If you come across a tourist whose passport reveals multiple entries to Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Singapore, it is likely that when you continue flipping the pages, you will see a couple of entries to Kenya. If you forcefully peruse his luggage, you may find old chattered airline tickets or taxi receipts evidencing frequent visits to Malindi. Further interrogations will confirm short stays in various private and exclusive villas (primarily owned by Italians). At this eureka-like stage, a man of average intelligence acting prudently will not wish to view the tourists' picture album….especially if it is resting on a box of assorted candies, lollipops and bubble gum. My dear Kenyans, we are at the advent of the most profitable child sex tourism industry in Africa.
Documentaries of lions hunting impalas at Tsavo National Park are gradually being replaced with those of white pony-tailed sandal wearing tourists preying on beautiful black Kenyan babies. Elephant tusks, leopard skins and rhino horns are no longer the much sort out trophies; Instead, local virgin boys and girls define the holy grail. Yes my fellow ODMers and PNUers, the child sex pest has arrived and his/her mighty thirst will not be quenched by the award winning Tusker beer. This particular beast from overseas will only drink the juice of innocence spewing from the undeveloped private parts of our most treasured assets i.e. our children or in other words, our future.
The debate on how Kenya finds itself depicted in child pornographic videos is endless. We all agree that poverty has been known to skew perceptions of morality. The story of the thief stealing the bread to feed his starving family conveniently comes into play. You see, the parents who choose to turn the other way as their own babies bring home a couple of sleazy dollars after spending nights in Italian villas, are quick to accept that the 'end justifies the means'. The villagers/society have chosen to ignore the awkward walking style of these toddlers, after all, how are they supposed to feed themselves. We all know what happens to our young girls when they get married to old German men and are shipped to the land of the third Reich…so long as they send back some Deutschmarks (now Euros), we are all set. Oh, by the way, some of our very own grown Kenyans gleefully indulge in this rape. My point here is that we are all complacent to this evil that is slowly tainting the image of our country.
So what next? How do you stop a buibui clad baby from succumbing to the scourge from abroad? Education? How do you explain the ruinous behavior to parents whose only means of survival is the sleazy dollar? What about disease? To what extend is personal responsibility the only answer? Are some of us just born sexually deviant? What would happen if lets say, the government used the police to consistently swoop the villas, discos and prominent hotels that are conduits to this evil? How about billboards of caution at every corner? Maybe deportation of perpetrators and repossession of filthy villas?
It would be unfortunate if we allow our country to be listed in the yellow pages of sleaze destinations.
Especially the awkward walking styles of these babies should get each one of us worried.
ReplyDeleteReminds you of France's BUIBUI whores documentary. The is the genesis of a systemic epidemic that will be very difficult to tame. But this is one thing that calls for personal responsibility. But you know well as I do that poverty everywhere results into desperate measures for desperate times.
ReplyDeleteWe are back to the glory of 3s-sun, sand and SEX. Italians will soon make Malindi a mini Cicily and woe unto you when you dare touch the later-day Jackals. Child prostitution is real and no half populist measures like Dzoros will wash. It must be stamp out now lest we become part of our future's demise.
if this is acceptable to the government of the day, then it is acceptable by extension to the entire country-lack of integrity is at play here once again
ReplyDeleteI'd be a bit slow in apportioning all blame to the 'government of the day'.
ReplyDeleteAnother scapegoat pointed at for the laxity that our society has shown in the prevention of child sex tourism is poverty. Whatever, some things are just inexcusable. Most of us grew up poor and still belong to that tribe, but we had parents with a conscience. What's wrong with the Malindi parents??
I think the child sex tourists should be extradited to their countries to go to jail. I know there is one child advocacy group based in the US whose billboards read: Molest a child in this country, go to jail in yours.
Education and economic development should also help. Poverty is higher at the coast, as performance in national exams is low.
Anyone found guilty should be blind folded and executed by a firing squad.
ReplyDeleteThat's the only remedy for destroying the innocence of our minors. It's the most callous and evil of all crimes.
Statistics show that most abusers are indeed LOCAL KENYAN MEN, although many tourists are also flooding in.
This is a mostly social issue whereby family members are deeply implicated. Time to wake up and reclaim our lost towns and villages at the coast province.
Thanks Kumekucha for highligting this very important issue amid all the electioneering.
Taabu, actually in Malindi, its not just 3's but rather 3's and a D (for drugs), all driven by the so called Italian investors. A few weeks a go, KTN aired a feature on the drug problem at the coast, especially in Malindi and Mombasa. Our children's future is being ruined and so is the future of Kenya as a nation. What a shame!
ReplyDeleteI am a kenyan woman married to an Italian and living in Italy with my 3 kids, it is sad to hear not only of accellerated crime in kenya, but also the new destination for child prostitution. Italy is known to be a country full of old people, most of them are widowed, divorced or separated, the shame is they dont want to get women/men their age to settle down with, instead they take their pension money, that is worth nothing in euros and worth so much in kshs and run off to kenya to get young girls to exploit, some of them marry these young girls, whereas the young woman/man things she/he has hit a gold pot, what they dont know is that home nursing costs alot of money in Europe, and the fashion now is to marry some young foreigner who will be free home nursing carer in the name of a wife. A few weeks ago a mayor stopped a marriage between a very young foreigner and an old italian man, our government too should put a limit to these marriages with foreigners especially if the age gap is too wide.
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