Waaringa

On Wednesday,10th June 2015,Kenyan media ran a story of a woman , who had been arrested after assaulting  her husband and chopping off his penis. After the usual outrage,social media has been awash with funny memes on the matter. I have to admit,I chuckled at some of them. Of which I ought to be ashamed. A lot of work has been done around violence against women and Kenyans generally have been sensitized on how to respond to the female survivors of violence. In fact,most of us sympathize with the woman and where possible,we offer assistance,comfort and reassurance. Which is in sharp contrast to our response to male survivors of violence. After our shortlived shock and outrage,we start joking about it. Most of us,since we are a patriachal society,cannot fathom how a man can be violated. We rationalise that it must be  his fault and wonder out loud  what he did to provoke such an act. We then laugh and  forward the numerous jokes of the defence classes,male chastity belts and

One of my favourite compliments is'you have exceptional courage' My friend Neha told me this last year.I floated on it for  weeks. Exceptional courage. This last week I have been feeling anything but. After a number failed  expectations,I was crushed and was in this deep dark, dragging me down funk. My mind was replaying videos of my failures while listening to the don't deserve tracks. And try as I might,I felt paralysed. I despaired,cursed myself and the world. My conversations with God were riddled with  accusations laced with disappointment. Then I remembered I'm perceived to  have exceptional courage. And decided to give it a try. I don't know what it entails but I will be brave,for myself. Slay these demons  that are threatening to tear me apart. So help me God.