By Claudia Mumo

• 

Standing by the roadside at 7 am at Kisaju, Kajiado County, one sees little more than dusty plains and a few buildings clustered together to make a tiny town. The sun is already heating up the dust, and a hat and sunscreen seem essential to anyone who walks under it. But in the distance are a few running children. They are dressed in chequered red and white shirts and red sweaters, hurrying to school which starts in half an hour

About three years ago, most of these children would have been at home looking after their families’ cattle and spending their days lying in Kisaju’s long dry tufts of grass. Today though, Wednesday, they are rushing to get to class before Mrs Saimi, their headmistress starts making her rounds.

“She is very strict about late comers,” one of the little kids says when I ask them why they don’t want to be tardy. “She will make us clean the compound if we are not in class before the bell rings.”

From the fear in the student’s eyes when she spoke about the punishment, one would be mistaken to expect a vast compound. But it is not. Kepiro Primary School is a few buildings clustered together in the corner of a little plot just outside of a little town.

Mrs Saimi is standing outside watching students stream into their classes. She has a bell in one hand and a cane in the other. She sees me and asks me to stand beside her. At half past seven she rings the bell and classes begin. She will deal with the late comers who will be sent to her office later.

“I never wanted to be a teacher,” she says as soon as we step into her office. “I never liked children that much. I didn’t even want any of my own.”

Judith Saimi is not a trained teacher. She is an administrator trained in management. She had grown up in a home with three wives and 13 children. “I had no space to myself,” she says with a reminiscent smile. “Everyone was everywhere. Just imagine four kids and one mom living in a tiny house without any bedrooms. Imagine the chaos.”

Everywhere there are many children together, there has to be some chaos. So why would she run a school even when she knew the kind of chaos having many children around brings? “Well, I think God insists we do some things even though we don’t want to. I wanted to work in a big office in Nairobi, not chase children around for homework,” she says. But it is a job that has to be done.

In a county where school dropout rates are up to 50 per cent, there needs to be someone who will chase the children and make sure they attend classes. Mrs Saimi is that person. “I woke up one day going to town and noticed that there were so many children looking after cows. What life would that lead them to? Were they going to look after cows forever?”

So she cut her journey to Nairobi town short, and walked to Kepiro Primary School and took a job as a teacher. She had no qualifications at the time, but the school was desperate. At the time, it had only three teachers; and students bored of having to share classrooms and have interactions with their instructor only once a day kept dropping out.

Mrs Saimi would have none of that. She sits back in her modest office chair and looks out of the window. “Those children deserve a brighter future than they think. If I have to talk to every single parent personally, to threaten and negotiate and convince them by hook or crook, I am not going to let those kids drop out.”

She isn’t joking. Mrs Saimi has knocked on doors and talked parents into bringing their children back to school. Sometimes she threatens the parents with the law. Sometimes, mostly for the girls, she argues that they will fetch a better dowry if they are educated. Whatever her methods, they have worked because for the past 5 years that she has been at Kepiro, the student population has grown from 300 to 450.

We are sitting in a tiny office with bare-minimum furnishing. The question was practically asking itself – how good is the pay? “It is enough,” is all Mrs Saimi is willing to say about that. Then with a smile she adds, “Barely. But it isn’t about my pay. I have a duty to these kids. Fulfilling it is my salary.”

One of the teachers, Mr Robert Karanja, has worked with Mrs Saimi since she started at Kepiro. “I’ve never seen her take a day off without good reason,” he says about her. “She works so hard for these children, and that inspires us to do our best as well.”

“Children benefit a lot more from passionate people than they do from strictly professional teachers,” claims Faith Mutheu, an early childhood development education trainer. She has trained teachers for more than 10 years. “Without a doubt, it’s the teachers who teach for the love of teaching that make the best adults. They pinpoint creativity, and direct children to a better way of thinking.”

Kepiro Primary doesn’t appear in the pages of newspapers when KCPE results are out. The performance is average at best. But Mrs Saimi is bringing hope to a few children who had nothing to look forward to but cows, early marriage and a life of struggle. She is trying, with the help of ten teachers, most of them part-time, to bring a difference to the children’s lives, to arm them with the knowledge and skills that most of us take for granted.

 “There’s always something you can do to help,” she says as I shake her hand to leave. Judith Saimi is definitely doing her part.

Seasoned professional Colin Firth and newcomer Taron Egerton star in this James Bond parody-cum-reboot. Matthew Vaughn joins multiple Marvel and DC Comics adapters in turning a comic book into an enthralling, and visually spectacular film.

Galahad – played by Firth – is a super-suave super spy for a super-secret non-governmental organisation. He meets Eggsy (Egerton) after years of no contact, when the former gets into some trouble with the law. Eggsy is a son to one of Galahad’s former partners who died saving their lives. Galahad sees some potential in the young man, and offers him a way out of the life of crime that seems to be waiting for Eggsy.

 What follows is a love letter to both Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond, and teenage coming-of-age flicks. There’s an abundance of incredible spy technology – glasses that are actually cameras and Wi-Fi-enabled screens, grenades disguised as lighters, and pens with poisoned tips. There are pretty women, tailored suits, and massive castles.

All through it, Eggsy who brings out the protagonist role, grows from a ruffian with no prospects into a gentleman’s gentleman – polite, smooth and always smiling. He goes through spy training with a group of rich kids with chips on their shoulders, and beats every one of them to the finals where his soft heart keeps him from joining the elite Round Table. Roxxy, the only girl in the programme, “shoots” her dog to get the seat which was the ultimate test and Eggsy fails.

A plot twist forces Eggsy to join the agency and puts him on a path to save the world. The crisis in the story is brought about by the antagonist role of Raymond Valentine, played by Samuel L. Jackson, a rich tech genius who wants to rid the world of all riff raff and keep only the elite. His plan is to use free SIM cards that produce a frequency that turns people into mindless killers, while keeping the elite in a safe house.

The twist is predictable. It follows the same trope followed by spy movies since the invention of the genre: the leader of the spies is in cahoots with the antagonist causing a rift in the organisation and forcing the disgraced hero to rise to the occasion and save the day.

But it does little to take away from the visual thrill of watching highly-trained spies unleash physical prowess on each other. The fight scenes are so well choreographed that it doesn’t matter how little blood comes from huge wounds and bashed faces. The music choices blend beautifully with the on-screen madness, creating scenes of utter chaos.

The plot, however cookie-cutter under the fancy suits, develops at a great pace. It waits until you are just about to get bored, then moves on to the next point.

The ultra-violence, though entertaining, can get a little tedious. Inarguably, the climax of this movie was brought about by the ultimate scene; the church scene. This church act which is the first epic show off of what the action is about unfolds when Valentine first tests his weapon with a few hits, then devolves into a superbly put together massacre that included frequent stabbings, gunshots to the head, and even an axe into the neck.

Eggsy witnesses the whole thing and wants a chance to avenge Harry’s death and so he takes up his position in Kingsman and together with Merlin the caretaker and IT guru of the secret service, start on the mission to avenge. This brings out the resolution as Eggsy saves the whole world from total annihilation and gets appointed officially to the Secret Service.

The writing, although entertaining, does not allow full development of character motivations. Apart from his dog, nothing else is revealed about Galahad or the other Kingsmen. Eggsy’s family members are all also left as single-faceted characters. His mother is a victim of his criminal step father who is only portrayed as an evil sadistic man. More could have been done about character origins, character motivations, meaning there are few to no predictions that can be made about the character’s futures beyond the end-credits.

Vaughn taps the talents of seasoned veterans Michael Caine (Arthur) and Mark Strong (Merlin) to join in making fun of Bond films. The two clearly have their fun as elite spies, with strong modern-day gadgets and tricks flying out of their sleeves.

When all is said and done, Kingsman: The Secret Service scratches an itch that we didn’t even know existed. It caters to an audience that loves to laugh, has a penchant for thrillers, and doesn’t mind making a few leaps in logic for the sake of an entertaining story. It traces the growth of a street ruffian into a gentleman, creating humour in tense situations and tension in the funny ones. It glorifies violence, but waters it down with a loveable cast that is clearly having fun. It is a sharp parody of spy movies with refreshing cinematography, sharp editing, and well-paced screenplay.

The plot clearly brings out the premise, which is; what goes around, comes around. All the antagonists bring out this premise in that they all pay for their actions. This goes for the main protagonist, Valentine, Eggsy’s step Father and also the thugs that bullied Eggsy. It also portrays the world of today, where the elite social class tends to believe they are entitled to control the world and manipulate the members of the lower section of the pyramid to their advantage. However, since karma is real, it comes to bite them and they pay for it dearly.

By Topilla Isaac

• 

Being a first born made me a ‘co-parent.’ This is because I had to step up when my parents were not at home. I had to take care of my siblings. So I literally cleaned my four siblings and washed their diapers as well. It is not an interesting task but one thing I did enjoy was playing and feeding them, especially when they were less than one year. My experience with my siblings made love children and in a way children loved me.

So before I had the opportunity to hold my own child, I kept thinking how that experience would be. The thought grew and it became a strong desire within me. I kept thinking how I would have to bring them up and provide for them. What I did not think about was the process of pregnancy. I did not think a lot about when my wife will be heavy with my child. Never thought about my responsibility throughout the nine months period.

When a woman first gets pregnant she is elated and overcome with waves of profound joy that they just want to share the news with anyone who would lend an ear. But caution advises otherwise.

Wait till that first scan and you can comfortably with relief share the grand news that you are expecting a baby. Oh, the announcement is followed by warm embraces, congratulatory messages and gleeful best wishes for the course of the pregnancy.

Yet, there are some who never get to feel the warmth of that embrace or experience the receiving of innumerable regards. In the most unfortunate and unanticipated circumstances, some expectant mothers have experienced a fatal and robbing loss; miscarriage. In some cases the miscarriage occurs so early on in the pregnancy that it does not produce a baby and consequently there is no funeral. How then do you mourn the loss of that which appears to have not occurred? Paradoxically, how long should this period of mourning last?

Equally painful are those who no sooner had they announced their pregnancy, than they lost the baby. The undeniable biological fact is at 12 weeks a foetus is fully formed with all the organs, muscles, limbs and bones in place even if it’s the size of a lime. At 15 weeks a baby can hear you and its surroundings and is sensitive to light. For a number of months she carried a baby and as fate would have it nothing came of it in the end.

With what mettle do you go back to articulate the loss of a baby the world expected? More precisely, how does your own body mourn the sudden unprecedented loss of the baby it had warmed up to and lovingly and protectively embraced? As a global society one of the areas that remain a no-go zone to speak on is miscarriages. The harsh truth is miscarriages are happening with expectant mothers having their dreams shattered with the loss of pregnancy before 24 weeks.

This is regardless of your social economic status. And yet, we speak of death as a norm, why can’t we do the same with miscarriages?

We lurk in the bushes acting benevolent but really we are hiding away from reality lest it catches up with us. With this ‘benevolence’, mothers who have suffered this tragic loss are encapsulated in neuroticism — the state of being in a negative emotional state, without room to share what this loss means.

But, the unappreciated fact is we were expecting another human being to join our beautifully chaotic world, they just failed short of completing the journey. The absence of their physical presence does not mean they never existed. If anything their mothers still ruminate the precious time they spent with them and probably more profoundly the miscarriage itself. The norm is you go into labour; scream your lungs out bringing the baby forth into this world. The only difference here is, there is only one cry in the room.

With miscarriage comes the feeling of self-blame, wondering and recalculating the advice you took or didn’t execute to completion. In this whirlwind of blame comes the external finger pointing questioning what dangers and risks she put the baby through. With these chaotic noises come feelings of confusion and hopelessness, compounded by deep-seated grief.

These are just a few of the many experiences and emotions women who have suffered miscarriages undergo. If we extended the same compassion we have to those mothers who lose their living children, it would go a long way in comforting these once expectant mothers. Allow them to have this consequential grief, foreign as it may be for us to understand. They too have suffered a loss and, “Sorry for your loss”, is an equally applicable sentiment.

Of equal importance is that we too have lost a fellow darling human being to miscarriage. A grandchild we will never hold, a niece or nephew that will not visit or a child we will not walk down the aisle. In this vein, it’s time to do away with the quick assumptions that a couple has waited far too long to have a baby. Are you aware of any contributing factors such as persistent miscarriages? How about: “When will you have another baby?” Even worse and retrogressive is the barren branding from extend families. The resounding cultural shame!

This notion that talking about “uncomfortable” things is impermissible is a major contributing factor to miscarriage being misunderstood and stigmatized. But, if we offered comfortable open spaces for these particular mothers to share their stories, we will better understand miscarriages and them. The experience isn’t anywhere near good. The comfortable open spaces can start with the husband being more open and speak about it to the wife but also to other close friends who care and would listen with understanding. One never knows who you will help in the process of talking about it.

By Topilla Isaac

• 

I come from a community that uses herbs a lot to treat many diseases. There are specific individuals who are experts in the ‘field of herb.’ Those people can examine a patient and prescribe a medication which will interestingly work. Such people are experts in that aspect. This expertise is normally passed from one generation to another and so some families are known for that.

Normally there is a fee for such expert. The amount of fee depends on the seriousness of the disease as well as the condition of the patient. Mostly the fee is affordable and reasonable. Reasonable in the sense that it is the patient (or patient’s family) who gives fee as a way of appreciating ‘the healer’ for the hospitality. This is not to say that there are not some few elements who use their expertise to extort people. But generally there is a communal standard that is expected from the ‘healers’ because it is believed to a divine gift to be a healer.

Looking at the current situation in our country on the matters of doctors and the exorbitant fee charges they demand, one is left wondering if it is right or they are just in business. Over the past few weeks there has been a clamour for the reduction of the fees charged by doctors in private practice. An argument has been made that the fees charged by private doctors in their private facilities had something to do with the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) push by government.

It was argued that reducing the ‘exorbitant’ rates would somehow help achieve UHC in this country, and a few brilliant fellows came up with the argument that since the government ‘cannot achieve UHC using public facilities alone’, it was necessary to involve the private sector, hence the need to control the rates charged by private practitioners in support of UHC.

This disingenuous argument only creates confusion in the public mind, and it is important to clear up the confusion once and for all, and help direct the conversation where it ought to be. I spoke to Dr. Menach, an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon on this matter. According to him everybody has agreed that UHC will only be achieved if it is public-led and tax-funded, and focused primarily on improving public health facilities in order to ensure that all Kenyans have access to life-saving services without being impoverished. The implication here is that we must invest in the public health sector, and only involve the private sector when the capacity in the public sector is either overwhelmed or inadequate. We can, however, not predicate our entire public health policy on the private sector, as is being done at the moment.

Secondly, in the event private health services are required to support UHC, it is clear that such services will not be accessed by coercion, but through a process of negotiation as has been the case. Whatever the professional fee ceilings may be set by the Board, the government will have to approach private health providers and negotiate cost-effective rates. Dr. Eugene also corroborated what Dr. Menach said by adding that reducing the upper limits of the private practitioners’ charges will not change the need for government to negotiate favourable rates. Neither will it change the need for the provider to voluntarily agree to provide the services at whatever rate is set for them.

For instance, even if the government decides that a private practitioner will charge a maximum of one thousand shillings per consultation, there is nothing in law that compels the practitioner to leave her house and go to her clinic to see patients under this arrangement.

Being a private agent, her freedom to choose how and where to earn a living cannot be limited by fiat. On the other hand, even if the maximum consultation fees are set at Sh10, 000, nothing stops the government from negotiating with willing providers to charge a thousand shillings per consultation for patients under the UHC programme.

Dr, Beda, who is a lecturer at University of Nairobi threw a spanner to the matter adding that as things stand today, private doctors charge fees mostly within limits set by the regulator, with a significant majority charging for most of their procedures well below the non-binding minimums set by the Medical Board. Lowering the maximum chargeable fees will therefore have absolutely no effect on the fees charged by most private doctors, and may even have the unintended effect of causing many to raise their fees nearer the new maximum.

Thankfully, many leaders have seen the light and are now shifting the discussion more usefully towards improving public health services and addressing the total cost of healthcare to the government and other payers. And this is as it should be.

My interaction with these doctors made think about the amount of money people spent in these country to access medical services. The government has tried to increase the number of people who are covered by National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). It is a noble thing to do. But the question in my mind as I think about my community is, are the private practitioners noble enough to treat first and think about money later? 

By Claudia Mumo

Offices are usually big, ostentatious. Some are choked with deep brown wood from floor to ceiling and thick red carpets from wall to wall. Others are minimally furnished with glass and steel polished to submission. And some are even filled with soft, comfy seats and sweets in little bright-coloured bowls.

Pixels Kenya is not one such place. The seats are too few for the staff, so most work from home. There aren’t enough desks, and those that are present don’t match each other. The tiny living room that was converted into an office looks like Frankenstein’s monster with a splash of purple paint and a stack of vintage cameras in a corner.

Amos Ochieng’, the CEO and Director of the company works from his bedroom; its door is right next to the pool office that also serves as a boardroom. He invites me into his office and offers a bed in place of a seat. He has lived and worked at the Pixels since 2014.

“There’s money to be made in start-ups,” is the first sentence out of his mouth as soon as we sit. “The problem is finding the people to give it.”

“There’s money to be made in start-ups,” is the first sentence out of his mouth as soon as we sit. “The problem is finding the people to give it.”

“The work is not that hard,” Amos adds. If it isn’t, then why is he still running his company out of his living room five years after the company landed its first client?

Pixels Kenya is a digital media company. Amos and his team handle: branding, videography, photography, graphic design, and basically anything else that uses media to get to the public. In a world that is basically going the digital media way, it seems obvious that the companies without people to think about reaching the public would use Amos’ services.

“Getting clients is the difficult part. Kenyans are still stuck in the last century. They still believe that people will automatically come to you because they need your work.

“What they don’t understand is that there are so many other people offering the same services; and they need to differentiate.”

Pixels Kenya has chosen the path of excellence. They try to do the best work that they can. Amos takes pride in his company’s work. But so do many other start-ups. They all start out with the ambition of providing the best services in the industry, and somewhere along the line, they realise it takes more than just ambition to make a business take off.

According to CB Insights, an online business magazine, one of the main reasons that start-ups fail is that the team is not cohesive. David Karani, La Vie Media co-founder, a twice-failed start-up founder has learnt this lesson all too well.

His story is all about trusting the wrong people. His initial idea was to work with three friends, one for the PR side, one for the film work and he would do the design and photography.

Somewhere along the line, one of his friends left to start over with another individual who had the capital to get an office, cameras and some walking around money.

“But my buddy didn’t leave me out in the cold,” David says. “He convinced me to join him and his new partner at La Vie as a creative director.”

“But my buddy didn’t leave me out in the cold,” David says. “He convinced me to join him and his new partner at La Vie as a creative director.”

David says it went well. “For all of two days,” he laughs, “then everything went down the drain.” According to David, his friend and the silent partner had unrealistic expectations.

“They wanted so much more than could be delivered. How can a start-up, run and staffed solely by university students who worked on other projects at the same time, make enough money in three months to recoup a Kshs. 1 million initial investment and make a profit?” He wonders.

So La Vie, despite covering a number of prominent events, including the ‘swearing in ‘of Raila Amollo Odinga as the People’s president in 2018 had its doors locked three months after it started operating because of defaulting on rent.

Another media start-up, Beyond Creatives has just made its way out of David and his girlfriend’s minds. After months of job hunting, and a raft of employers looking to take advantage of young, idealistic university leavers, David and Naomi decided to branch out on their own

“I just couldn’t keep knocking on people’s doors anymore,” says David. “Tarmacking for work takes a toll on you; I almost got depressed because I was not getting any job offers. I had to create my own job.”

“I just couldn’t keep knocking on people’s doors anymore,” says David. “Tarmacking for work takes a toll on you; I almost got depressed because I was not getting any job offers. I had to create my own job.” And within a span of a few months David was part of the third start-up he was co-founding.

According to the World Bank, one in every five Kenyan youth of working age is jobless. This is why there are so many start-up companies. Parents are pushing their children away from being employed into being employers. Along the way of starting up, things go wrong as they did with La Vie media.

David insists that he has learnt something from his previous failures. “Trust the people who clearly state their best interests, even if they don’t align with yours. Everyone else has a hidden agenda; and those always go badly. Well, that and confidence will take you places,” he finishes with a laugh.

The people are the heart of a company according to Amos. “The people, from staff to investors, are the ones who make a company what it is.” He insists that it is not about the qualifications of the people or their education. According to him, it is about whether they “buy into the same vision.”

The World Bank recognises the importance of entrepreneurs in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Obiageli K. Ezekwesili, the World Bank Vice President for Africa Region, saying in a speech that Kenya must focus on creating an environment where the youth can create businesses.

These businesses need to be started and run with the support of other youth. Amos runs the most successful start-up of all the people I talked to. But all of them agreed on the fundamental reason that start-ups fail or succeed: the people.

Hundreds of thousands of university students graduate each year expecting to become the next big thing. They hear about Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey and all the other people who took the road less travelled and think they too will make it just as big. But life isn’t that easy. La Vie media is not the only start-up that has fallen by the wayside, to be looked at as a cautionary tale by the entrepreneurs who come later. The bottom line that differentiates all the failures from the successes, according to those who have succeeded and those who have failed, is the people.

By Claudia Mumo

People communicated more when telephones were tethered to wires – Anonymous

Smartphone use is a defining characteristic of the 21^st century. They were once the preserve of millennials who had too much time to waste on frivolity, but are now part of nearly everyone’s lives. A 2017 study by Jumia Business Intelligence stated that about 60 per cent of Kenyans own a smartphone, mostly owing to the drop in prices of the gadgets.

The mobile phone, once a tool for basic communication – calls and text messages – has developed into a device that brings together multiple tools in a convenient package. We don’t have to carry cameras, calculators, calendars and maps separately. 

Lightening physical loads is one side of the story. Many studies have been published on the negative effect that smartphones and their communication tools have on face-to-face communication. Some psychologists have tried to have nomophobia (mobile phone addiction) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – the official guide for recognised mental health problems, and diagnostic and treatment procedures. With reported symptoms that can lead to deterioration of social life outside the virtual world, nomophobia is potentially a big deal.

However, Deloitte’s Global Mobile Consumer Survey of 2017 suggests caution when describing phones as addictive or overused. Globally, people look at their smartphones at least 50 times every day – an understandable amount considering smartphones act as maps, wristwatches, cameras and so much more.

Addiction is a term that, like many others in this era of hyperbole, is used so often that its meaning has been diluted. Nowadays the word is used to describe anything that people do often because it gives them some sort of gratification. People who like eating chocolate are called chocaholics, running enthusiasts are called jogaholics.

The term actually refers to a psychological dependence that results from using certain substances or performing some actions. Addiction is a result of the brain marinating in dopamine after getting something that makes you happy. In its purest sense, addiction will cause actual physiological change in the way the brain operates. The brain gets used to the dopamine flood, and cannot operate properly without it, leading to the cravings and full-body symptoms that are seen most often in drug addicts who are trying to quit. Using mobile phones does not result in the same dopamine release that, for instance, a smoker gets after lighting a cigarette.

There are studies that show smartphones are a genuine problem. A particular study by MIT carried out in the US and France found that some people experience physiological withdrawal symptoms such as increased heart rate and blood pressure when their phones were taken away for a day. These physiological reactions were then considered the symptoms of an addiction problem.

But is it the phones that we are getting addicted to? And is it everyone that is getting addicted to phones? Smart devices – phones, tablets, home, cars – are all a means to an end. The most common use for phones, second to making calls, is social media. Text messages have been replaced by ‘DMs’ on every social media platform. Phone calls are being replaced by FaceTime and WhatsApp video calls. These are the things that people are getting addicted to. The mobile phone isn’t the problem; it is the interactions that we have transferred from physical face-to-face into a mobile-mediated space.

Interaction with the world is being forced through the narrow tunnel of social media. One-on-one relationships are being expanded to twitter threads and Instagram stories calling each other ‘boo’ and ‘bae’. The existence of smartphones has only made it easier to interact with one another; the feeling of validation that we get from face to face interactions have simply been spread wider by the phone.

Majority of the people on social media are competing to show off who has a better life, leading to feelings of inadequacy and depression in those that don’t measure up. Those that are seen as successful take a liking to the validation they get from all the likes, retweets and follows.

The search for validation from faceless people hiding behind online avatars is the cause of any sort of dependence that people have on their phones. How often do you check your phone just for the heck of it? Is it not a reflexive compulsion after getting so used to notification pinging every few minutes, that an hour without them feels like you are hard of hearing?

We must be careful not to confuse overuse and addiction. Addiction is a physiological and psychological reaction that makes it near-impossible for someone to change their behaviour. The way mobile phones are used today does not result in the same dopamine flood that happens when addicts spark up a cigarette.

Mobile phones are being used to mediate social interactions, make them faster and bring them closer. They are an alternative route to the same conversations that people have each day: the platitudes, the expressions of support, the encouragement, and the undertones of jealousy that make us feel like we are doing better than everyone else. It may look like we don’t want to put our phones down, but if it comes to it; we can walk away from our screens anytime. We put them away for prayers and classes. We can stop using our phones at any time without any adverse or lasting physical or psychological effects.

Claiming that overuse of mobile phones is addictive takes away from the millions of people who are struggling with addictions that physiologically and psychologically break them.

By Carol Tuimur

Silas Kiprono, 28 was diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia at the age of three. “Kiprono, my first born, was always a ‘normal’ baby, until his persistent non-stop cries begun” says Jannie, Kiprono’s mother. The doctor decided to run some tests on him during the visit and that was when he was diagnosed with this incurable condition. Being a fairly foreign concept, this was followed by frequent visits to the doctor. This condition was not only foreign to Kiprono’s parents, but also to the medical field in the country at the time.

What is Sickle-cell anemia?

According to Kiprono’s physician, Dr. Samuel Kamande, a general practitioner, sickle-cell anemia, is one of the most common severe monogenic disorders in the world. It is an inherited form of anemia where there are not enough healthy blood cells to carry adequate oxygen, throughout the body. Research has shown that, most people with sickle-cell disease are found in Africa where more severe cases are also found.

Dr. Kamande explains that a normal red blood cell is supposed to be round in shape and flexible for it to move easily throughout the blood vessel. However, a sickler’s (a person with sickle-cell anemia) blood cell is rigid, sticky and shaped like sickles (hence the name) or a crescent moon.

The irregularity in their shape forces them to get stuck in small blood vessels, which could then slow or block blood flow and oxygen to various parts of the body.

So far, there has been no known cure for this disorder. However, Kiprono enlightens me that there are clinical trials currently ongoing in the united states such as; the GBT 440 and the Gene therapy. He says that there has only been one case which could hardly be perceived as a success story. Despite their being no cure, medications are available to relieve the pain or help to prevent problems associated with the disease.

Dr. Kamande explains the general complications as follows; constant migrating chronic pains that could lead to a stroke due to lack of oxygen in the blood, acute chest syndrome which is difficulty in breathing and hence fatal, avascular necrosis which is the wearing out of the bones because the poor blood supply in the joints leads to friction and grinding out – could lead to hip replacement, difficulty in child birth due to it rigorousness and caesarian birth method is advised and last but not least, are the leg ulcers – this is an extremity which is brought about by poor blood circulation.

He says that they can be managed by; keeping hydrated, keeping warm during the cold seasons, staying away from too much heat, good balanced diets, following medications and last but not least, listening to your body and knowing your limits because sicklers are also human and not all pain is sickle-cell related.

Growing up with sickle-cell disease

“Growing up a sickler is tough, because you are constantly unwell but you cannot really comprehend what is happening to your body” says Kiprono. With Jannie’s desire for her first born son to enjoy his childhood, he says that during his later years in primary school, is when he begun to understand that he was a little different from his friends. This is because he was told not to play too much, to frequently drink a lot of water, to always keep warm, not to expose himself to too much heat and other precautions which came as a result of the disease. “I felt like my childhood was robbed away from me!” says Kiprono.

It took a genetics class in form 2 where he really took an interest outside from what his doctors were feeding him. One day, he says, he followed his biology teacher out of class, explained to his teacher that he has sickle-cell disease and that would like to know more about it. Though his teacher only had the curriculum perspective of the condition, this was the first time he really got a good grasp of what the disease entailed.

At this point, he learnt that both his parents are carriers (AS – their blood cells carry both the normal and the sickle-cell gene). This put his curiosity to rest as he now understood why he and his younger brother, Micah are of the same blood, yet different.

Kiprono says that, for the longest time, he was discouraged from taking risks or basically living his life. After much research on the internet, he learnt that sicklers could only live till 23 years of age. ‘Every attack felt like I was seconds away from taking my last breath” he says. His perspective on life however took a turn in the year 2011. He met a group of fellow sicklers. This group consists of over 100 people. When he inquired of their ages, he felt like he had just been born all over again. This is because he says the oldest person in the group was a 58-year-old man, with a decent job and a nuclear family unit. “I knew at that moment that I had a reason to live” says Kiprono.

Despite this, there are a lot of challenges that sicklers could endure. Growing up in Nairobi, which is considered an urban area, made Kiprono’s accessibility to facilities and the management of the disease possible due to the proximity advantage. However, he says, sicklers in the rural areas are either feared or cursed hence considered outcasts or have little to no access to facilities that can help their guardians in managing the disease.

Sicklers have also been in positions where they could visit a doctor and the practitioner has no idea what the disease is. Kiprono tells of a friend’s experience where she visited a doctor and she kept complaining of migrating pains yet she could be able to articulate herself. She requested for strong painkillers. The nurses and the doctor assumed that she was faking the pain, and was assumed to be an addict.

“Access to insurance is our biggest challenge as persons with chronic disease. They either give you half the cover or turn you down” says Kiprono. This is because most insurance companies perceive such persons as liabilities, he explains.

Giving an example of his own cover, he says that he has a cover with Jubilee insurance. This constitutes; a 2 million in patient cover and an 80K out-patient cover. He says that he however, receives the full out-patient and only 1 million, which is half of his in-patient cover. He emphasizes on the inconvenience of these policies as they constantly fall ill and their on-going medications are very expensive (Kshs. 40 per tablet) depending on the dose. This then leads to the cover running out and one is forced to either renew or pay in cash, not to mention the myriad impromptu services such as consultation, lab works, imaging services and the pharmacy. Larry Okinyo, a medical underwriter with APA insurance, partly concurs with Kiprono. He however says that the cover given may not necessarily be half of the package requested, but could even be lower depending on the gravity of the pre-existing condition. “When a person with a chronic disease applies for an insurance cover, they are obligated to take a medical report which is then reviewed by the insurance’s medical team. Afterwards, the underwriter in-charge is the one who decides on the specific in-patient amount that the person is qualified for, guided by the advice from their medical team” he says.  

By Carol Tuimur

As we celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child this year, we should not forget that teenage pregnancy is a leading cause of death to thousands of girls in Kenya every year. A 10-year old’s body is not ready for the rigors of childbirth, being that it is already a traumatic experience for the body of an adult female.

Other than just the physical danger of childbirth for a child, there is also the derailing of a young girl’s life. The truth is that most of these young girls have a dreary future ahead of them. Society is incredibly unforgiving when it comes to teenage pregnancy, with girls being kicked out of home and school for falling pregnant, leading to a vicious cycle of poverty.

Though there has been some progress because of the prominence of the issues in the media, there is still a lot to be desired. When we look at the statistics and focus on teenage mothers, the reality is jarring. Of girls aged 10-19 in Kenya, one in five is either pregnant or already a mother, with Narok, Homa Bay, West Pokot, Nyamira and Tana River recording the highest rates of teenage pregnancy.

“It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the environment that we all live in”

Dalai Lama.

“It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the environment that we all live in” – Dalai Lama. The only way we can effect change is when we all consider it a collective responsibility. This means that we all acknowledge that we all have a role to play in changing the system for there to be a better and brighter future for our children.

Young adolescents tend to have an active and curious imagination. The internet being their preferred information hub, they may get misleading data. Sex education and empowering children from a tender age of 5 years old is necessary as it educates the children and enables them to be self-aware. Children can be taught how to be self-aware through; being a role model, empathizing with your child, accepting and recognizing your child’s emotions and letting your child communicate freely. Our society downplays and undermines the value of sex education and this has proved to be one of the leading contributors to teenage pregnancy. This is because, some children genuinely have no idea what is happening to them because nobody talks about it. It is therefore important for them to be empowered so they can be aware of and exercise their rights when it comes to sex. Parents and guardians need to create time to talk to their children or get someone to talk to them about sex issues and the consequences of early sex and pregnancy, and advise them appropriately. Teachers need to teach young boys and girls on the dangers and consequences of underage sex.

It is unfair that the society has been known to bash, stigmatize and at times, consider outcasts pregnant teenagers. This has led them to considering ‘other’ life-threatening options. We have heard of children who seek backdoor abortions, simply because they fear the presumed harsh judgments. It is not enough that health workers should provide accurate information to the public regarding adolescent sexual reproductive services to adolescents, but they should ensure they understand they have the right to access to the required health services. Community opinion leaders must also sensitize community members about teenage pregnancy and challenge negative norms such as FGM that promotes child marriages and adolescent pregnancies.

The Media should monitor, track and highlight the impact of adolescent pregnancy and amplify voices of stakeholders demanding an end to teenage pregnancy. National and County Governments must ensure all ministries work together, to create, fund and implement a plan to addressing teenage pregnancy and that there is full implementation and reinforcing of the existing policies such as the Sexual Offences Act, Children’s Act, Adolescent sexual reproductive health policy.

Light punishment for sex offenders and a permissive society can be considered as the key reasons to why teenage pregnancy is becoming a phenomenon. Law enforcement agencies and the judiciary must ensure that perpetrators who have sex with underage girls are dealt with the full force of law.

As a society, it is a big failure on our part that this is happening. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and continue to fail our young generation. As we press for progress let us all play our role, in making sure our girls survive, thrive and reach their full potential.

“History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children” – Nelson Mandela.

By Phoebe Mwangi

Every year, Kenya has about 7000 suicides linked to depression and the number is on the rise. An estimated 350 million people are affected by depression, globally and Africa is home to 14 out of the 21 saddest countries including; Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Central African Republic.

The United Nation’s World Mental Health Day is set to be celebrated on 10th October 2019. That day is set aside to raise public awareness about mental health issues worldwide. Of interest specifically, is depression as a type of mental illness ailing people globally.

Mental illness in Kenya has increasingly become a topical issue in urban areas due to access of information and global incidents such as celebrity suicides. In the rural areas however, there is more engagement initiatives required to sensitize families. The practice of locking up loved ones to avoid embarrassment or seeking divine intervention to fight what is believed to be a bewitching incident continues.  This consideration for campaigns is against the backdrop of the reality that Kenya spends only about 0.05% of its health budget on mental health. About 70% of mental health facilities in the country are in the capital, Nairobi making it harder for citizens in the rural areas to access these facilities.

Depression is easily mistaken for sadness or just being moody.  It is alarming that young people are going through depression every day and we do not know. Attributing the sadness and low moods to the current state of the country – harsh economy, corruption and stealing or the state of the personal issues someone is going through. With people stating every day that they are depressed, it is a cause for alarm even though some may not be. In an interview with my peers, all of them noted that they were depressed at some point in their lives. They could all identify with the symptoms; loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed, inability to carry out daily duties, indecisiveness, restlessness, loss of energy, sleep problems, hopelessness and feelings of worthlessness. One of them even stated that they went through treatment. Youth in Kenya report being depressed nearly all the time to the point of giving up.

The disease affects 10.2 percent of young males and 6.9 percent of young females in Kenya. Depression is a high-risk factor and a mental disease that is affecting more and more young people in Kenya every day. Due to the living conditions and poor living standards more and more people are falling prey to this. Important to note is that most of them do not comprehend that they are going through depression, which eventually leads to suicide. Depression is a problem in Kenya and should be treated as one otherwise the continent seeks to lose a lot of their youth to the disease. It is becoming a prevalent phenomenon and we need to something about it before it plagues the youth in the country.

Depression is a persistent problem, not a passing one, lasting on average 6 to 8 months. With numbers rising every day, people need to be more aware of the dangers that come with depression like suicide and addiction to various types of drugs as a coping mechanism. The government should also conduct public awareness on mental health to better equip people especially the young people.

By Phoebe Mwangi

“I was very creative when it came to take away my life. I remember thinking about cutting small pieces of razor blades and eating them up because they would cause internal bleeding. I actually did this, but it did not work”

recalls Linda.

Linda was probably once part of the statistics of an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year affected by depression globally, according to The American Psychiatric Association (2017)which also found out that one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their life. Depression can strike at any time, but on average, it first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Women are more likely than men to experience depression. Research by The American Psychiatric Association also found out that one-third of women will experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime and in most instances the depressed really don’t get to know that it is an ailment until it is too late.

“You never really know you are depressed. One usually discovers it when you’re deep in it. I discovered l may be depressed when l started being suicidal and self-harm gave me comfort”, says Linda who was diagnosed with depression during her teenage years. Linda narrates how when looking back, she can now tell the many symptoms that she went through, including feeling isolated and like she was in deep darkness with walls enclosing her.

As a mood disorder characterised by persistently low mood and a feeling of sadness and loss of interest, depression is a persistent problem, lasting on average 6 to 8 months. It causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed and sleepless nights as well.

“I had sleepless nights and I attributed it to insomnia while the people around me said it was as a result of staying up all night watching movies”, she remembers. Linda is a cheery petit lady who is full of life and there is an eagerness to take over the world. She is a student at Daystar University who is in a final semester and can’t wait to graduate. “I am a very extroverted person. When l suffered from depression l locked myself up in room and gave excuses from hanging out with my friends. I felt alone, it was me against the world and no one was there to help” Linda says.

Symptoms of the disease include loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed, inability to carry out daily duties, indecisiveness, restlessness, loss of energy, sleep problems, hopelessness and feelings of worthlessness.

Depressed people hang out with us all the time and yet we do not notice. From Linda’s demeanour you cannot tell the things she has been through or the scars in her life. Looking at her hands which are full of scars, you can easily assume that they are childhood scars with interesting stories behind them, but this is not the case. They represent her call for help to escape the reality that was then. “Cutting myself was very satisfying. I really wanted to end my life but at the same time this acted as a call for help, which no one noticed”.

The people who were meant to be there for Linda were not. They brushed her off and never thought that she had a real problem. As a result, she started bottling up her issues and never really talked to anyone

“Depression is not a disease that is understood. Many people see it as a need of attention from the victim. People have also become accustomed to using the word loosely to mean sad.”

Dr. Mbugua explains why depression is easily ignored and misunderstood for sadness.

There was hope for Linda when someone noticed her cry for help and that she was not okay: “My aunt was the first person to notice there was something wrong with me. She offered a listening ear, but l couldn’t talk to her because of the all the disappointment l felt. She got me a psychiatrist and l began the road to recovery” she says happily.

There is a lot to be done around mental illness and specifically depression. People need to research on the illness to easily identify friends and family members going through it and help. There is also a need to learn how to deal with someone who is depressed and currently receiving treatment.

Mental illness is an issue in Kenya and the public should be aware of how and what to do in case someone they know suffers from it. The World Health Organisation has started helping people through training them and thus making the treatment services available and affordable. Linda encourages people who are going through depression to speak out and avoid dying in silence as help is available.   It is therefore essential that Kenyans fight and change the outcome of depression.