eldoret and I have been getting cold shivers down my spine since last night. I SMS'd Dion and told him. He phoned immediately and said I should get to the clinic. I have just returned from said clinic with my Kenyan virginity intact. I don’t have malaria but I do have some sort of flu bug. I’ll write a bit and then retire for the day/night (hopefully to sleep it off under my Maasai blanket).

The ‘National Health’ clinic is at the Sarit Centre. After the malaria test (costing Ksh300/R36 and taking ten minutes) I was reversing my car out when I was approached by the lady parking attendant. She told me she had seen me but couldn’t reach me before I disappeared into the centre. I need to pay Ksh150 for parking but Ksh50 will be fine if she doesn’t have to write out the ticket! I gave her Ksh50 for her “Christmas”. As she turned away from the car I saw on the back of her yellow dust coat the big black letters saying “Corruption is Evil”. Awethu Afrika!

Which reminds me, the last time I was at Sarit Centre I was approached by a lady selling pens. I could have one for Ksh200. “You’re mud” I said. “Okay, two for 200”.

“You’re still mud” I said… And so we bargained.

Eventually I was offered four for Ksh50! I was going to take the offer, only to find I didn’t have a Ksh50 note on me. I really must remember to keep change in the car (not only for the street urchins wanting “twenty shillings meestah”).

Yet another trufeek observation: There are two types of vehicle in Nairobi. The first comprise local vehicles. Looming large among these vehicles are Subaru four-wheel-drive sedans and assorted other (mainly small) vehicles. The other type of Nairobi vehicle comprises those driven my members of the U.N. or International Red Cross. These latter vehicles are big, brand new four-wheelers with red number plates, bearing the letters "UN" or "RC" in the number. These vehicles invariably feature large aerial installations on the front or rear bumper. See a big, brand new Toyota Land Cruiser and ten-to-one it’s got a red number plate! (Nairobi local plates are black on yellow like the old “T” plates in Jozi).

Monday, 29th December 2008

I was supposed to receive dollars for my trip to Dar es Salaam but failed to get them in time – mainly due to the fact that our new accountant didn’t get both the required signatures on the company cheque! This money now has to come out of my account (already severely depleted by my need for kush on arrival here). So now I have to convert Ksh62 000 into a mere $800! Say what you like about the US going down the tubes, it still has one helluva strong currency. This month, in error, I was paid in Kenya Shillings. From next month I’m paid in dollars, baby!

But the really great thing for me is that all I have to do is SMS ‘instructions’ to my personal banker (who goes by the name of Peace) and she calls me less than an hour later to say I can come collect! So it’s into the shower now for me and off to the local branch of Stanbic (100m from the office). And I won’t even have to stand in a queue to get served. The kush will be ready for me at an ‘executive banking’ window! One’s life can change radically overnight. You better believe it!

Tuesday, 30th December 2008

While having coffee at the Art Café I happened to ‘bump’ Rachel. On New Years Eve,I am invited to the club Casablanca with all her girlfriends to enjoy an evening of lazing around on the couches and smoking a shisha/hooka pipe or two (containing only tobacco). Not having any alternative plans, I agreed readily.

I don’t know if I will get to write much till after the New Year and my trip to Dar es Salaam.

So to you, and yours, have a great New Year and make this next year the BEST EVER!

As always, amani na mapenzi.

B