Witchcraft and Night Runners

Most of the time, I don’t feel like I’m living anywhere special or different from home. Life is life. Work is work. Friends are friends. No, none of it is quite like home and sure some small things, and some large things that I’ve gotten used to, are different, but it doesn’t feel as strange as I thought it would. I ride in vehicles meant for 14 people, sharing half a seat with one of 24 people (and most probably goats, fish… etc) that are crammed in with me any time I want to travel. I have no electricity, my water comes from the sky and I bath in a bucket. It all seems normal now. But every once in awhile, something happens and I remember that yes, Africa is different from home; exotic and exciting.

Things that exist in Kenya:

a) Witches: A woman died the other day in the marketplace after purchasing an avocado. There had been two women trying to sell avocados to her and when she chose one, the other looked at her and she died. They say she somehow poisoned the avocado and caused the woman to die. The bewitching woman was chased from the area and has been denied cover by her family in other parts of Kenya after the news of what happened followed her. And it’s not just some members of the community that believe it was witchcraft… my neighbor and another mzee (older man) I was talking with this afternoon (both well educated and traveled) agree that it was witchcraft though they aren’t sure the method of bewitchment. It’s completely cultural. It is really interesting to take a moment and see the world through their eyes. I could never believe in that because I’ve grown up seeing science in everything mysterious, but that’s not how people have grown up here and everyone believes.

In some places, sons will even revenge kill their own fathers because their kids died from an illness. They think that the father has bewitched the kids and caused their death so they burn or slaughter them. They say sometimes the mother even helps. I cant imagine how you could suspect such horrible things from your own parent. What possible benefit could come to him from hurting his own grandchildren. And where did this thought come from? They said that this happens not infrequently. Its just so inconceivable to me that this could actually take place.

b) Night runners: People that run at nighttime into the compounds of people in the community. They sometimes just run, but also some are peeping Toms.

c) People who command hippos and crocodiles: There are families in the area that have crocodiles or hippos that they consider family. They have built tight relationships with them and can ask them to do things for them. When the animal dies they even have funerals for them. The same elaborate 4-day long funerals that they have for people. Sometime they even tie a string with beads on it around their stomachs. There is a story about a girl who came for lunch to house one day and had to share food with a crocodile - the very important invited guest.