High court decriminalizes Kenyan Law against spreading Obscene information

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July 31, 2019

Section 84 (d) of the Kenya Information Communication Act, that criminalizes publishing of obscene information in electronic form, has been declared unconstitutional.

In a ruling that would potentially trigger a flurry of appeals against it, Justice Wilfrida Okwani ruled that the law is vague, citing that imposing the same is unconstitutional and a violation of Kenyan rights.

Justice Wilfrida added that circulation of ideas should not be prohibited in that the ideas are infact pointers that certain leaders need inorder to realise that their actions are wrong.

The decision was made after controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi challenged the Act. He was arraigned and charged in a Kiambu court for posting scornful comments against Governor Anne Waiguru and Nairobi’s Mike Sonko.

ARV breakthrough: trial in South Africa confirms effectiveness of new drug

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

A new antiretroviral drug regimen has been given the go-ahead by the World Health Organisation. This follows the preliminary results from studies that include an ongoing trial in South Africa.

The ADVANCE study, conducted by a Johannesburg-based research group from the University of the Witwatersrand, will only be completed next year. But early results show that dolutegravir is an effective and well-tolerated antiretroviral drug. ADVANCE, which will continue for 96 weeks, presented its 48-week results at the International AIDS conference in Mexico City.

The results are important because the Johannesburg trial includes a population much more representative of the real-world populations being treated for HIV across lower- and middle-income countries. Study participants are black, and almost 60% female with an average age of 32 years.

Previous studies of dolutegravir involved around 3000 participants, most of whom were middle-aged white men from high-income countries in the US and Europe. They obviously aren’t reflective of the global and South African HIV epidemic, which is comprised of mainly black (more than 70%) and women (more than 52%), many of whom are under 40 years of age.

The drug efavirenz has been used in South Africa’s public sector antiretrovial therapy (ART) programme for many years and has served the country well. But it has drawbacks. HIV easily becomes resistant to it; it’s relatively expensive and it causes side effects in some people. This explains why dolutegravir is being introduced into many HIV programmes across the world, based on recent guidance from the World Health Organisation. Efavirenz will nevertheless continue to be used, too.

There were other gaps as well, including little to no data regarding the use of dolutegravir in those with advanced disease; pregnant or breastfeeding women; people with HIV and tuberculosis coinfection; infants and children; and the elderly.

The study

All the participants (over 1000) in the ADVANCE study were recruited from inner-city Johannesburg. Only 60% were South African, with the remaining 40% from other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, mainly Zimbabwe.

ADVANCE was designed to be as inclusive as possible. This was in an attempt to fill some of the evidence gaps left by the dolutegravir development programme. These included:

placing no restriction on CD4 counts;
allowing participants who developed TB or became pregnant during the study to remain in the study;
recruiting from age 12 years and above; and
keeping the exclusion criteria to enter the study to a minimum.

Another unique feature of ADVANCE is the fact that it was designed by a consortium of leading international HIV clinicians and researchers. There were also inputs from global bodies such as the World Health Organisation, Clinton Health Access Initiative, as well as treatment advocates and activist groups.

It was funded by USAID, Unitaid, the South African Medical Research Council. Study drugs were donated by Gilead Sciences and ViiV Healthcare.

What’s been found so far

The ADVANCE study is comparing two dolutegravir-based ART regimens with an efavirenz-based regimen in people starting ART. It is also comparing the currently used ART backbone containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) to the newer tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF).

The early studies in Europe showed that dolutegravir didn’t have many side effects. The most marked of the side effects was insomnia. In addition, both dolutegravir and TAF are cheaper to manufacture at scale and can be easily made into a single, much lower dose pill than the current fixed-dose combination used in the public sector.

The study showed that people starting ART with a dolutegravir-based regimen achieved the same high rates of viral suppression as those starting with efavirenz. We also saw very little treatment failure and in most cases, even those individuals who had a high viral load subsequently had an undetectable viral load after adherence counselling.

Very few people stopped the study because of side effects, although more people on efavirenz experienced side effects.

Hardly any ADVANCE participants developed TB – a common co-infection in people living with HIV – as nearly all received tuberculosis preventative medication.

But there are some concerns. One finding was that we saw weight gain in participants receiving dolutegravir-based ART, which was worse in women and in those who received both dolutegravir and TAF. Obesity carries many health risks in terms of developing high blood pressure, risk of diabetes and other problems. Because of this, we are monitoring obesity levels in ADVANCE participants.

We are not sure what the wider implications of this finding may be. But similar findings of weight gain associated with the use of integrase inhibitors, including dolutegravir, were presented at the retroviruses and opportunistic infections conference in March 2019. The finding highlights the importance of including screening for co-morbidities and appropriate lifestyle interventions when treating people with HIV. More research is needed to understand the cause and implications of weight gain seen with integrase inhibitors.

The number of pregnancies in ADVANCE are too small to draw meaningful conclusions from about the risk of neural tube defects. We have not seen any neural tube defects in the study.

Why it matters

ADVANCE is an important study. It confirms that dolutegravir is an effective and well-tolerated ARV for people initiating ART.

This is reassuring as South Africa is planning to roll it out as part of its antiretroviral programme.

Because ADVANCE included a diverse African population and was much more representative of the demographics of the HIV epidemic, its results are important both to people living with HIV in South Africa, as well as globally.

The results have been shared with the World Health Organisation to inform guideline discussions and with regulatory bodies across the globe.

Michelle Moorhouse, Senior Research Clinician, University of the Witwatersrand and Willem Daniel Francois Venter, Deputy Executive Director, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Lessons from Kenya on how to boost breastfeeding rates

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

Kenya has, over the past two decades, made tremendous achievements in promoting breastfeeding. The number of babies who were exclusively breastfed rose from just 13% in 2003 to about 61% in 2014.

This was achieved largely because of two programmes led by the Ministry of Health: the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and the Baby Friendly Community Initiative. The hospital initiative promotes breastfeeding in hospitals at the time of delivery, while the community initiative promotes breastfeeding at home.

Breastfeeding is important. It lowers incidences of child illness and death and has also been linked to better outcomes at school. The World Health Organisation recommends that babies be breastfed immediately after they’re born, followed by exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of their lives.

For over ten years scientists at the African Population Health Research Centre (APHRC), myself among them, have tried to tackle the challenges that still stand in the way of Kenya achieving its national target of getting 80% of women to breastfeed.

To do this, we focused our research on the Baby Friendly Community Initiative. Over the past five years, it’s been rolled out in several counties. The initiative recognises that many women deliver at home and need continued support after delivery.

Our studies, carried out in rural and urban settings, looked into how well home-based counselling worked. The aim was to see where improvements could be made. We also carried out an exercise across Kenya to understand community perceptions on how best to implement the initiative.

We found that the project was a success. Mothers developed confidence and knowledge about breastfeeding and felt supported by the community health workers. These health workers are volunteers motivated by goodwill and recognition for the work they do.

But more needs to be done. It is important to include fathers and others – such as grandmothers and traditional birth attendants – in implementing the project. Also, incentives should be given to community health volunteers to ensure they stay engaged.

Our hope is that the study will inform guidelines being developed by the Ministry of Health for scaling up the initiative.

Home-based counselling

To test the initiative, we designed a project that involved regular home visits by community health workers during a woman’s pregnancy and until the baby was a year old. It was implemented in two low-income settlements in Nairobi for almost two years.

The health workers taught mothers about nutrition, the immediate initiation of breastfeeding after birth, breast positioning and attachment and the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. Workers also explained how long and often they should breast feed for, how to express breast milk and how to store it.

It was hugely successful. Exclusive breastfeeding rates for the baby’s first six months rose from 2% to 55%.

The intervention also worked in rural areas. We implemented the study in Koibatek – a rural area in the Rift Valley area. Over 87% of the mothers who received counselling breastfed exclusively for six months, compared to 43.8% at control sites.

In addition to these two studies, in partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Health, we conducted an exercise across the country to get insights into what communities thought was the best way to implement the Baby Friendly Community Initiative and what the role of different stakeholders – like fathers, grandmothers, community leaders, traditional birth attendants and community health volunteers – should be.

Lessons for improvement

The key lesson was that consistently supporting mothers to breastfeed through home-based personalised care worked. This was partly because the health workers came from their community and so the women trusted them more. The health workers were also more accessible than other health care providers, like hospital nurses.

When it came to the role of the different stakeholders, the community suggested that fathers and other key influencers of infant feeding – like grandmothers, traditional birth attendants, and community leaders – should be involved in implementing the initiative. They also suggested that community mother support groups be formed.

But a major challenge in scaling up the initiative is how to embed the programme into Kenya’s health care system, working with existing resources and within existing structures.

The initiative is a low-cost intervention, as the community health workers are volunteers. This is great in resource-constrained situations – but it also raises a problem: the community health volunteers often lose motivation. We suggest that they be supported through income generating activities such as farming or bee keeping, as was the case in the Koibatek study.

There are also questions of workload and how much more the community health workers can take on.

Once these issues are ironed out, the low resource requirements of the initiative should make it interesting for other African nations. In the future, we plan to translate the learning from Kenya to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Milka Wanjohi and Florence Sipalla, from the African Population Health Research Center, contributed to the writing of this article

Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, Research Scientist at the African Population and Health Research Center and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Brown University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

We will not relent in the war against corruption, President Kenyatta assures

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

President Uhuru Kenyatta has assured that he will not relent in the war against corruption.

The President emphasized that no effort will be spared in ensuring that the vice that has been choking the country’s economy is completely destroyed.

“We will remain focused in the fight against corruption. We hope that every institution will play its part to make this war successful,” President Kenyatta said.

The President spoke today at State House, Nairobi when he separately bid farewell to outgoing European Union (EU) Delegation Ambassador Stefano Dejak and British High Commissioner Nic Hailey.

The President commended the two envoys for strengthening relations between Kenya and their respective jurisdictions during their tour of duty.

President Kenyatta said Kenya appreciates EU’s partnership which has promoted development adding that he looks forward to more collaboration as the country explores the blue economy as an emerging frontier for wealth and employment creation.

In the meeting with the outgoing British High Commissioner, the President noted that the UK remains one of Kenya’s biggest trade partners.

“We hope to continue with the journey we began on empowering the youth through small and medium enterprises,” the President told the outgoing British High Commissioner.

Ambassador Dejak and High Commissioner Hailey separately praised President Kenyatta for standing firm in the war against corruption.

The outgoing EU envoy encouraged President Kenyatta not to loosen his grip in the fight against graft saying this will restore Kenya’s dignity and entrench its position as a thriving and progressive economy in Africa.

“The war against corruption in Kenya is restoring investors’ confidence. The EU will remain a strategic partner of Kenya not only on the economic front but in the fight against corruption as well,” Ambassador Dejak said.

On his part, High Commissioner Hailey commended the President for the commitment he has shown in combating the vice where even senior government officials have not been spared.

The outgoing British High Commissioner assured President Kenyatta that trade between the two countries will continue to grow whether or not there is a BREXIT deal.

Earlier at State House, Nairobi, President Kenyatta received credentials from incoming Japanese Ambassador to Kenya Ryoichi Horie who pledged to take the bilateral relations between Kenya and Japan to new levels of success.

Ambassador Horie said during his tour of duty in Kenya he will work tirelessly towards enhancing the close ties that have existed between his country and Kenya since 1963.

“I will devote all my energy towards strengthening the existing relationship between Kenya and Japan that is founded on our shared values and goals for the purpose of development,” Ambassador Horie told the President.

The new Japanese Ambassador to Kenya pointed out that as a testimony of the close ties between the two countries, Kenya hosted the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI) Summit in August 2016. This made Kenya the first African country to ever host a TICAD Summit since its inception in 1993.

President Kenyatta welcomed the new envoy and assured of his administration’s commitment to working closely with him to boost the existing cooperation and partnership between Kenya and Japan.

“Welcome to Kenya. I look forward to working with you to expand our areas of partnership for the mutual benefit of the people of Kenya and Japan,” President Kenyatta said.

President Kenyatta acknowledged Japan as one of Kenya’s key development partners whose cooperation has played a big role in the country’s development.

21 year old girl pleads guilty to personating a nurse at Kenyatta National Hospital

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

BY PRUDENCE WANZA – A 21 year old girl has pleaded guilty to personating a public officer by falsely presenting herself as a nurse.

Sharlene Nyaboke Oraro is accused of falsely presenting herself as a nurse at NHIF offices in Kenyatta National Hospital working at clinic no.24.

On 25th July,2019 the accused is alleged to have presented herself to the security guard,Dennis Otwere Mauti,as Sharlene Nyaboke a nurse working at Kenyatta National Hospital at clinic no.24 while wearing a white dust coat.

She is said to have stayed for a long time inside the offices and even started helping clients to fill NHIF forms. The security guard became suspicious and rushed to clinic no.24 to inquire whether the accused was indeed a nurse and it was confirmed that she is not a staff or nurse in the hospital.

Unfortunately since it was closing time the accused had already left the premises but the following day she still presented herself as nurse and on being questioned she could not give a satisfactory explanation to the security.

The accused who appeared before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi and pleaded guilty to the charges and prayed to the court to forgive her since she has a child who depends on her.

Sharlene told the court that she was a third year student at the Universe of Nairobi under the school of nursing and had been on attachment at the hospital.

She went on to say that it was her first day at the hospital which contradicted her statement that she had been attached to the hospital as a nurse.

When told to express herself using English by the magistrate she could barely construct a sentence in English.

The court directed that the case be mentioned on 5th August,2019 for probation report to be availed before determining the case.

Kenya to continue pushing for closure of ivory trade markets, says First Lady Margaret Kenyatta

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta reaffirmed Kenya’s push for the closure of all ivory trade markets across the world.

She said Kenya will continue with its campaign against the reopening of markets for animal trophies especially ivory. The campaign is being supported by 31 other African states grouped under the African Elephant Coalition (AEC).

The First Lady spoke at the ivory burning site inside the Nairobi National Park where she presided over the official launch of the CITES CoP18 Awareness Campaign.

CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora while CoP18 is the acronym for the Conference of Parties to the CITES.

The CITES CoP18 global conference is scheduled for next month in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Today we are lobbying and petitioning for the closure of all ivory markets, and boldly advocating for the placement of all elephants onto Appendix 1 of CITES,” said the First Lady, herself a renown supporter of conservation work in her capacity as the patron of the “Hands Off Our Elephants” campaign.

“This is the message that we, as a country, as conservationists, stakeholders and as members of the African Elephant Coalition, jointly pledge ahead of the CITES COP 18 meeting,” she added.

The First Lady said every time a proposal is made to partially reopen ivory trade markets, demand for the animal trophies escalates leading to increased poaching.

“We have also learnt that every time there has been a decision by CITES Parties to reopen ivory trade, the decision has resulted in increased elephant poaching and illicit trafficking of ivory,” the First Lady observed.

She said reopening the ivory trade markets will destroy the conservation gains made over the years.

The First Lady said Kenya is host to the most exotic and diverse wildlife species in the world adding that the country maintains a strong resolve to eradicate illegal wildlife trade by building coalitions and partners to strengthen joint actions to protect wildlife across the world.

The First Lady said Kenya has not only championed and petitioned the rest of the world for the total closure of all markets in animal trophies, but has previously demonstrated its resolve by publicly destroying huge stockpiles of ivory and rhino horns at the same site where today’s function was held.

Economics of legalizing cannabis – pricing and policing are crucial

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

Legalising cannabis can have major benefits for all citizens. If carried out correctly, everyone will benefit from less crime and stronger rule of law. Legalising the drug will especially help protect young people and may even lower their consumption of the drug. It is also a way of raising taxes for the state, instead of fuelling criminal organisations, which currently control the illegal market.

These benefits are increasingly recognised by the public. Crucial to seeing these benefits come about, is the way legalising cannabis is done and how the drug is priced once it is made legal. These are the findings from research I’ve carried out with colleagues in France. There must be a combination of getting the price level right and cracking down on illegal activities to reach the right balance between reducing criminality and avoiding increases in cannabis consumption following legalisation.

To fight the black market, the price of legal cannabis has to be relatively low. For example, it could be set around or slightly below the current illegal price. This will attract current users of the drug away from their existing dealers.

But if nothing else is done, this will not be enough to eradicate the black market. Dealers will simply lower their prices to attract customers back. They are able to do this because there is currently a high markup in the illegal market.

There is a large range of prices and cannabis products sold illegally but the average price of high-quality cannabis is roughly US$300 per ounce in London, according to the crowd-sourced website priceofweed.com. This is up to three times as high as production costs based on evidence from the US market.

Controlling consumption

The increased competition that the legal market would bring would likely substantially increase consumption – not something most policy makers want. So as well as implementing a legal market, there needs to be a mix of policies to control consumption, including sanctions that are enforced against illegal activities. This would allow a government to price out dealers, while keeping the price of legal cannabis relatively high.

The reasoning is simple: if production or distribution costs of illegal cannabis increase, it is easier to drive criminals out of business by selling legal cannabis. My research shows that the harsher the punishments you put in place against people selling cannabis illegally, the higher you can set the price of legal cannabis to price out dealers. We call this the “eviction price”.

Other instruments governments can use to increase the eviction price are to deter consumers from buying illegal cannabis through enforced sanctions or warning them against the dangers of using illegal cannabis compared to high-quality, safe products supplied on the legal market.

A legal cannabis store in the US. Linda Harms/Shutterstock.com

Viable alternatives

It’s also important to introduce incentives for illegal cannabis producers and sellers to turn their activity toward the legal sector. So as well as investment in law enforcement to crack down on criminal activity, it’s important that former cannabis dealers are given viable job alternatives. Otherwise they may just switch to selling alternative illegal drugs or close substitutes.

Dealers often live in deprived neighbourhoods and are trapped in vicious cycles of crime where low aspirations and job prospects push them into illegal businesses. Investment in these communities is therefore needed to support and train those that make a living from drug dealing.

The money that will be generated by selling and taxing legal cannabis should be largely redistributed towards these kinds of initiatives. Plus, legalising cannabis may enable the police to reallocate their efforts towards other crimes, improving police effectiveness against class-A drugs and non-drug crimes. This was found in the London borough of Lambeth after penalties were reduced in 2001 for those holding small amounts of cannabis.

History also shows that prohibition increases violent crimes. Famous gangsters such as Al Capone in Chicago in the 1920s profited from the imbalance between demand and supply of alcohol by establishing organised crime to supply and serve alcohol illegally in speakeasies. In illegal markets, violence is often seen as the only way to resolve conflicts and secure market power.

Our research was inspired by recent examples of cannabis legalisation in Canada and Uruguay. The stated objectives in both countries was to combat drug-related crime. It is too early to evaluate the overall effects of these policies but evidence from Canada suggests that illegal transactions linked to the black market shrunk as a result of legalisation. And we also learnt from what did not work so well there: a shortage of legal supply helped the illegal market persist. So it’s important to avoid making the same mistakes and propose more effective policies to control the overall consumption of cannabis.

Alice Mesnard, Reader in Economics, City, University of London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Disappointed Caster Semenya to miss World Championships in Doha

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

South African 800m sprinter and current world record holder for the title in the women’s track has been barred from defending her title in Doha at the World Championships.

The ruling by Swiss Federal Supreme Court means she will not be allowed to compete at the World Championships in Doha.

“I am very disappointed to be kept from defending my hard-earned title,” Caster Semenya said.

Semenya has been in and out of court, fighting for her chance to take part in competitions among fellow women, with the IAAF claiming that she has high testosterone levels giving her an edge over her competitors.

Semenya has over the years been lamentying the mistreatment and misunderstanding towards her but has been working to fight for her rights as a woman and as a competitor. She has appealed against IAAF rules preventing her from running without medication. But a ruling allowed her to compete has now been overturned.

“But this will not deter me from continuing my fight for the human rights of all of the female athletes concerned.” She added.

University Commission Halts PhD Program, JKUAT graduates at risk of loosing degrees

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 31, 2019

PhD students who have pursued their disciplines at various Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) campuses may be forced to recall their degrees if a report probing JKUAT capacity to offer their courses is anything to go by.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) has given JKUAT senate three months to review its 118 PhDs awarded during the 33rd graduation ceremony on June 21 this year. This according to CUE, is to audit the violations of universities’ standards, which took effect in 2014.

The effect of this directive has led to the temporary halt of the university from continuing its current PhD programmes both on campuses and online.

The university has also been directed to submit to the CUE evidence of the students’ publication of two articles in refereed journals for each PhD awarded since publication of the Universities Standards and Guidelines 2014, failing which the nonconforming PhDs will be recalled until the requirement is fulfilled.

The report reveals poor monitoring of students’ progress during training and non-adherence to the university statutes in allocating supervisors, formation of board of examiners, conduct of student seminar presentations and evidence of supervision. “There was non-adherence to the Universities Standards and Guidelines 2014 with respect to supervision load and duration of research component of PhD programme,” reads the report.

FOREVER SCARRED

By

Dan Ojumah

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July 30, 2019

The only thing living in me is dead man’s bones. I say this not to put some fancy in my writing but because I was killed by my family and now all that I have is a walking body with a black heart creeped mind. You see I wasn’t always like this. I dint hate myself as I do now and yes there is a time where suicide was not the only solution.

I remember of a time when sunrise and sunset had meaning, I remember of the chirping birds outside my window, I remember how I loved life and loved to dressing up to kill a matching red ribbon to represent how love flowed from the top, fitting red dress to expose the upcoming hour glass figure and pretty red doll shoes to finish the look, but now…now all I wear is black a direct representation of how dark and hate filled I have become.

Mom didn’t take long before replacing him

You see darkness crept in after my dad died. The first man who believed in me and always thought I was beautiful. Mom didn’t take long before replacing him ,I mean if it was me I wouldn’t marry another man 6 years after his death but I loved her and dint want to see her lonely having her pillow as her only comfort so I let in the monster….sorry I meant step-dad.

Middle aged man tall, dark and handsome going by the name Peter. He seemed to have his life together and definitely had no problem being a step dad. It was really hard for me to accept the joy that filled mom as he walked in the house but time was kind to him and I soon accepted him and remember of a time when I actually thanked the creator for filling the “dadspot” again.

I was truly a lucky girl I frequently thought to myself, I mean after all the nasty stories I heard of abusive step dads and I now got to narrate about my loving step dad. Then one Sunday evening as it was our routine to stay up late watching movies we heard a knock at the door and another tall, dark and handsome man walked in. Were this men falling from heaven? I thought to myself but my thoughts were quickly interrupted by Peter as he introduced his brother as John and said he would stay with us for a while as he searched for a job.

Tall, dark John was apparently searching for a ‘job’

I was so excited at how the family was quickly growing and all we could do with mom was to make peter and john feel at home. then one day mom and peter went for a trip leaving me alone with john and as it was his routine to send me off to bed with a sweet little peck on my head he did that but this time the peck lasted for longer, the peck turned to kisses and at first I took it lightly but it soon became weird and I was forced to push him off the bed.

“Do not fight me or I will hurt you,” He said as he jumped right back holding me forcefully against my bed, tearing my clothes and having his way inside my pants. I tried to fight him off but his body was much stronger, I tried to scream but I had no strength in me. What had I done to deserve such hostility from a man I had welcomed into my life? This went on for the two weeks my parents were away and every night it happened I lost a part of me I would never get back.

Betrayed, tortured by My own Family…

When Peter came back I gained the courage to tell him but all he did was accuse me of trying to break the family he had built as he slapped me for accusing his brother and suddenly life just changed for me as the men I had learnt to trust and call family betrayed me.

And just when I thought nothing worse could happen one night after John had already entered the room Peter walked in and for a moment there I felt glad because I thought I was safe and he would now believe me. “Haiya bro fanya chap chap ata mimi niskie vle unaskia, (Okay brother, be quick. I want to feel what you feel too )” he said as he quietly locked the door. Confusion blinded me and at that point all i wanted to do is die. Wasn’t it enough that my uncle had caused me so much pain.

Now my dad too not only believed me but wanted to rape me too. I tried screaming for help but they all started laughing in a sarcastic way. “Why are you making noise? No one can save you little brat, your mother is drugged and she is in deep sleep. You thought I was good to you because I loved you? Your so foolish I just wanted to have a piece of You.. After all I don’t like old women,” Peter said as he pushed his brother aside and jumped on the bed.

He tore off the remaining part of my nightdress, holding me against the bed as he tied my hands and legs. I tried screaming, kicking, and even biting but he overpowered me in every way. “I have never known you have so much fun when am not around John, these young bodies are better than the old woman I call my wife, for sure this has now become my daily plot. Let’s go and let her sleep,” He said as he got off of me and walked away. The events of that night haunted me the whole night . I could not sleep all I thought of was to end my life.

Breaking Point, “..Yes, I will cut myself,”

Should I use poison, or drug myself? No! Maybe I should just cut myself and die. Yes, I will cut myself,” I quietly thought as I walked out of my room to get a razor or knife.“Wewe unafanya nini ama unataka round two? (What do you want? Or are you eager for another round)”. A voice that sounded like Peter shouted at me and I quickly rushed back to my bed locking my door and saying a silent prayer that God would keep me safe for that one night.

The following morning my body was in so much pain and I could hardly walk well. I decided to tell my mom about what had been happening without her knowledge as soon as Peter left the house but her response to me broke me more than the torment I experienced at night. “Why are you becoming a liar? How can your dad rape you? Why are you not happy that our family is finally complete? You know what am going to call a pastor for you to deliver you from that lying spirit.” Mom said as she walked away and at that very moment nothing appealed to me more than ending my life.

I went back to my room with a penknife from the kitchen, locked my door and cutting my wrist hoping to join my real father in heaven. Now here I am, at this hospital bed afraid to open my eyes because I don’t want to comeback to my torment, all I hear is my mom crying apologizing for not being there and believing me…Hahhh… But does she think her tears will return everything I have lost. She was not there when I reached out why she cries now anyway, it’s of no use. I can also hear the doctor giving her words of hope of how some sessions with a shrink will renew me… Hamah well I know too well that a shrink doesn’t have a prescription to the hate I feel towards my family… So doctor thank you for saving me from death, tell mom I love her but there is no space for me in this life anymore… I am going to……..