Zeru Zeru-Albinos Are Being "Finished" In Tanzania.

Crackdown on witchdoctors after albinos killed to harvest body parts.

                                          Albino In A Traditional Ritual, Mwanza Tanzania.

ALAMY

Albinos are being killed to make 'medicines'

Known as the "Zeru Zeru", or ghosts, Tanzania's albinos have put up with the name-calling and the stigmatisation of being "black in a white skin" for years. The unluckier ones have even been kicked out of their home by relatives who see their condition as a curse on the whole family. Now albinos in the east African nation face an altogether more deadly threat. They have become the favoured prey of traditional healers, who kill them to harvest their body parts for get-rich-quick concoctions.

In the most gruesome of a spate of albino murders in the north-west region around Lake Victoria, one corpse was exhumed with all its limbs cut off. Others have been found minus tongues, genitals or breasts.

"In the past, albinos have been killed after being accused of witchcraft but this is a new phenomenon. This time they are being targeted by the witchdoctors themselves," said Simeon Mesaki, a sociologist at the University of Dar es Salaam.

The problem has reached such proportions that Tanzania's President, Jakaya Kikwete, used his monthly television address to announce a crackdown on the traditional healers as well as plans to register albinos to improve their safety. "These killings are shameful and distressing to our society," said Mr Kikwete in his Wednesday night speech to the nation. "I am told that people kill albinos and chop their body parts, including fingers, believing they can get rich."

Many of the people using the potions made from sacrificed albinos are thought to be miners and fishermen, hoping for extra lucrative mineral finds or bumper fish catches.

According to the Tanzanian government, 19 albino people have been killed in the past year, with another two missing presumed dead. However, disability campaigners say the real number of victims could be as high as 50, given that many deaths do not get reported in a country where albinism is still seen as something to hide or where family members may even be complicit in the killings.

"Parents exchange their albino children for money so there's a poverty connection," explained Theodore Mwalongo, the head of the Tanzanian arm of Action on Disability and Development.

The Tanzania Albino Society, which in the past has accused the government of turning a blind eye to the killings, welcomed the President's words, but stressed that they must be backed up with action.

"The key will be whether the message gets down to local authorities so that there will real changes on the ground," said Samuel Mluge, its chairman. "We need to get rid of the corruption, and make sure that those behind the witchcraft are identified and brought to justice, and cannot buy themselves immunity."

Out of a population of 39 million, there are about 270,000 people in Tanzania who suffer from albinism – which stops them producing pigment in their skin, hair and eyes. This means that instead of having dark skin and black hair, they are blond with pinkish complexions.

Less than a century ago, most albinos born in Tanzania would have been killed at birth – viewed as proof of a woman's adultery with a European man. Because the gene for albinism is recessive, parents can both carry it and pass it on to their child, even if they look "normal". Yet even today, albinos are often called "mzungu" – the name given to the colonial white man – and many people do not understand that it is a genetic condition, not a curse.

Organisations such as the Tanzania Albino Society and Action on Disability and Development are trying to educate the population, helping to train healthcare workers and staging workshops for teachers and parents to encourage them to make sure albino children wear long-sleeved clothing and hats to protect them from the sun.

Additional Reports By Claire Soares.

HighWay Of Death.

Thursday, January 8, 1998 Published at 12:42 GMT

Despatches

Photo Courtesy Of Xinhua  News
Nairobi

Fifty-four people have been killed in Kenya when a bus skidded off a road and plunged into a river. The accident happened in the region of Meru, in the centre of the country. According to official radio, the road conditions had been made treacherous in the area because of heavy rain. The bus was reportedly owned by the local subsidiary of the British company Stagecoach. From Nairobi, our East Africa correspondent, Cathy Jenkins, reports:

The bus was on route from the central town of Meru to Nairobi when it apparently skidded on a steep section of the road and plunged into the river Nithi. Initial reports put the death toll at 30 but this has risen to 54, with many of the victims trapped inside the bus.

Official radio had said that road conditions in the area were treacherous because of recent bad weather. The El Nino effect in Kenya has caused torrential rains to continue well past the wet season.

But road conditions in Kenya are notoriously bad. Years of neglect have left roads in many areas pot-holed and in some places all but washed away.

And the accident rate due to bad driving is high. Buses are often badly maintained and loaded well over the limit with passengers and goods.
Source Cathy Jenkins

Ghosts Of Kobura

The Ghosts Of Kore-Kobura

Across the country in Nyando District, stories of ghosts and haunted places abound, especially in Kore and Kobura.

Kobura location borders the partly stalled Ahero Rice Irrigation Scheme on the Kisumu-Nairobi highway. A four-kilometre stretch on the Ahero-Lela road is widely believed to be haunted by ghosts. On this stretch, many grisly road accidents have been witnessed between Korowe trading centre and Lela Secondary School.

A resident of the area, Mark Ojwang’ Nyabange, says the accident jinx was caused by the deaths of an old woman and a child who were run over by a vehicle many years ago. The residents believe the large number of accidents are caused by the dead woman’s ghost, which keeps coming back to confuse motorists.

Villagers who go to assist accident victims claim to have been told by the drivers that they had seen a ghostly old lady cross the highway driving a herd of cattle just before the accident. Elsewhere, about two kilometres from the Nairobi highway towards Kore village, a ghost is said to haunt a bridge. It is claimed that many residents of the area, including a young man known as Joseph Omondi, have fallen victim to the ghost at the bridge.

Omondi recalls one night sometime back when he set out at night from his home near K’otieno Odongo village to visit his relatives in Kore. An architecture student at a Nairobi-based college, Omondi says when he approached the bridge he met an old woman clad in a buibui who requested for assistance.

"She pleaded for help to cross the bridge and I obliged, but by the time I crossed the bridge she had vanished," he said.

Villagers say the ghost often greets people in Dholuo: "Amosi swaya! Amosi swaya! (Warm greetings! Warm greetings!)." Additional sources Here

Koma Rock-The Immovable Rock.

Solid Rock-Kit Mikayi

Imposing hill

Travelling east from the Nairobi on the Nairobi-Kangundo highway, the expansive Ukambani plains roll out before the eyes.

As one approaches Kangundo town, a rocky outcrop comes into view. This is the famous Koma Rock, considered a shrine by many. The hill has been considered a sacred place since time immemorial.

Kamba elders used to journey to the rock to offer sacrifices to their gods at a designated shrine known locally as Ithembo. Ithembo in Kamba means a holy place. There, they would also pray for rain and for protection from plagues.

According to Paul Malinda, 80, the old folk believed that a strange and powerful force resided there. A fig tree still stands on the spot where the sacrifices were offered. Mzee Malinda says that stories were told of how visions of old men would appear at the shrine in the evenings and then disappear after a while.

He says that in 1970, road engineers constructing the Kangundo-Nairobi highway wanted to move the shrine so that the road could pass through the hill. This sparked a furious protest from Kamba elders. They agreed to have the shrine moved to another part of the hill, however, after a bag of sugar and two goats were offered to them as sacrifices.

"Despite the sacrifices, the blasting of rocks was very difficult — with machinery constantly breaking down," says Malinda. He claims the engineers abandoned the route after realising that there was an unknown power preventing the rock from being blasted. Today, the abandoned murram road is still visible from the top of the hill as it meanders through the Koma rock plains towards the city. Mzee Mwithi Musau, who is believed to have been born in 1900, says he was among those who used to offer sacrifices at the shrine, accompanying famous Kamba rainmakers and prophets.

Musau believes that it was a supernatural power that stopped the blasting of rocks.

Today, the shrine has been taken over by the Catholic Church, which has turned it into a site for pilgrimages. These days, it is often the scene of processions, singing of hymns, recital of prayers and fasting. Fr Thomas Vaddesary, who is in charge of the shrine, says the church chose it as a place where faithful could spend time in prayer.

"Koma rock is a place where traditional believers used to offer sacrifices in the past but now it has been turned into the shrine of our Lady," says Fr Thomas.

At the top of the shrine is an imposing 70-foot sculpture of Jesus Christ in the arms of his mother Mary after the body was lowered from the cross. Given its background and current religious activities, the Koma rock hill shrine is still a place of mystery for many.
For More Check This Out

MENE'NKAI-The Place Of The Gods.

Tourist attraction

At the Menengai Crater in Nakuru, curious tourists are drawn to a controversial cave by stories of strange happenings that have convinced many that it is a haunted place.

A number of strange things are said to happen in the crater, such as people disappearing without trace.Others have lost directions for hours, or even days, only to be found by their relatives wandering around in a trance. Those who live nearby call a hill near the crater "kirima kia ngoma (Satan’s hill)". People claim to have seen the ‘devil’ riding a motorcycle there.

Last year, James Gichumuni (now deceased) allegedly spent two days in the crater. The old man, who had gone to the crater to graze his animals, failed to find his way out despite being well versed with the area. In another incident, a boy was found staring at a bird after going missing for seven days.

When asked where he was and what he was doing, he remarked, "I have been watching a beautiful vision for a few minutes."

Back in 1987, a schoolgirl disappeared without trace in the crater. Efforts by police to search for her using helicopters bore no results. The latest mystery about the crater is a ‘flying umbrella’ that appears whenever it rains. But no one has ever bothered to find out where the umbrella goes after the rains.

Although a good number of Christians go to the crater to fast and pray, it also attracts a fair number of suicides. Two Catholic priests are among dozens of people who have leapt to their deaths into the 845-metre crater. The latest incident was in November, last year, when a priest plunged his vehicle into the crater.

The local people believe that the crater is haunted by evil spirits that capture human beings and animals and hide them in the netherworld. It is believed that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, demons or ghosts used to farm on a fertile piece of land on the floor of the crater.

An elderly resident, Esther Wanjiru, says the ‘demons’ used to plough the land with tractors, plant wheat and harvest all within an hour. "You sat there watching and before you knew it, all these activities had taken place and the land would go back to its former state, a grassland with no activities or life," she claims.

Despite the eerie stories about the crater, pilgrims from as far as Kisumu, Kakamega and even Mombasa come to pray and fast at the site for days. Some even stay in the cave at the south of the crater for months. They say that they feel very close to God when praying in the crater.

The cave, large enough to house hundreds of people, commands a superb view of the crater.

Want More?Check Here 

Kituluni AntiGravity Hill

Weird goings on at Kituluni hill Ken

Ask about Kituluni hill in Machakos District and people are likely to take you aside and talk in hushed tones about strange goings-on, witchcraft and sightings of ghosts dressed in white.

You will be told about happenings that stand Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity on its head, such as water flowing uphill.

Some 300 kilometres away from this spot, in Nakuru, equally unlikely stories are told about a mystery cave in the Menengai Crater.

Few places in Kenya, indeed in the world, are without their own stranger-than-fiction stories that defy logical explanation. Outsiders might dismiss them out of hand, but local people hold on to them with a firm conviction.

Kituluni, 12 kilometres east of Machakos town, has long been the subject of speculation, and visitors have travelled for miles to witness the strange goings-on at the extraordinary hill.

It is perhaps the only place in the world where a car that is switched off can roll uphill, unaided.

On the way to Kituluni, one passes through Mutituni and Kivutini. A tarmac road leads toward the strange spot. It is a dangerous drive with tortuous twists and turns. Halfway round the hill, regardless of the speed at which the car might be moving, it is always jerked forward and suddenly moves faster without any discernible change on the speedometer.

Kituluni hill covers an area of about a square kilometre, and if you want to prove that the hill is indeed as strange as it is said to be, you can carry out a few experiments.If you switch off the car and park it at the side of the road with nobody inside, it immediately begins to move up the hill at a speed of approximately 5kph.

It has been known to do this for a distance of up to a kilometre, and just to prove that this is no fluke, it has been done over and over again with the same results. Although the Kituluni spot lies on a very steep part of the hill, experiments carried out with water produce the same results. Water can be seen flowing up the hill, instead of down.

For about 20 metres, the water flows in this manner until it changes course and flows to the side, but even then it never at any one point flows downhill. The same pattern is repeated when an empty bottle is placed on the spot and even though it only rolls for a few metres, it moves all the same.

The villagers claim to have an explanation for this strange phenomenon.

It is said that many years ago the local people used to make sacrifices to their ancestors on the hill. In those days the area was known collectively as Kivutini. The sacrifices were meant to appease the ancestors and seek favours from them, such as bringing rain or casting out evil spirits.

There was an altar where special rituals were performed, and was thus regarded as a holy place. Things changed when the road passing through the area from Machakos town towards Kaloleni was constructed and people were forced to conduct their ceremonies further down the hill.

Although the road has been around for quite a few years, no one seems to remember when the strange happenings currently being witnessed started. Villagers say they have even seen strange people dressed in white who vanish as mysteriously as they appear.
Even though experts still hold a sceptical view on the area, no serious study has been conducted to explain the strange phenomenon.
Source

Kibera Love Potions

In a section of the noisy slum was an open booth that displayed many bottles of dried plants. It was a herb store. The storekeeper claimed that these dried plants would cure any sickness from stomachache to malaria. One of the bottles was a curious medicine: love potion. It is supposed to work as follows: the first person to whom someone who takes this medicine talks will fall in love with him or her. Whether or not this claimed utility is true, the medicine was sold alongside other, more normal medications.

Now I wondered how one could possibly use this love potion. Maybe one would approach his or her love interest, take a drink of this medicine, and say “Good morning, sweetheart”? Or ask him or her out and take it before greeting? I could not help but chuckle picturing all that. In another case, let’s say if you take this medicine before saying “Good morning” or “Hi” to your love interest, and are about to greet him or her, a middle-aged lady in the neighborhood approaches you and says “How are you?” and you reply, “Oh, couldn’t be better”, then that lady will fall for you? Practical applications of this medicine require much caution, I laughed thinking.

A few days after my visit to Kibera, I finished work, went home and had Kenyan beer, with a few things on my mind. I recalled the love potion. Even today that herb store is selling it. Slightly under the influence of the beer, I pictured people in the slum who would come to buy the medicine.

In the slum, it is hard just to make a living. Many are occupied with living day to day. To live today leads to living tomorrow. In such circumstances, I was somehow happy that the love potion was sold. In the slum that seemingly has no room for fun, there are love stories and people who want their love interest to respond in kind. People want others to love them and come to the store to buy the medicine with their hard-earned money. For some reason, such thoughts raised my spirits. And I had another drink of beer.


Does the Medicine Really Work?

Does the love potion actually work? That question also went through my mind. Maybe it does really work. But the most important effect is mental. A shy person who is unable to convey his or her feelings to his or her love interest takes this medicine as a morale booster, and talks to the love interest emboldened. If the medicine works, then the other person will return the feelings. That may be the idea that one who takes the medicine has.

The love potion is a nice medicine. A humane and interesting medicine. I feel even more so because it was sold in the slum. If I were ever allowed under different circumstances, I might consider giving it a try someday. But I would have to be really careful with the timing of taking it and a greeting from a neighborhood lady.

Note: If you would like to learn more about the Kibera slum, I recommend the film The Constant Gardener. Based on the John le Carré novel of the same title, the film features many scenes in the slum. It is an absorbing and socially conscious film that won Rachel Weisz, its main actress, the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Source

Husband Learns The Hard Way.

 A Kenyan Story: Errant Buru Buru Husband Learns His Lesson The Hard Way

Some stories are just too strange to be fiction and the one you are about to read falls neatly into this category.

This long suffering Kenyan wife knew her husband well and especially his promiscuity, but stayed in the marriage for the sake of her children. She did this at great risk to her life because we all know that these days, a husbands' infidelity can cost a wife their life though the dreaded Aids (okay, even a wife's infidelity can, but those cases are somewhat extremely rare.)

The couple moved into this new neighborhood and as usual the husband started playing his "games". It did not matter that the focus of his attention was a married woman whose husband traveled a lot. The woman lived right next door to them.

Luckily the young woman struck a friendship with the errant husband's wife (let us call the errant man "Jogoo").

Jogoo knew about the friendship and that is why he was a little surprised when the woman suddenly started softening towards his advances. To the extent where she invited him for a night of passionate lovemaking, as long as he followed her instructions to the letter. Jogoo could not believe his ears and at first thought that the woman was joking. But he soon realized that she was dead serious. He brushed aside any doubts he may have had by telling himself that most women found him irresistible.

The day of his "hot" date could not come soon enough but finally it arrived and Jogoo was in very high spirits the whole of that day, really looking forward with all his heart to the panned activities of the night. Of all his "conquests", this one had to be the most major. The young neighbors wife was extremely attractive and was now his wife's best friend. Meaning that she desired him so much that she was prepared to risk her friendship with his wife – what a turn on, Jogoo thought to himself. He decided to while the hours away having a few drinks at the nearby "local." His instructions were clear. He was to come in after midnight when chances of the woman's husband showing up unexpectedly were virtually nil. He had also been told not to switch on any lights (you never know which nosy neighbor would spot him, and tell his wife).

He kept himself amused flirting with the huge pot-bellied bar maid who obviously enjoyed his advances immensely. But then he was really no longer interested in her having already enjoyed her favors within a day or two of moving into the neighborhood.

Finally he glanced at his watch and noted that it was a minute or so to midnight. He hurriedly swallowed his last beer and left the bar almost running. He passed his own house and noted that all the lights were off, meaning that his wife had already gone to bed.

He went in through the back and found the key under the mat just as he had been told. Once inside, he locked the door behind him and tiptoed upstairs into his neighbor's bedroom.

She was waiting for him. The first thing that hit him as he entered the bedroom was her perfume. Very feminine but it also smelt like wild flowers. What followed was a night of wild lovemaking with the neighbor's wife. He fell into an exhausted sleep and by the time he woke up the sun was already shining through the still-drawn curtains. Events of the night came flooding back and he turned around with a wide smile to face his neighbor's wife with the thought being intimate one last time. Instead he got the shock of his life.

Lying there right next to him, eyes open and looking straight at him was his dear wife!!

His wife congratulated him for displaying a passion that she had never known him for. Jogoo was too shocked to say anything.

Apparently the two wives had decided to teach him a lesson and to carry out an experiment that proved what psychologists have always been saying – that sex is really in the mind. They had switched places and Jogoo's own wife had worn her friend's night dress and used her perfume and waited eagerly for her own errant husband, who had not recognized her in the dark bedroom and amazingly during the entire long night of lovemaking
Thanks To Chris

TALES OF THE DEAD

Disrespect the dead at your own peril


It is said that dead men tale no tales, but they sure deserve respect. And a mortuary attendant can attest to this.

Tempers flared when a group of mourners confronted the attendant at midnight accusing him of mishandling a corpse they had brought to a hospital in Taita District for preservation.

The angry mourners from Wundanyi attacked the Wesu District Hospital worker after he allegedly dropped the body on the floor in a fit of anger. This was after the mourners declined to part with a bribe of Sh1,500, which he demanded before working on the corpse.

And to save himself from possible lynching, the besieged attendant grabbed a syringe used in the preservation of dead bodies, forcing his attackers to scamper for safety.

The mourners condemned the man’s callous attitude towards the corpse, describing him as heartless.

"His action was a sign of lack of disrespect for the dead and that’s why we decided to discipline him. Even the dead deserve to be treated humanely," said Mr Stephen Mwangula, a cousin to the deceased.

The mourners later frog-marched the attendant to the Wundanyi Police Station, with a police source later saying the matter was settled amicably.
Thanks To Renny

Is Any Of Your Stuff Missing?Forget The Cops,Call The Witchman.

    Lost your property? Call a witchdoctor


More people are turning to witchcraft to seek restitution after their property is stolen.

A suspected cattle thief was subjected to such treatment in Ukwala, Siaya District after residents found him chewing grass.

And after his arrest, local DC Boaz Cherutich and OCPD Johnston Ipara visited Ugunja Police Post to witness the rare spectacle.

The incident was sparked by the theft of five head of cattle in Nyamasare village last Friday. This led the owner to enlist the services of a witchdoctor.

Police had a hectic time controlling wananchi who wanted to get a glimpse of the suspect, a dazed houseboy who could hardly stand on his feet.

The DC, who had dismissed the surreal claims that the man had been chewing grass, ordered the police to force open the suspect’s mouth. On inspection, pieces of grass were found.

The owner of the animals, Ambrose Amoth, 67, said he was confident the suspect would disclose where his precious cattle had been taken.

Amoth explained he had travelled to Bungoma where he paid Sh16,000 to a witchdoctor to work his magic.
Thanks to George

Mombasa Road Claims Its Due In Blood.

Kenya bus crash kills seventy

Seventy people have been killed in Kenya in one of the worst road accidents in the country's history.

Police said the crash took place when an overloaded bus was crushed between trucks as it tried to overtake on the main highway linking the capital, Nairobi, and the port city of Mombasa.

Many more people were injured, and were ferried to hospital.

A BBC correspondent who visited the scene, says emergency services did not arrive quickly, but once underway, the rescue effort was well-co-ordinated. The accident comes just three weeks another bus crash claimed the lives of more than seventy people, making it the country's worst road accident.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Nithi Blackspot Leaves 45 Dead.

Friday, 25 August, 2000.


Kenya bus hurtles into river

The latest in a spate of major transport accidents

At least 45 people were killed on Thursday when a bus plunged off a bridge into a river in eastern Kenya.

The bus was travelling to the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa when the accident happened on Thursday evening.


The high bridge which spans the Nithi river in eastern Kenya is a notorious black spot: at least 158 people have now died there in the past five years.

The bus involved in the latest accident ploughed over the edge of the bridge into the water below.

At least 27 people survived. They were rushed 30km to a mission hospital, the nearest place where they could receive treatment.

Police fear the death toll will rise because some victims may still be trapped in the wreckage.

The bus had an official capacity of 65 but it was believed to be carrying at least 80 passengers.

Greedy drivers blamed

Speeding and overloading on buses is a common problem in Kenya where regulations are often ignored and passengers are squeezed into every available space so that the bus operators get the maximum profit.

Two years ago, 56 people died in a similar incident at the bridge.

Kenya has been hit by a spate of transport disasters over the past few weeks.

Six days ago a train laden with gas exploded near Nairobi, killing 29 people.

The previous week at least 10 people died when a passenger train derailed in western Kenya
Courtesy of Cathy Jenkins The BBC

Matatu Nightmare,Stop The Rape.

Passengers Inside A Kenyan Matatu
A True Kenyan Story: Matatu Nightmare

When I boarded the matatu headed for my rural home in Nyeri that fateful day in 2001, it never crossed my mind that there was such great horror ahead for me and the other female passengers in that vehicle.

If anything, it had been very reassuring that a thorough search had been carried out on all passengers prior to our boarding the matatu at the popular Nyamakima bus stage, in downtown Nairobi. Matatu-jackings had become too common and this precaution was very re-assuring because it meant that there was nobody onboard carrying a gun.

The journey was uneventful until we were a few kilometres from reaching our destination. A very young man that you would never suspect who was seated at the front of the Nissan minibus next to the driver asked the driver to drop him off at a very dark remote place on the main road. It sounded like a reasonable request. After all it was now dark and it made sense for somebody to be dropped off as close as possible to where they were going, although the place was so dark that it didn't look like anybody lived anywhere close by for miles around.

The moment the vehicle stopped there was a commotion at the back and three other young men (they couldn't have been more than 19 years old) emerged brandishing guns.

I was seated around the middle of the matatu and I froze in horror and went numb. Everything started happening in a hallucinatory way, like it was happening to somebody else or in a movie. There had been a total of 4 car-jackers in the matatu. They took over the vehicle and drove off the main road into the bush for several minutes. We finally stopped in what appeared to be a small clearing.

They proceeded to swiftly rob passengers of all their valuables at gunpoint. Wallets, mobile phones and all sorts of valuables were all put inside a makeshift sack they had fashioned from several shirts belonging to passengers. But the nightmare was only just beginning.

All passengers were then asked to strip naked and our clothes put in a heap. We stood there shivering out of fright and the chilly night air. We were then ordered at gun point to have sex with each other. I saw at least two of the gangsters also involved in the rape of passengers but they used condoms, which were also later recovered from the scene of the crime by the police.

At least two people penetrated me. One an elderly man who was stinking of sweat. It was all too horrible to imagine, let alone be involved in. It continued for what looked like forever. Finally we realized that the gangsters had left (with our clothes as well, so that it was difficult for us to seek help).

My normal senses started returning to me and I had these terrible feelings that are difficult to describe. I felt filthy and violated, there was deep fear in me. What would my husband say? Had I contracted AIDS? It was a horror that did not leave me and will probably never leave me completely.

Even today I can't bring myself to talk about it. This experience of writing it down is the first time I have really described it in any detail.

I have never gone for an AIDS test to date, although we were all treated at the district hospital and given medication. I am no longer with my husband as result of this incident although he supports our children. I have no idea how the guns were never discovered in the search carried out prior to the beginning of our journey.

Blogger/Editor's note:
(Gang rape and forced sex during matatu car jackings and even during robberies in homes is still a menace in Kenya today, although it has dramatically reduced from the high statistics of 2000 to 2002. What makes it worse is that most cases go unreported or are reported days after in scanty detail.

In the same year when this particular incident happened, a matatu carrying mainly female nurses going off duty was hijacked somewhere on Ngong Road and the passengers, including the nurses raped and forced to have sex with other passengers. The vehicle was later abandoned somewhere in Kawangware where people going to work the next morning came across it with condoms scattered all over the floor of the Nissan minibus.

This is a sick, bizarre and inhuman crime whose origin or motivations are unclear. People point to the increased use of drugs and exposures to Internet sex (some of which have violent tendencies) as possible causes.)

Thanks To Chris

Run,Magistrate Run.

Magistrate flees for dear life




In these days of prison riots and inmates smearing warders with human waste, it may not be easy to get close to anyone behind bars.


That must be what went through the mind of a magistrate in Malindi when she fled her courtroom and hid in her chambers yesterday morning. She was startled when she discovered that a suspect had sneaked under her table.


Principal Magistrate Beatrice Jarden fled when she found the suspect inches from her seat. How Zawadi Kenga, an arson suspect, left the dock and went under the table, even with the presence of policemen and prison warders in the courtroom, could not be explained.


Ms Jarden locked herself in her office until the suspect was taken to the court cells.


When the court resumed 30 minutes later, the 17-year-old from Marafa Division was accused of setting houses on fire in Bore village .


He denied the charges and the now composed magistrate, ordered that he be subjected to a mental check up.
Additional Reporting By Paul

Samburu Lioness Adopts Sixth Oryx A Fixation Perhaps?

Kamuniak And Daughter Oryx

Lioness adopts Sixth baby oryx - KENYA


Tourists flocked to watch the unlikely pair. A lioness in Kenya has adopted another baby oryx - her Sixth in as
many months, game wardens at the northern Samburu National Park have reported. The lioness is said to allow a
female oryx several minutes each day to feed the new-born calf.
The oryx would normally represent a tasty meal to a lion, but this is not the first time the lioness has placed a
calf under her protection.
One was seen in her company in December last year, but it was eaten by other lions after two weeks. Another calf
was taken away from her in February and placed in a zoo because it showed signs of malnourishment.

Dangers
The chief game warden in Samburu, Simon Leirana, said that the lioness was seen with a baby oryx no more then
three days old early on Saturday. "We are baffled. We do not know what to do with this third oryx," said Mr
Leirana. He said wildlife officials might decide to let nature take its course, leaving the calf to take its chances
with starvation or other predators. The lioness is said to be "fiercely protective" of the oryx - becoming very
aggressive when any human come near. Three adult onyxes have been seen near the unlikely duo though, one of
which is believed to be the mother.
grief stricken
When the last calf was eaten by a male lion while she slept, the lioness was said to have been stricken with grief - she went around roaring in
anger. Cases of lionesses showing maternal affection for animals they would normally see as prey are not unprecedented, conservationist Daphne
Sheldrick said. "It does happen, but it's quite unusual. Lions, like all the other species, including human beings, have this kind of feelings for
babies," she said. Local newspapers have noted that all three adoptions occurred on significant days - Christmas, Valentine's Day & Good Friday.
courtesy of unusuals

Pants Down Snake Man.

Poacher caught with pants down





Poachers steal game trophy such as ivory, but a rare type of poacher has been caught in Kakamega.


The man, carrying two poisonous snakes in a bag, was discovered when he stopped to answer a call of nature in the bush at Isecheno village in Shinyalu Division and the reptiles — a Gabon Viper and a Rhino Viper stolen from Kakamega Forest — slithered out.


A man passing by spotted them and raised the alarm. Villagers responded by killing the Gabon Viper, while the other snake escaped during the commotion.


The suspect was arrested by Kenya Wildlife Service officials and handed over to the police.


With the persuasion of a few slaps, he confessed: "I have captured and sold many poisonous snakes from this forest. I sell them in Mombasa."


Snakes are believed to be in high demand at the Coast, where medicinemen extract poison for sexual treatment as aphrodisiacs or for witchcraft.


Snake venom is also exported to India and China to make anti-venom drugs.


There are more than 25 species of snakes at Kakamega Forest National Reserve facing extinction.
Additional Reporting By Rose Obala

As The Heifer Mooed Away

Unruly Heifer?


Man pleads guilty to having carnal knowledge of cow



A man stunned a Nakuru court after he pleaded guilty to having carnal knowledge of a cow.


Vincent Ekeno Ng’ang’a told chief magistrate Wilbroda Juma that he was not in stable mind when he committed the Act.


"I do not know what got into me. All I know is that I was not myself that day, please have mercy on me," Ng’ang’a said.


Ng’ang’a was charged that on October 22 at Kale farm in Bahati, Nakuru District he committed the offence.


The court heard that the owner of the cow Mr Nicholas Kibiwott caught him pants down and took him to Solai Police Station.


Ng’ang’a was sentenced to four years imprisonment.
Courtesy of Stella Mwangi

End Of The Road For Fake Psychic.

Isangoma.


Change Of Fortune For Fake Psychic


A lawyer in a Mombasa court caused laughter when he described how a conman tricked a woman into walking round a tree as he took off with her valuables.

The man approached Ms Victoria Kathini Mutua under the pretext of asking for directions, claiming he was from Tanzania.

However, he quickly changed his tune and said he was a fortune-teller. He convinced his victim to allow him perform a cleansing ritual, or risk death.

And just in case the idea was not sold to her, an older woman joined them, saying she knew the ‘fortune-teller’. Mutua was instructed to chew strips of paper and strands of hair, as she circled a tree seven times, without looking up. She handed the woman her bag and began the ‘ritual’.

The two tricksters took the opportunity to disappear with her belongings — Sh1,500, a mobile phone and handbag, valued at Sh6,050. When Mutua looked up she found curious onlookers staring at her.

The suspect, Richard Mwinyi Mukuu, was charged with obtaining the items through trickery. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a surety bond of Sh40,000. Hearing was set for February 19
By Maureen Mudi

School Library Bat Invasion.

Bat Attack


Parents kill 2,000 bats in school library

Parents of Torsogek Primary School in Kericho killed thousands of bats that had invaded the school’s library.

The parents said they killed the more than 2,000 bats yesterday after the Government failed to help them. They killed the bats by spraying them with chemicals using hand-held pumps.

"The parents came to the school armed with more than 100 litres of chemicals and removed the ceiling of the library to gain access to the roof top where the bats lived," said Mr Sammy Boen, the school’s head teacher.

The school was built at a cost of Sh27 million with the help of Mr Paul Melly, the Standard Group vice-chairman and strategy advisor.
courtesy of the Standard

Doctors Payback Time

Surgeonically Speaking.

A True Kenyan Story: A Doctor's Revenge


Not far from Nairobi is a small town full of history called Limuru. If you take the time to talk to locals and ask them about the story of the doctor's revenge, they will tell you this bizzare tale I am about to repeat here.

It all centers around this young Kenyan surgeon who married this beautiful young Kenyan lady whose exact birthplace or origin I cannot quite remember, but she was Kikuyu like the good doctor.

Their life seemed to be happy enough. The doctor, like most surgeons in Kenya was making a good regular income and his young wife lacked for nothing. The only problem was that her husband usually worked late and so she inevitably started getting a little bored and lonely, like many housewives usually do.

There was this young local chief in the area who was a family friend and a regular visitor to the house. Many times when he would visit, the good doctor would be at work. One thing led to another and soon the chief was more than just a family friend to the surgeon's wife.

The rumours finally reached the doctor who was furious, naturally. What really hurt him most must have been the betrayal by the chief, whom he considered a very close friend. Still he held his peace and quietly made his plans.

He faked a long trip out of town but returned in the wee hours, parking his car very far from the house. Now those who have been to Limuru know that it is a very quiet place that can get very cold sometimes. When it gets chilly people tend to sleep so soundly that it would take something close to a bomb to wake them up.

The doctor's wife and the honorable chief were in this kind of sleep. It is said that the doctor walked into his bedroom with all his surgical equipment. When he was done, the chief's status had been changed such that he would never again in his life be able to come anywhere near a woman. Surgery complete and stitched up by the expert hands of the surgeon so that no scar would ever be left, the good doctor made his exit leaving his dear wife and castrated local chief still in deep sleep on his marital bed. He drove back to his "long out of town trip".

Innocently, the doctor returned the next day to be warmly welcomed by his wife. Life continued as it always had for the picture perfect couple. What changed for the doctor was this amused look folks in town always gave him whenever they met him. Some could not hold back a snigger or two. Many women openly giggled while others would burst into loud laughter the moment the doctor and his wife were out of ear shot.

The chief? He disappeared. Nobody knows exactly where he went because he was never heard of again.

That's what I call a permanent surgical solution to a chronic ailment.
Curtesy of Chris.

The Hippo And A Tortoise Called Owen A Strange Aesop Romance.

Owen(left) and Mzee (right),Chillin'.


The Hippo Called Owen and ATortoise Called Mzee.

A baby hippo, which was rescued after floods in Kenya, has befriended a tortoise. The one-year-old hippo calf christened Owen was found dehydrated by wildlife rangers on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Apparently, the rest of the Hippopotamus herd was washed out to sea.

Owen was put in an enclosure at a wildlife sanctuary in the coastal city of Mombasa, also in the enclosure was a male tortoise called Mzee. Notice that they are both of a similar colour. (In Swahili, Mzee means old man).

'They sleep together, eat together and are inseparable, 'reports park official Pauline Kimoti.' Since Owen arrived on the 27 December, the tortoise behaves like a mother to it.'

Ms Kimoti said that if the 300kg hippo continued to thrive then in the next few weeks they would allow the public to see the unlikely pair together before they are separated.

Long term they hope to pair Owen with Cleo, a lonely female hippo who is currently in a separate enclosure.

Mzee and Owen are the latest in a series of unusual bondings in the wild that have surprised zoologists in Kenya. What a lovely story of a hippo and a tortoise. See our PowerPoint presentation of Owen and Mzee's story.
Clive of India's TortoiseClive of India's Tortoise Addwaitya

On 23rd of March 2006, a giant tortoise called 'Addwaitya' died in the Kolkata zoo in India. The tortoise had been the pet of Robert Clive (Clive of India), the famous British officer who did so much to establish India as a colony. Estimates suggest that this Aldabran tortoise called 'Addwaitya' was about 250 years old. Indeed 'Addwaitya' would have to be at least that age as Clive of India died in 1774.

The name 'Addwaitya' means 'The One and Only' in Bengali, it is claimed to be the oldest tortoise in the world, unfortunately there are gaps in the provenance.

'Historical records show he was a pet of British general Robert Clive of the East India Company and had spent several years in his sprawling estate before he was brought to the zoo about 130 years ago, 'West Bengal Forest Minister Jogesh Barman said.

'We have documents to prove that he was more than 150 years old, but we have pieced together other evidence like statements from authentic sources and it seems that he is more than 250 years old, 'he said. The minister said details about Addwaitya's early life showed that British sailors had brought him from the Seychelles islands and presented him to Clive.

Will and Guy hope that they will use carbon dating to confirm the age of Addwaitya. There are rumours that you can date tortoises by their rings. However, this is nowhere as accurate as tree ring dating. Because of the age and importance of Addwaitya, we hope they will find the necessary finds for a carbon dating.

This breed of Aldabra tortoises are native to the Seychelles in general and to the island of Aldabra in particular. It is believed that tortoises are the longest lived of all animals, it is not uncommon for them reach their 100th birthday.
Additional Reporting Here

Bomani Likoni Soccer Team Kings Of Juju

Football African Style.

Most football teams pray before a match to seek divine intervention for victory but in most
cases, superstitions and rituals go hand with the game of football.

However, in the recent years, belief in witchcraft by teams is widespread not only in the country but also globally.

In some countries, teams carrying with them witchdoctors whenever they have a crucial match have become a national issue.

In Coast Province and especially Likoni, juju men have been making lucrative business as teams seek their services ahead of the District and Provincial leagues as well as tournaments.

Many teams from South Coast have a history of hiring services of magicians to help them win crucial matches while some playgrounds are said to be no win zones.

Bomani playground in particular has been a bad hunting ground for visiting sides.

Even the once invincible and mighty Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards who had hitherto never known defeat during their heydays were brought down to earth at Bomani.

The two former powerhouses used to play a combined Likoni side when they travelled to Mombasa for Super league against ties against coastal sides Mwenge, Feisal and Bandari.

After a Super league match at the Mombasa Municipal Stadium on a Saturday, the teams used to play a friendly match at Bomani to boost gate collections.

Bomani ground would be packed to capacity as fans thronged the venue to watch the football giants take on their local lads.

Interestingly, despite Gor or AFC humiliating their Super league sides at Mombasa stadium, none of the two teams managed to beat the makeshift combined team in the friendly matches.

juju men

To most people during the 1980s and late 1990s, Gor and AFC were unbeatable and it remained a mystery how the Likoni Combined outfit kept winning against the giants.

In Likoni, juju men are popularly referred to as Baabu (grand old man) by the predominantly superstitious Digo community.

The Digo football teams especially those, which use Bomani ground believe that Baabu possess the magic power to assist a team win titles once he administers his magic on players.

Coast Stars

However, Harambee Stars and under 17 and 20 Team Manager Hussein Terry says witchdoctors only convince those with little faith and confidence.

"Whenever the national junior team was playing a major match, I used to spend more time emphasising on proper preparation and being physically fit and not seeking services of juju men," Terry said.

"I am a staunch Muslim believer and cannot be swayed to believe in witchcraft. I have won crucial matches with the national junior team and Coast Stars without seeking ‘super powers’ from any witchdoctor," he said.

He remembers the 2005 President’s Cup when Coast Stars had a quarterfinal match with Mathare United.

He says some team officials approached him to visit a witchdoctor at a certain forest in Coast province to enable them win.

Terry said he threatened to quit as team manager if they dared visit a juju man and Coast Stars drew 0-0 in the first leg tie played in Nairobi.

In the return match at the Mombasa Municipal Stadium, Terry says his team, without the powers of juju beat Mathare 1-0 to qualify for the semi-finals where they lost to Tusker.

"Witchcraft is common in sports not only football but those who seek services of juju men to gain an edge end up miserably at the end of the day," Terry said.

"I used to be under pressure from prominent fans to accept the services of witchdoctors but I resisted and insisted that good training was the only way for good results. I delivered good results without the use of witchdoctors," he said.
Courtesy Of Standard

Love Charms-Story of the Bagisu And Baganda Househelps

Fine Baganda Mama's

There is this intriguing story that has been making the rounds in Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya; the story became so prevalent that it is a well known story in all parts of Kenya from Nairobi outwards. This story gained currency in the late seventies to the early nineties when there was a large population of Ugandans living in Kenya, who were then escaping the chaos of war that was Uganda in that period.

Considering that most of the men had been conscripted to fight for the various sides engaged in that countries conflict and for which most died, there was a large pool of Ugandan women who fled across the borders to find employment in Kenya. Most found employ as house helps popularly referred to as maids in Kenyan parlance. With most of these openings being in the urban centers’, and cities including the Capital Nairobi.

The typical urban households where most of these ladies landed was usually a small probably cramped two bedroom affair that housed on average husband and wife one or two Adult relatives and the children. Now if you throw in the house help we are then talking about pretty much a “full house”.

Now it was in such one house in Langa’ta estate in Nairobi that the following events played out. The Women of Gisu (Bagisu) and Ganda (Baganda) Sexual prowess is mythical even legendary. It is said that when their girls reach puberty they are taken to leave with their paternal aunties where they are taught the intricacies of love and companionship. This tutoring goes on until they are ready for marriage.

Considering the circumstances of desperation that first brought these women here ,the motivation to not go back to their war torn country was enormous to say anything but the least. So the competition to stay was intense often at the expense of the wife of the household. The object of their attention invariably turned to the Man of the house, to cement their stay in the home.

This motivation, plus their superior and well known nighttime talents, was a formidable force often too stiff for the lady of the house to beat. Now this is where the issue of love charms comes in. This Gisu house help in Langa’ta had apparently been threatened with the sack by her female boss. The prospect of retiring to the Kibera Slums for good did not seem too appealing. So action had to be taken and fast.

It is said that this house help resorted to desperate measures, for desperate times call for desperate measures. She paid a visit to a traditional medicine woman from Uganda who gave her some very peculiar advice. She was advised to take a bath with a particular set of herbs. After which she was advised to cook chapatti (A flat Cake, Originally from southern India but very popular in Kenya), which incidentally happened to be the households favorite meal.

Then she was told to seat on each of the chapattis that she was going to give the man of the house, it was said that the act of seating on them, in the nude, compounded with the charms she had washed herself with, would seal the deal. She followed the instructions to the letter and believe it or not, the man of the house hastily discarded his wife of many years. Promptly marrying the Gisu woman and thus the former house help turned the tables and became the wife. So much for the potency of Gisu love portions.

Sorcery On Hapless Kuria Rustlers

What Is This Thing,Anyone?

Amongst the Kuria people, a semi pastoralist Bantu people that inhabit the southern most tip of Nyanza Province in Kenya and Mara Province of southern Tanzania this story is fairly common. The District of Kuria that was carved out of the greater south Nyanza is some 300 kilometers east as the crow flies from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city.

Now these people are known to be very warlike and are famed for their mercurial temperament, bravery and warrior spirit. They are surrounded almost on all sides by the Nilotes, both River lake Nilotes the Luo and plain and highland Nilotes, the famed Maasai and Kipsigis (Lumbwa) respectively. These people especially the Maasai are known world over for their prowess at keeping cattle, they are pastoralists who till this day believe that all the cattle in the universe belong to them.

Enter the Kuria, these fearless warriors are known to make incursions deep into Maasai territory to “Relieve” the Maasai of their numerous herds of cattle. This they do regularly and in the recent past it has led to several flare ups of violence along their common border. Their Modus Operandi usually revolves around them, the Kuria’s raiding Maasai cattle and disappearing with them deep into Tanganyika (Mainland of the republic of Tanzania) where they hide amongst their kinsmen to escape Kenyan law enforcement officers.

In effect they are cross border bandits much like it was in the wild, Wild West of America in the nineteenth century. But they are also not averse to stealing from each other when such an opportunity presents itself. Hence it is common for one clan to organize raids to steal the others cattle and vice versa, the community itself has four major clans.

Now to protect their herds from their envious neighbors most of these people resort to witchcraft and sorcery. In Northern Tanganyika there are bordered by the Bantu Sukuma, who gave the Kenyan province its name Nyanza, meaning lake in their Bantu dialect. They also happen to be the most populous ethnic grouping in Tanzania inhabiting Mwanza province of Tanzania. They too have a large herd of cattle and they are one of the most feared witchmen, wizards and sorcerers in the whole of Eastern Africa.

So the Kuria normally visit their neighbors to acquire their potent charms to protect themselves from their robbing neighbors. The story goes that once upon a time such a band of bandits raided an old mans “Boma” home in the Nyabasi area of Kuria District. Their aim was to steal his cattle and to make of with some valuable household items. In this they succeeded, they made of with their booty in the dead of the night.

Then strange things began to unfold, very strange indeed. This Old Man, Tengera had apparently made pilgrimage to the Sukuma people, and had acquired some potent charms to protect his property from precisely such raids. So the story goes the raiders made of happy that they had succeeded in their mission, they set off in the direction from whence they had come assured of their victory they headed home.

What happened next is a subject of conjecture, but suffice to say that instead of heading back to their Boma (kraals), they started going round and round in circles around Tengera’s Boma. In effect they lost a sense of direction and went round and round the whole night till daybreak. Dawn found them a few hundred meters east of Mzee Tengera’s homestead.

They were walking around herding the cattle and carrying their previous night’s bounty, all in a zombie like state of silence. They could not utter a single word, when the village awoke they found these thieves moving around as if in a trance. That was when the old man was called, for only he could break the spell by physical touching each of them. They were then hastily dispatched to the law enforcement people, till this day this story is told amongst the people of Nyabasi as a testament to the powers of the Sukuma Sorcerers.

Kenyan True Story-Busia Snake Eating Boy

A Rock Python Devouring An Antelope.

Busia Snake Devourer

This is a well known story in Busia and Teso districts. It is the story of a young man who used to engage in a seemingly vile and reviled activity. Now Busia and Teso districts are at the extreme western part of Kenya, they are frontier districts that border our western neighboring country of Uganda. Some 400 kilometers west of Nairobi this is Kenya’s capital city.

The western part of Kenya has its fair share of going’s on in the realm of witchcraft, sorcery and other animistic practices. But even by the standards of these areas this boy was “Special”. He had a knack for eating by first beheading some of the deadliest serpents that are native to this area. The snakes that are native to this area include the very venomous cobras, puff adders, various species of mamba and the venomous lizards’ relations of the Gila monster.

The origins of his bizarre behavior are clouded in mystery, but the prevailing story is that his father committed a mortal crime against a neighbor. The neighbor’s family in turn paid a visit to wizards after the boy’s father failed to pay retribution. Thus the witchmen decided to bewitch the man first born male progeny, by not only making him mad, but also making him hunter and devourer of serpents as punishment for his father’s transgressions.

I witnessed this a couple of times in the late nineties. The drill usually went something along these lines. He Would appear at the market place or bus terminal, which are usually the most crowded places in the town, with a familiar big bulge underneath his shirt .This sight alone was enough to send the market women scampering for safety, leaving their wares unattended to.

Then the men would surround the boy and dare him to reveal what was underneath his shirt. He would hesitate asking first for some money, this would prompt someone from the crowd to throw some money, usually coins of Kshs 20 (A Dime Usd). Then the carefully choreographed exercise would begin.

The boy would dramatically remove a large cobra or mamba that was still alive from underneath his shirt. He usually went hunting for them in the early morning in the thorny scrubs everyday, when they were least active. Then he would proceed by grabbing it close to its head with one hand, at this point he would gesture for more money to be thrown and many would oblige.

He would then bite of the head of the still living serpent until the head was separated from the rest of the body. After which he would discard of the still wriggling body, by throwing it to the crowds. Then he would continue to the grand finale where he would chew, quite vigorously I must say at the head while the crowd watched, some in shock, some in awe and others simply dumbstruck.

Depending on the potency of the reptile he would then fall to the ground after this exercise, foaming in the mouth for a while. When he came to he would collect all the money the crowd had thrown at him and leave the scene, leaving the people aghast. Unfortunately for him on one of his such excursion, after climbing a tree and hitting a snake with his sling and thinking he had stunned it. He climbed the tree to recover his trophy. But alas the snake, a cobra was only feigning death, he reached to grab it was bitten on the face and thus he met his demise. This story will be familiar to Busia and Teso people, the boy died circa 2000 C.E.