Kenya's Invisible Women

blog.soros.org/2011/10/kenyas-invisible-women/
By Umra Omar

Malindi, Kenya, sits on the Indian Ocean coast, hugged by pristine beaches and a history that is charming and rich in diversity. The town of more than 100,000 residents is popularly known as “Little Milano,” thanks to booming tourism and the Italians who never left.  Here you are guaranteed to find the best pasta in the country.

In this same town, however, you will find some of the most invisible women in Kenya. In Malindi is where Halima, for one, started using heroin. “There is something about this place,” she says. “It’s a curse.” Halima wants to stop. On the morning we spoke, Halima had spent more than two thousand shillings ($20) to relieve her withdrawal symptoms. Now she was looking for a mere 20 shillings to fend for food for her empty stomach.

Halima is not alone. In recent months, my colleagues and I have regularly met with ten women who use drugs in Malindi. Our interviews were conducted in order to gather information on how to improve access to services specifically aimed at women drug users, including health, legal and social assistance—all services to which we as Kenyans are entitled.  These conversations have yielded a close look into the world these women live in, and it is imperative to share their stories.

Four of the ten women we spoke with never anticipated they’d end up using heroin—they’d started off using marijuana but at some point it was not just marijuana, it  had been intentionally laced with heroin either by a male friend or a dealer. Then they suffered withdrawal, leading them to use again. Others started using heroin, not knowing the side effects. Unfortunately, the law—and society—does not distinguish.

Drug criminalization and drug-related crime means Kenya’s prisons are filled with people who use drugs, and the majority of the women we spoke to who had spent time in prison spoke of having access to drugs in prison. Police extortion is rampant, while legal representation is in short supply if not nonexistent. In many cases, police even advise defendants to plead guilty to cases of needle possession, something not even illegal. “The police are out to facilitate life sentences to drug users,” one woman, Amina, told us.

There is also the issue of being locked out of a national identity. Kenya, for instance, did not recognize mother-to-child transfer of citizenship until our new constitution in 2010. Another of our interviewees, Njeri, moved to Kenya from Tanzania and has lived in Malindi for more than a decade yet still has no identification papers. Her child was born here but is not recognized as Kenyan because the father is not present. As both mother and child are stateless, Njeri’s child might not be able to sit for national high school entrance exams, leaving her future in peril as well.

Good medical care is likewise hard to find.  Women who use drugs are often in the hands of health care providers who do not understand the complexity of addiction. Where other patients receive care, they receive judgment and scrutiny. As a result, many of them only go to the hospital as a last resort, even in child birth. Consider the harrowing story one woman, Monica, told us:

"I pushed so hard I thought I was going to die. Nothing was coming out. I explained to the doctor that there was no way I was going to be able to deliver without getting a fix. I called my boyfriend, went downstairs and he gave me a shot. Right there I felt as if the baby was leaking out of me. I rushed back upstairs and gave birth."

All of the women we spoke report knowing about safe practices: using a condom to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, sharing needles is dangerous. They also know they can get condoms, HIV testing and counseling at the local NGO Omari Project. Still, for sex workers, some clients will pay more for sex without a condom. And more than 25 percent of drug users on the coast of Kenya report sharing needles. An anecdote we heard from one user, Betty, is not unfamiliar:

"I now live in Majengo with my boyfriend. He is also a user. We sleep together with no protection. He does not know that I am a sex worker. I have never gotten pregnant and I don’t use any family planning."

People who inject drugs do so in the shadows of shame because of the stigma and legal repercussions—a dilemma that these conversations show to lead more towards retaliation than it does maintenance or rehabilitation. Consequently, our mothers, our sisters and daughters have been left in the fringes of an already marginalized population. And we must acknowledge that our own neighbors are sometimes the most brutal police.

Consider again the words of Betty:

"This is not a life of choice. The stigma towards drug users here is at another level – no one trusts us, everyone thinks that we are all thieves. I have been beaten on several occasions by youth that call themselves community police, about fifty of them; they beat me with electric cables."

So something must be done. Let harm reduction initiatives, however, not end up like the anti-malaria campaign in Kenya that handed out mosquito nets. Without guidance on a community level or local ownership, the nets didn’t go to preventing malaria but instead were used to catch fish.

To avoid this fate, we must intervene through the community collective to ensure the rights of women who use drugs are not violated. Needle exchange and medically-assisted drug treatments such as methadone and buprenorphine should be available through community mechanisms, but we have to also ensure the voices of women themselves are heard in determining what interventions will best help them.  Indeed, these community voices must be the strongest component of the equation—or else we might as well all pack up our bags and go fishing.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Truth on the Lamu Port, Kenya

                                          

                                             The GOOD, the BAD & the UGLY Truth

Hidden Skeletons behind the Construction of the Lamu Port

A fire raged in the forest. The animals fled for their lives. Only the Ruby-throated humming bird stayed behind. She was but a small red speck in the sky, flying from the lake to the smoking forest.

And in her beak she ferried a few small drops of water to try to stop the fire. They all looked up at the Ruby-throated hummingbird in disbelief. The lion roared: "Ruby-throated hummingbird, what do you think YOU are doing up there with your one drop of water?"

Undeterred by the impossibility of it all, the little hummingbird said: "I am doing what I can."

There are those among us who are the Ruby-throated hummingbird. They do what is right even when it the most difficult thing to do. Even when we stand in their way. Even when it seems impossible. They start to put out the fire. They never stop trying. And in their persistent determination to keep trying, they inspire us to open our minds, our hearts and our eyes to the truth.

Such was the nature of Wangari Maathai. A woman who can only be described as a force of nature. She never tired. She never stopped. She inspired a nation, a generation for years to come. To do what right for everyone. We have with us a legacy. And we also have with us the same rot that she sacrificed her life for.

Majorities of the people from the indigenous communities living in the tranquil Lamu County don't own the land they live in; a county that contributes five billion Kenya shillings of the country’s foreign exchange revenue in tourism, little of which is reinvested here. This is the backdrop in which the Government of Kenya is undertaking a multipurpose transport and communication corridor known as the “Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia (LAPSSET) Transport Corridor. A port, a railway line, airports, resort cities, an oil refinery and an oil pipeline. The project has been planned with the assumption of full cooperation with the Southern Sudan Government because the potential oil pipeline that it is banking on.

In July 2011, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki gave his consent following which the Government of Kenya (GoK) is desperately soliciting for funding. Plans for a ground breaking ceremony in November 2011 are in top gear forgoing a pertinent environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. Considering the fragility of the local ecosystem on which the Lamu communities and economy are highly dependent on, this would be a great oversight.

Though a feasibility study was carried out toward the end of 2010, some important pre-requisites are yet to be implemented including the presentation of the study to the public, the carrying out of an EIA and community consultations, and the establishment of a Port Management Body (PMB) which is to address the environmental and social impacts of the project.

Based on these deficiencies, the true project components of building the Lamu Port currently evolve around environmental degradation, socio-economic genocide of the indigenous peoples and the construction of a hi-tech corruption breeding ground for leaders and investors that do not hold the interest of the environment or the people.

The Environmental Management and Coordination Act (1999), section 42(1) clearly states that it is unlawful to “erect, reconstruct, place, alter, extend, remove or demolish any structure or part of any structure in, or under the river, lake or wetland; nor excavate, drill, tunnel or disturb the river, lake or wetland” without an EIA followed by written approval of the Director-General of NEMA. The Act further states that “the EIA must: a) Take into account anticipated environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts; b) Analyze alternative to the proposed project; c) Propose mitigation measures to be taken during and after implementation of the project; and d) Develop and environmental management plan.

THE ENVIRONMENT

The feasibility report, LAPPSET Corridor Development, was published in November 2010 by the Japan Port Consultants Ltd, which intends on undertaking the herculean project. The report states the railway to be constructed will run through Marsabit National Reserve. (Table 2. 4-4 National Parks and Reserves along the Proposed Alignment, LAPSSET Corridor Assessment Report).

Several gaps in the study raise red flags on the thoroughness of the research. For example, the project has been given the go-ahead although the geotechnical conditions are still being tested in the lab in order to provide detailed interpretation of the ground that will be drilled. (2.3.4 Geotechnical Conditions, LAPSSET Corridor Assessment Report). The tidal levels assessment in Lamu was done over a period of 15 days as opposed to the recommended long term period of over one year.

In addition, instead of conducting investigation to provide accurate base-line data, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has indicated that the tidal levels at Lamu Port be projected using those at Kilindini Port in Mombasa. Furthermore, the sea level at the project is assummed to be the same as that at Shela. This opens up many doors for errors that are irreversible.

THE PEOPLE

As per the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, GoK is mandated to:

 “recognize that the process of globalization and social transformation, alongside the conditions they create for renewed dialogue among communities, also give rise, as does the phenomenon of intolerance, to grave threats of deterioration, disappearance and destruction of intangible cultural heritage, in particular owing to lack of resources for safeguarding such heritage”.

With a destroyed ecosystem and no mitigation plan, residents of Lamu may not only be physically and economically displaced, but also culturally marginalized. The project boasts the creation of employment opportunities in a region that has only a handful of primary schools and only a couple of secondary schools. Considering that the proposed jobs will require at least a high school education, this is very little promise in a region where education has not been easily accessible and indigenous communities survive primarily on fishing and sustainable agriculture.

The Boni community who number less than 5,000 people will be one of the most affected as they currently have only one high school graduate and a select few who made is through primary school. This would practically eliminate them from job opportunities at the port.

The assessment done highlights the importance of a resettlement plan (RAP) that would avoid involuntary displacement. Should this be the case, the study states that:

“All people affected should be consulted and involved in resettlement planning to ensure that the mitigation of adverse effects as well as the benefits of resettlement is appropriate and sustainable”.

Knowing the speed and effectiveness of the government, or lack thereof, indigenous communities of Lamu are yet to be given their land rights from decades of being displaced and considered as squatters in their own ancestral land. Such disparities have pushed the youth of Lamu to the fringes of desperation. This has been capitalized on by the heavy drug trafficking in the region and the militant groups both in Kenya and across the border in Somalia.

GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Considering that even the modest sized project of a cold storage facility in Lamu that never materialized, the multi-billion dollar proposal raises several concerns of accountability, especially so close before the 2012 elections when the current leaders may not easily be held to account for their offices. It is hard as it is to put trust into a system that has fallen short innumerable times.

Based on the above considerations, we Citizens of Kenya therefore assert our right to know and make informed decisions once:

1. The GoK publicly shares all information on the proposed project to the local communities and identify the true stakeholders.
2. The GoK publicly facilitates an environmental impact assessment to be carried out by independent experts and fulfill all the laws and regulations to be applied to the planning of the project;
3. A participatory process be undertaken with the local communities involved in the assessments of the impacts and planning of the proposed projects;
4. There be adequate investigations and action to address the land rights violations against the indigenous Lamu communities before any further development plans are inaugurated.

We request that:

1. The financiers of this project acknowledge the severity of lack of due process and suspend any further activities or plans to finance the project
2. As Kenyans, we should engage and put pressure on our peers and our leaders so that we can correct the environmental and social injustices that seem to be a recurrent saga in our governance structures.

We cannot gamble on a $20 billion experiment; the stakes are too high. Kenya has great potential to become a trading hub for East Africa, and this has to seriously factor in the priceless natural resources that the country is blessed with. Development should not be carried out through the authoritative colonial lens that will subject us to neo-slavery.

Our forest is still on fire and we should not stand aside and watch it burn down.

Become a friend of Lamu, visit http://www.savelamu.org/ for more details and sign the petition.

By Umra Omar (October 3, 2011)

SEXUAL APARTHEID: The Agenda behind Sex and Gender

Over ten years ago my aunt sat me down for some words of wisdom as I was on my way to womanhood; she told me that it was not going to be easy but I should try and cut down, instead of four times a week go down to two, then to one and in no time I won’t have the desire to wear pants that often. It wasn’t going to be easy indeed. Between the field hockey practice and lifeguarding training three times a week to the constant movement jumping in and out of matatus, the idea of trying to squeeze a skirt in between did not sound too appealing. And not just any skirt, the long city-council-broom type of skirt that swept the streets as you walked. This was accompanied by the job description that comes at the expense of not having male genitalia; kitchen prowess, not to stomp my heels too hard when I walked and the list goes on. I always wondered about the basis and origin of this fixation on endorsing masculinity and sheltering femininity as rigid construct that makes pathology of anything in the margins.

This text is the exploration of what appears to be a simple concern of preserving gender identity in the larger archaic context of society’s emphasis in defining the sexes [male or female] and prescribing the corresponding gender identity [pink or blue]. This shelving is done without alternate narratives in the name of procreation through what was historically the only existing mechanism then, the traditional one-dimensional framework of man to woman penetration. A historical scrutiny of this agenda highlights a subsequent sexual hierarchy that has given privilege to certain practices and criminalised others, varying from one society to another.

What we wear, what we say, our thoughts and actions; essentially, how our bodies move and interact with the self and society, physically or otherwise, are instruments linked to the act of having sex and by default to ones identity and organs that would facilitate a sexual act or lack there of. This is sexuality. The value that society places on particular expressions of sexuality is what leads to the sexual hierarchy that varies across borders. This hierarchy translates into policy and segregation that involves political, economic and legal discrimination against people who express their sexuality in manners not deemed acceptable under the guise of morality by the ruling class – this is apartness of the other subjected to “separate development”; a sexual apartheid.

In the early 19^th Century, the normative sexual expression of the Victorian era was sexual acts that would guarantee the survival of the species void of any erotic undertones. This history can not emphasise enough the impact of these puritan values and their exportation. It is during this period that the terms heterosexual and homosexual emerged, both categories used to describe sex driven by erotic desires as opposed to procreation. To date, oldest profession that captures the sex for pleasure practice are female tantric engineers; a profession that has always challenged the notion of sex for reproduction.

Thanks to industrialization, as societies move from production to consumption so have our bodies, our sexuality is not just about procreation as the end result; our bodies are engaged in the pleasure aspect as well if not solely. With this emergence of alternate economies, sexual pleasure became more mainstream in the cultural fantasy that shunned the idea of people expressing their sexuality without the intention of procreation. Furthermore, with technology, reproduction can now be done in more ways than one further challenging the conventional mode of reproduction.

As a result of this slight sexual renovation, some practices in our societies are more entertained and not seen as a threat to reproduction as far as the woman body is concerned. I love the option of wearing pants and sitting without having to cross my legs, and not to mention, order some take out instead of slaving in the kitchen everyday; these practices are tolerated in many contexts and don’t threaten my woman role in society that much. But, what about the boy who wants the option of wearing a skirt or sit with his legs crossed and spend most of his time in the kitchen?

The complexity of sexuality calls for the separation of sex, sexual practice, sexual identity and gender identity to understand misconceptions like men having sex with men being classified as homosexuals and that being born with female genitalia does not equate to identifying as a girl. To put it more simply, the biology of our mouth does not dictate the types of foods that we eat; neither do genitalia dictate the type of sexual practices that one should engage in. As complex and evolving creatures, we can agree that eating is more than just about the ability to chew, swallow and satisfy hunger. This complexity of sexuality has been trivialized under the guise of morality that has fuelled tremendous acts of violence and marginalization in many pockets of the world.

Sexuality is a cross-cutting matter that goes beyond rocking the bedroom. We live in societies where boys commit suicide because of being bullied as “sissies”, health services discriminate depending on who you sleep with and the police can beat up and rape a woman because of her profession. It is absolutely crucial that we engage our world at every social and professional level using a sexuality lens to address the patriarchal normative decay in the struggle to unconditionally celebrate diversity. An end to the sexual apartheid is long overdue.  

By Umra Omar

A Letter to Mr. Kanisa from a Kenyan Lady

Dear Mr. Kanisa,

Hope that this letter finds you well and you actually get time to read it. I know that you have been very busy lately, between Willy’s stud and sorting out the likes of Father Kizito, and not to even mention the fasting, I totally understand.

It has been a while since we last communicated but Ken tells me that you are doing just fine, as charming and attractive as usual with a huge fan base. He also informed me that he recently had to move out from the house you that both rented in Nairobi and you are no longer at speaking terms because of the immoral and un-African practices of his.  I have to say that I found this rather puzzling because you are the one who always told me about all of us being made in the image of god and that only he is to judge us.  Anyway, I am not writing to talk about Ken, who by the way I still don’t understand why you insisted on calling him by that name instead of his preference, Kamau, has more of an African ring to it.

About us, thank you so much for being respectful about our differences and understanding that it could not work between us.  As you know, I am still working on my engagement with our fellow Kenyan, Mr. Masjid.  Speaking of whom, he finally got his ID card after some serious vetting.

We have been seeing your name pop up a lot lately about exaggerating the protection of family values and the right, and the fear of a constitution approving immorality and murder of babies and it reminded me of the panic attacks that you would have whenever we would go to Lamu.  When we would go to the beach and I would swim far out into the sea.  Remember what I would tell you, just because you could not swim it did not mean that I was going to drown.

As banging as I think you are I must be honest as a friend and say that you are slowly loosing that edge. I know that you believe that you are god’s gift to man but for the sake of peaceful co-existence, please realize that I, and many others around me, am as fine and as Kenyan as you are and you and Jesus have nothing to do with that, I thought we already talked about this.

I hope we can perhaps catch up over a cup of tea and focus on ideas that are less about you and more about promoting the diversity of our nation in a healthy manner.

Sincerely yours,

Umra Omar

otieno...my new found hero

it has a been a hot minute since i got to put these words down on paper...life has a been a little too good, another story for another time.

right now i just wanted to say thank you to otieno. andrew otieno. i just can't get him out of my head. there i was stuck in traffic on a hot saturday afternoon along uhuru highway. it was that uganda match day thingie-majig. soccer (oops i used the 's' word) madness in nairobi with vuvuzelas all over. felt like the kenyans trying to compensate their absence in the world cup.

while i was literally parked on the road since traffic was not moving, a tall sun-kissed boy walked up to the car window selling some peanuts. no older than thirteen he was. the usual reaction was me saying 'pole si leo' as i opened the little change-box signalling the emptiness.

he smiled.

he reached into his plastic basin and pulled the cone-shaped paper that tighly held the nuts within and passed it through window opening.

"thank you". he said, "this is for you today and next time you will hopefully have some change to promote my work." otieno gave me the paper-wrapped nuts, smiled and walked away leaving me frozen with an inspirational warmth that i can not put into words...

with that feeling and at that very instant, i felt like i had just met an angel.

The Ignorance over My Bleeding Vagina

“Let’s sit on that corner today.” He signed for us to move to the end of the alley-cum-madrasa right by the aluminum wall that separated our class from the fish lady-stand on the other side of the neighborhood. 

“Today we are going to talk about haydh.” He was the pseudo-expert on menstruation. “No being embarrassed,” Maalim continued. “Let us start off by turning to page seventeen of our books. I picked up a couple of Arabic words here and there as they rolled out of my mouth. I recognized the words women, wash, blood, prayer and a couple others.

“No praying during your periods,” our religion teacher went on as he listed the do’s and the don’ts of menstruation. “No fasting. But remember that these days that you miss fasting will have to be paid back before the next fasting month in the following year.”

 “You can wear nail polish during your periods since you will not be praying.” Maalim continued, “But I suggest that you do not since everyone will know that you are on your period then.”  And my next favorite rule, no divorcing when she is bleeding. After all, that would very suicidal for the man.  One major reason why a Muslim husband should always know his wife’s menstrual cycles. Just in case.

“Another thing that is completely haram,” he adjusted his kanzu, the white robe, as he switched sitting positions from one leg to the other, “there should be no sexual intercourse during menstruation.” Apparently God severely punishes those that do so.  “Have you ever come across the really white people?” He continued, “Not the wazungu (Caucasians). The other white ones, they are called albinos.” We all stared at him a little confused, we knew want albinism is but how did this find its way into the menstruation class.

“That is what happens when you have sex during your menstruation, you get an albino baby.”

A letter to my homophobic friend

Dear Erick Agade…Please go and screw yourself; as in literally tighten up those nuts and bolts in between your ears to hopefully enable more thoughtful thinking. Yours truly. 

I am reading the Daily Nation right now and I had to take a moment and pen this down. Erick just wrote to the editor to tell us that he ‘supports Mugabe’s reference to gays, homosexuals and lesbians as being worse than pigs because of going against morals to engage in filthy acts’. Mugabe, a century old dictator with a century old mind, enough said.

My first request is to keep god out of this issue since you are all very partial to his teachings and the myriad realities of life. When you say that he ‘knew when He created mankind’ - we can list a number of genetic alternations and catastrophes in this world that could explain that life is not as black and white as we would like it to be in our limited minds. Yes the mastermind plan is to have a penis go into a vagina but just as you can be born with eyes that do not see and limbs that are differently able (diffabled as I call it), the same applies with hormonal development that dictates a spectrum of sexual attraction.

Thank you Minister Esther Murugi for taking the stand on acceptance of diversity in sexual orientation, I am sure that the pressing issues like hunger in Turkana ‘where people eat dogs’ that Erick so adamantly wants you to attend to is already being addressed by folks like my sister who are up there as we speak. And of course the American bags of food have been sent which funny enough are never rejected as a western value when homophobic sisters and brothers are quick to dismiss gay rights as an outsider’s agenda.

My question to Erick is why should a homosexual person be ‘ashamed’ of demanding their rights? What is there to be ashamed of in wanting to access the same resources that we get as  Kenyans, access to healthcare, to seek employment and earn a living? What is so shameful about not wanting to be harassed by pretentious individuals like Erick?

Who exactly are we to pass such discriminatory moral judgement? I would love to see your moral CV Erick, so when you get a minute, please drop me a line or pass it on to the editor for all of us to read. In the meantime, pick up a book or two for enlightenment beyond the Bible and Mugabe mentality. I strongly recommend the Male Brain by Louann Brizzendine and Caveman Logic: the Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World by Hank Davis.