archive
Homosexuality is an extremely sensitive topic and I am well aware that there are a number of my regular readers whose sexual inclinations would be shocking to most simple ordinary Kenyans.
However this is a story I want to tell to prove that there is a link between poverty and the increased inclination towards homosexuality in the country.
I met John (not his real name) for the first time in 1986 when I joined a leading marketing company in Nairobi. I was soon appointed his boss although I had found him at the company. Gradually I came to learn the story of his wife including how he had gotten his current job.
Although John was always very smartly dressed and even drove a small car (something he certainly could not afford from his salary), h came from a very poor family. I never got to know what became of his father but his mother was employed as a cleaner in one of those Asian hospitals in Nairobi. She had struggled and taken her son through school from her meager salary cleaning all sorts of dirt at the hospital.
Inevitably John got stuck in life immediately he completed his O-levels. He did not do well enough to proceed to A-levels and neither did his mother have the contacts to secure him a job. However somebody told John that he had some assets that would transform his life. To cut a long gory story short, he ended living with this mzungu man in Westlands as his "wife".
All his needs were supplied, including the job he had and other bigger jobs he moved to later on and of course his car. I was his boss but I did not have a car.
One time I heard that the circumstances under which John had moved from under the roof his mother to his "husband's" house were controversial. There was even talk that his mother had one day stormed the Westlands residence to protest the living arrangement of her son. I'm not too sure what happened because there were conflicting stories. Some people said she was paid off and grudgingly accepted. Others said that she had cursed her son and stormed off.
I'm not too sure where John is now, but if he reads this I would like to appeal to him not to take it personally.
I remembered this tale when a reader here commented that Westlands is home to more than one nightclub for homosexuals. I've not been to Westlands for years but I can imagine the "business" being transacted at the clubs.
You can be sure that this subject of homosexuals is one that will not go away more so now when they are increasingly "coming out of the closet" as they say. And although it is certainly not going to be a national campaign issue and I also doubt whether it will carry significant votes in the Westlands Elections, it is an issue that I believe Kenyans need to make a clear policy about early. I for one would hate to see the country go in the direction of South Africa where gay marriages are now legal.
Internet Home Based Business: All You Ever Wanted To Know, As told to you by an expert who makes a good living online
Menstruation Odor Causes Marriage To Elude Woman
seriously? please stop making false hypotheses!! poverty and homosexuality? c'mon!!
ReplyDeleteI have always considered myself a staunch homophobic and judging by the animated responses on this blog topic; I see I’m not alone. Chris, it’s a shame how poverty sculptures the morals of individuals. Talk about child prostitution etc. That said, your buddy John may have been ‘fruity’ from birth (how long have you known him?). As the nature/nurture debate rages on in other parts of the world, Kenyans are determined to keep the closet locked and buried even though all boarding high schools had that one guy who always combed his hair right, cut his finger nails, was always touchy feely and spent too much time in the shower. Yeah, it’s the same guy who wrote beautiful letters with perfect calligraphic handwriting on flowery “love is” writing pads.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how much John wanted that small car, to entertain the abominable act is quite queer. No pun intended. Kwani this guy can’t wash cars at Nairobi River? Whereas poverty is alarming in Kenya, I will continue to deny that it has reached the levels of John’s resort. Otherwise we’d all be scrambling to the coast every time the MV Queen Mary docks.
As for South Africa, good thing it’s at the southern most tip of Africa. Let’s pray for an earthquake that will shake it off the continent and into the abyss of the sea. Oh and by the way, their acceptance of this lewd act of sin has nothing to do with progressiveness. How progressive is a country that promotes roots and eggs as a cure for AIDS?
And what’s the deal with Tutu pouring water on the fiery scorn of the vice? Is he so detached that he cannot understand that African’s are rightly obsessed and perplexed at the thought of gay bishops? I mean, we are poor, diseased and malnourished but we refuse to match to hell, let alone led by a chap who can’t sit on a wooden chair for over ten minutes.
Other than that, I have no strong opinion on the matter.
You say he is your friend and invited you. Are you sure that we can confirm that you are also GAY.
ReplyDeleteYou are. Birds of a feather!!
Word class blogging
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTo Chris and other concerned Kenyans.
ReplyDeleteI'm a regular reader of this blog but this is the first time a subject that am passionate about has come up here. I just had to add my voice to this intriguing subject.
The wake up call for me came at the beginning of the year when I attended the Nairobi World Social Forum. Kenyan faggots literally came out of their closets to flaunt their disgusting lifestyles in the full glare of the cameras.
I decided enough was enough and it was time I took action at a personal level before Kenya slid down the path of the misguided South Africans.
Visit my blog
http://kenyansagainstgays.blogspot.com
for some riveting and insightful debates regarding this despicable sexual perversion.
Blake, Ive checked your blog and I agree with you entirely. You certainly deserve some sort of award. I also want to encourage all the righteous human beings to condemn this disgraceful behavior in the strongest terms possible. Not other living thing practices same sex "sex", marriage,etc, etc. Where is this world going to? Shindweee Kabisa!!! Na Blake, endelea hivyo hivyo.
ReplyDeletePeople, people!I'd have bet one bob that majority of us commentors would agree on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'll point out again here that I live in the Superpower of the World, the United States of America. That may partially explain my point of view concerning homosexuality.
I'll start by saying that I'm homophobic to an extreme-really,homophobic is not the right word as phobia indicates fear, and I DO NOT fear homosexuality or homosexuals. I just don't understand how or believe people can be naturally gay. I think society makes you believe that you can be whatever sexual orientation you want to be, thus gay, lesbian bisexual (as in naturally feeling sexually attracted to men AND women) and trans gender (as in believing you are a member of the opposite biological sex trapped in the body of the sex you are in now). Plus, how come this is all common in the developed world or the most developed in the developing world. Is it some form of social Darwinism or what?It all beats anything I've grown up to know and accept as the truth.I inconsistently go to a Church that says yes to everything that is easily identifiable as liberal, like homosexual marriage, and abortion. It makes me wonder a lot because isn't the God of the old testament, the days of the law-do not murder and everything else on sexuality in Leviticus chapter 15- the same God of the new testament, and indeed today, the days of grace? Jesus himself said he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, but sometimes it seems like we use the word God's grace to justify what we believe to be acceptable to us and not to others in the faith.I don't think God would have changed his mind somewhere in between and not told us.Solution-customize my faith as much as possible. I'd have to leave the world entirely, including my beloved Kenya, to find a place where everyone believes in my ideals. No, no, no, I'm no saint either, I've committed many sexual wrongs!
Point number two:the west frowns at some forms of sexual relationships that are common place in Africa,and other parts of the world, like polygamy.One other word for it here promiscuity. In fact it is illegal over here and there is a movement for polygamy, but it is largely looked down upon. Nowhere in my Christian faith have I seen polygamy outlawed.OK, men, I know you all have one wife each,and women, one husband each but I know all about the ndogo ndogos by the side. I know where I'm coming from, people!Its like our society is monogamous on paper, if indeed any papers exist, but in practice, very polygamous.Or promiscuous, depending on which part of the world you are reading this from.
The point I'm trying to drive across here is this:I think no one society has a monopoly over sexual matters. If you are not in a gay society or are very conservative in a liberal country, then you are frothing on the side of your mouth and losing you breath shouting yourself hoarse on how immoral it is to be gay or allow gay marriage. If you are in the so called developed world, you are appalled, appalled! by the idea of polygamy, arranged marriages and everything thats not done your way.
Clearly, we will never agree on all things sexual. How about we just let God be the judge, since only He truly knows how He created us? If anything, sexuality is something He willingly wired within us (staunch Catholics stop here!) for enjoyment (staunch Catholics pick up here) and procreation, otherwise it wouldn't be so much fun,or there would be another means of producing us.
Now, how about, as far as we are concerned, not discriminate against people on the basis of their sexuality? How about homosexuals, bisexuals and trans genders stop acting like their sexuality is all there is to them, like none of the straight people have a sexual orientation or like the straight people chose their sexuality?
Finally I do believe there is a connection between being poor and 'choosing' your sexuality to get access to mzungus' dollars. Or young men sleeping with old wazungu mamas, or young women with old wazungu men. Just go to the coast. Its no entirely different from prostitution for the same reasons-any one ever heard stories people 'marrying' wazungus, only to end up as sexual slaves? Proposed Solution-find an alternative form of employment, or simply live withing your means. In the mean time, don't tell me your sexuality-I won't ask.As long as you are a she and don't katia me, I think we will be fine.
Proud 'this tribe' Woman!
Hey Proud woman that was a ton of facts laced in some cleverly crafted sermon. All the same you argued your case with facts albeit religiously biased. But you score 101% on the fact that some people have their sexuality as the only asset without which they you cease to exist. Surely, we need a break from this cheap line of thinking by appreciating yourself and all others the way you are without shouting fire where no smoke exists.
ReplyDeleteChris, I think your e-crash failed becasue you didn't measure up. Bro, sharpen the upper faculties becasue you have a higher intellectual mountain to climb before you hint at anything emotional. As for the proud woman kudos for the straight talk and declaring that you are straight. Above all else religion is personal and no amount of foaming at the mouth can convert anybody, I agree.
Taabu, don't misquote me, bro. This was about sexuality, not religion. I linked them because I thought there was a link-otherwise,we woudln't have Churches up in arms against homosexuality, or where I am, Churches that are almost entirely made up of GLTBs (Gay, Lesbians, Transgenders and Bisexuals).
ReplyDeleteMy point is this: Religion is PERSONAL, but not necessarily PRIVATE.
I'd never have become a Christian had I not heard about Jesus Christ( (I am among the least of them, though). How will anyone believe unless someone tells them (read Romans 10)?
So yeah, foaming at the mouth does indeed produce religious converts. You know that pretty well.Need I elaborate? Just watch TV this Sunday, or take a walk in the streets of Nai or Jivanjee Gardens at every lunch hour.
Proud 'this tribe' Woman!
Record corrented and I hear you 'proud woman'. I may not agree but will protect your right to preach. Only fools don't change their minds so they say and even God may have regreted being numerically challenged (why binary gender?) except we don't knwo. No blasphemy please. Otherwise without fear of constipation I eat my words Churchil style.
ReplyDeleteStupified superstitious commenters. No suprprise here. What else can be expected from a stupid superstitious country like kenya?
ReplyDelete