Poverty, Not Culture, Is The Key Driver Of HIV/AIDS In Turkana

Any move to highlight the plight of communities shouldering the burden of HIV/AIDS and/or any other challenge is highly appreciated and encouraged. This, in my view, informs the role of the media in informing and educating the people on matters of public interest and/or anything that has monumental impact - negative or otherwise - on the lives of the people. 

Notwithstanding the underlying benefits, such reporting must always be guided by fidelity to facts and the need to prevail upon - and vanquish - any sensationalist motive. 

The question thus shoots up: For what benefit will a sensational, off-the-mark, non-factual reporting be to the suffering masses if not to inflict more pain and condemnation on them? 

I write this to set the record straight. Culture (polygamy or "wife/husband-swapping"), as the media has put it, is not wholly to blame for HIV/AIDS prevalence in Turkana. The real big drivers of this virus are poverty and ignorance. 

For the record, this is not to negate the contribution of culture in propagation of the disease. Instead, it is to enrich our discourse with a view to discovering other "buried" factors that do not pass the test of "catchy news". 

To do this, in my opinion, is the way to go if our driving force is to shine light into the lives and minds of our rural, remote, information-thirsty communities. 

According to a 2014 publication titled "Pulling Apart: Facts and Figures On Inequality In Kenya", by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in collaboration with Society for International Development (SID)- East Africa, poverty among other factors has contributed heavily to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Turkana.

Let’s explain. Development is concentrated around urban centers along the Kitale-Lodwar-Juba highway. This, as a result, has pulled many hitherto nomadic communities to towns. Faced with economic uncertainties, many of them, majority being women resort to prostitution and illicit brewing to earn a living. It is here that HIV strikes.

Closely linked to this urban migration is the rise of sex-opportunists. These are people whose major objective is to profit from the naivety and desperation of the poor, illiterate, rural women trooping to urban centers to earn a living. They hoodwink them with a promise of marriage and/or financial support only to escape the moment their sexual-thirst is quenched. 

This, as we speak, is fueled by the discovery of mineral resources (oil economy in Lokichar and neighbouring areas) and the movement of people along these highway towns. You see, there is a booming sex-business around these oil wells!

The report points out that more than 80% of folks in this part are either illiterate or partially literate. Again, women are the majority. This has negatively impacted on public health awareness hence the high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.

Due to the insecurity in the region, women-headed households are on the rise. To cushion themselves from economic shocks most of these women resort to desperate measures such as prostitution. This, again, renders them easy prey to sex-opportunists.

There is a total disconnect between people in urban, easily accessible areas in Turkana and those in the remote outposts. Guys in towns have at least some knowledge on the existence and dangers of sexually transmitted infections as opposed to their colleagues in rural areas. Health facilities are hardly found in rural areas. 

This draws one to this solid assumption: That health awareness is skewed in favour of people in urban centers. Medical care is also linked to distance viz-a-viz health facilities.

Due to stigma, many rural folk deny their HIV status to "save face and win acceptance in the society". A condition that offers a fertile ground for the silent spread of the virus.

Many families hide their own to "protect the family's respect" in the community. This, the report says, is as a result of lack of robust and steady awareness campaigns targeting our remote brothers and sisters. The ripple effect of this? More infections. More deaths. 

So what is the way forward? Some points come to mind. Economic empowerment of our rural women must be our number one priority. We need to offload the burden these people carry by reaching out to women groups and training them. 

The Informal Sector Business Institutes/Schools (ISBIs) targeting our illiterate jobless women and youth come in handy. These people can make good house cleaners, gardeners, artisans, foresters...etc. They are capable of fending for themselves if trained. Let's teach them. 

An economically-strong rural population is the joy of everybody - especially the "urbanites" who may think rural problems end just there!

It is time we dropped our skewed urban-centric interventions concerning public awareness. Failure to take health care campaigns to these rural Kenyans is danger to all of us. And we can't leave the situation to get out of hand for us to intervene. We must pull the stinger now and get these people on board.

Finally, our media chaps must learn the act. To commodify a people is nothing else other than the escapism espoused in the many half-baked exposés about the plight of Kenyans. They must dig deep and get their facts right. 

To sensationalise a story for the sake of making it “catchy and news-worthy” is to miss the point. It is no different from spitting on the face of the suffering information-thirsty rural population of this great nation. 

Yes, HIV/AIDS prevalence is high in Turkana County; but culture isn't wholly the culprit. There is more to this.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. Twitter:  @mlemukol.  E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com. 

RIP DADDY, YOU STILL LIVE IN US.

I can't accept. My mind. My body. My soul. Are all bundled together as if to seek reassurance from one another on the true "news" about your untimely departure to the high heavens. I still remember your face. Your whispers. Your many stories about others; yes, about uplifting others - are still alive in us.

I still recall us sitting down - discussing, revisiting histories, jotting down your many points, rewriting your rough notes and piecing together what could turn out to be your final submissions to village meetings and to politicos who knew nothing about the genesis of those ideas.

I remember your hearty laughter. Your twisted, mind-piercing questions. I must say. I must admit. You did a good job. Oh, you did the best job. You made sure we grew up with powerful brains. Brains that see. Brains that walk. Brains that build. Brains that work.

What else can I say? I must overcome living in denial. I must accept that you've gone to live with the Almighty Father. The giver and taker of life. It is painful truism. But we must live with it. You are no more. You breathed your last.

But something strikes me. That your spirit is not dead. It is here with us. That your many fruitful seeds are still in abundance; multiplying and multiplying day by day. Personified in your children and children's children.

I know mum, that indefatigable half of you, will jump in defense of this: That your place in the family - and society - is irreplaceable. You still stand tall for many many days, many many years to come.

You shepherded us to the high grounds of joy. You ingrained in us the working spirit. 

Daddy, I cry when I recall that you are gone. That I won't hear your voice. That your reassuring face will remain a mirage - a hidden treasure six-feet under!

What painful experience is this? It is painful that you have gone before seeing my wife, my children, your "other" family. I could imagine the thoughts in your mind. 

But what can I do? Do I have any powers to curse the Good Lord for giving you rest? Do I possess any powers to prolong your days?

I accept. I am powerless. A mere mortal. A headless creature. I am nothing without Him that gives and takes life.

But one thing is true and strong. I will carry on with your many thoughts, meditations, plans and actions. You still remain alive in us.

Rest in peace daddy and continue rising up in us everyday!

THERE IS MORE TO MATERNAL DEATHS THAN MEDICS, HEALTH FACILITIES

Considerable amount of energy has been spewed in the quest to seek solutions and put a complete closure to the cries, lamentations and challenges of our mothers and infants in rural outposts of this country. 

Many studies have been conducted. Billions of dollars poured. Traditional birth attendants trained. And many other noble interventions put in place. But the gloomy face of maternal and infant deaths still stares at us. Undeterred. Unchanged. Unmoved. 

The painful episode of burying - and forgetting - under-fours has refused to die and leave our rural folk. The questions thus pop up: Where do we go after here? Where did we go wrong?

The tipping point is here. We took the wrong route. We failed to contextualize the hearty causes of maternal and infant deaths in rural outposts. We transplanted the so-called "best practices" in urban areas to our rural folk. This is where the rain began to beat us.

Some quick observations. Though lack of medical practitioners and/or distant and far apart health facilities contribute significantly to birth-related deaths, many other "undocumented practices" pose a great risk in negating efforts and reversing the positive strides made in addressing maternal health in the remote corners of this nation.

First: Many rural women engage in sex at an early age to "feel modern and close to those in urban centers". For this group, sex - protected or otherwise - is a powerful tool to link up with others of "superior status". This, my people, is the prime culprit causing unwanted pregnancies and by extension birth-related complications.

Second: Poverty among our rural brothers and sisters remains a great catalyst of child marriages. Families "sell" their daughters in order to put food on the table.

Third: Arrogance on the part of nurses and other health workers plays a great part in pushing mothers to the hands of unskilled traditional birth attendants. 

Fourth: Creativity is highly needed to reverse this trend. We must admit that normative approaches have failed to scale down maternal deaths in favour of our mothers and babies. It's time we thought harder with a view to bringing hope to these people.

Fifth: We have pushed men to the corner. We have reduced them to mere spectators on issues touching their families – their wives and children.

Some thoughts are here. Men hold the key to unlocking this obstacle. On matters children and family sizes, they are law personified. Bypassing them plays against the interests of women and infants. They are thirsty of awareness. And to rope them in, we must educate them on the need to free their women to visit health facilities.

Traditional birth attendants save more lives than medics down there. Recognition is key. They deserve respect. The trust they command cannot be wished away by some distant scholarly arrogance. We must be ready to sit down with them. Listen to what they say. And use them to reach out to pregnant mothers in their neighborhoods. This is the ladder we must all climb to save our rural mothers.

There is need to economically empower our women. To run away from this is to turn our mothers and sisters into objects. It is akin to granting them permission to use "other means" to survive. Economic power is the answer that poor family needs to save its innocent daughter from the bondage of early marriage.

With economic empowerment come healthy, well-fed women. A guaranteed income for a poor, rural family is a guaranteed life. We owe these guys an explanation for not addressing these fundamental aspects that touch their very foundations - the central pillar of their existence.

The forces of poverty and despair can only be quashed by a comprehensive all-inclusive approach that recognizes the central position of women in powering rural economies. Build markets for them. Train them. Give them capital.

Only through this shall we restore hope and dignity to the people. The bitter truth is that we have more mountains to climb to uplift our women. Let the move begin.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. Twitter:  @mlemukol.  E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  

FORGET GUNS; WATER IS THE STABILISING FACTOR UP NORTH

We must begin from where we must begin. I have in the last few days received a number of interesting questions - and commentaries on what ought to be done to foster long-lasting peace up north - that remote Kenya's wild north we commonly refer to as Northern Frontier Districts.

Keen observers of this segment of our nation will agree that there is a greater need to interrogate its dicey peace initiatives with a view to putting in place a constructive roadmap that will ensure peace and tranquility get a permanent footing in the hearts and minds of communities - and leaders.

A quick look into the past lays bare the ineffectiveness of gun-culture or the use of brute force and dependency on boots and bullets to restore some semblance of peace and order up north. Remember, it is fifty-plus years of independence and we still see no results. 

Bloodletting still continues. Poverty is inflicting permanent, painful blows on the people. The political-social-economic links are disappearing. See, communities are in the middle of nowhere. Disillusioned. Hopeless. And with blurred future.

The light is here though: no more use of guns will soften the hearts and stifle the fingers of trigger-happy tribal militias in their never-ending killing spree in the wild north. We must explore other routes to  contain this.

There is need to rethink, question, panel-beat and even discard some of these old fruitless interventions for the sons and daughters of northern Kenya to laugh and dance together. 

And here is the message; water is the stabilising factor up north. It is the life-blood. It is the root-cause of all happiness or sorrow for its people. 

People die. People get displaced. Check, for one solid reason: to get access to this vital resource. It is scarce and only those with muscles can comfortably "own" it.

Which brings us to center of our pool. Isn't it chimerically defective to believe that guns and bullets will be muted by opening more poorly-staffed police stations without addressing the underlying cancer that is the scramble for scarce water resources?

Look at this. Ask the Pokots and the Turkanas and the message will pop up; water scarcity is the cause of their primitive bloodbath. Move further north to the famous Baragoi's "valley of death" and still the line strikes again; water is the issue. Take a tour of Marsabit and the song is repeated; water scarcity is the cancer. 

People want water. They know their peace and that of Kenya is inseparable from the ever-flowing cool streams of water that still remain a distant dream - a mirage.

This is a water-petition directed to the governors and politicos of these outlying counties. It is a show of trust that there is still room to make amends and chart a new way forward. That of abundance of water and happiness. 

It is a message of the people, for the people, to the people’s representatives.

Apart from silencing the cacophony of AK-47s, water has that mystical power to retain a people in one place and lead to what we all know as urbanisation. Urbanisation is definitely a plus for a people who have never had the privilege of “enjoying” services like schooling and health – in one place. Isn’t this what is highly missing up there?

Again, over-reliance on relief food and government livestock off-take interventions is largely as a result of water shortage. Irrigation therefore, comes in handy. A shift to agriculture is no more an option but the only way to adopt.

Some good examples come to mind. Morocco’s dam policy of 1960s is credited for the transformation of the country’s economy to a successful all-inclusive agriculture-based one.

You see, these brothers across the Sahara decimated hunger and famine forty-years ago!

Is this the time for these outlying resource-rich but poor counties to make grand steps forward and put premium on the positive social-political-economical transformation attached to water? Are NFD Governors ready to pull together and put a closure to hunger-deaths and water-related conflicts?

Remember water is the way, the life and peace. Build dams NOW!

Lemukol Ng’asike is an Architect. Twitter: @mlemukol. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com .

OF 'FORESKIN POLITICS' AND THE QUEST FOR TRUE KENYANNESS

Turkana Traditional Dance

Welcome to Kenya's 'foreskin politics', cultural diversity and the quest for a unifying body of believes.

I have in so many occasions listened to - and seen people - discussing and seeking to establish the links between circumcision (for men) and how this impacts and/or elevates a man to a superior being in all human dimensions and respects.

A good number of these "debates" normally end up with one solid but lopsided conclusion: that intelligence and leadership is tied to foreskin. That presence of foreskin "reduces a man's capability to lead".

And more recently, we have seen cases where leaders come out forcefully - in public forums - to lend support to this assertion. As a result, we have a new guiding philosophy in the land. The philosophy of "foreskin politics". The belief in the "nakedness" of a man’s “manness”. It is slowly gaining ground, knocking the forces of reason on its way up. Will it succeed? Let’s dig deep.

The truthfulness of this thinking rests eternally challenged. I have several reasons to drive my point home.

Removal, or otherwise, of foreskin is grounded on a people's way of life. This is what we commonly refer to as culture or the practices of those who came before us. 

Cultures are as diverse and broad as the people. It is simply an outer marking of what a group of people believes in, stands for and elevates as the "only way". It is not limitless. It is subject to the people who "possess" it. For others, this is just but a passing cloud with no significance or bearing on them. Its application only revolves around the possessing group of people.

This opens the way to the second stone. How can we reconcile all these diverse ways of the people? The lawyers would prescribe this as a case that calls for the rule of law. A sort of an invisible bridge that connects our cultural extremes and create a common ground above all our personal, communal, religious or tribal inclinations.

But I tend to drift away from this. I think humans as beings of reason, have a permanent answer to this question. The answer is inseparable from them. We hold the key!

It is simple. Respect for ones culture is a precondition for respecting cultures and ways of others irrespective of how different and "bad" they may look like. This is how cross-cultural links are established and developed. 

The opposite of this is a product of cultural-tribal bigotry that finds solace in cornering and badmouthing the ways of lives of others. Cultural superiority breeds social inferiority. Its end result is tragic. It is a pointer to a fractured society whose foundation is anchored on quick sand. It is spiced with hatred.

Again, I am yet to read any scientific material affirming (or in any way justifying) the link between intelligence and leadership credentials to circumcised men. 

To start with, the markings, protrusions or the size of our bodies do not in any way reflect the intelligence we possess. Intelligence is, above all things, man's capacity to create links with fellow humans with a view to fostering co-operation for inclusive discourse and development.

The opposite of this is barbarism. Barbarism is premised on blind norms and practices that seek to define others as bad and not up to the "accepted level". It prides itself as the best, the only one... that all people must follow without question. And foreskin politics is one of the many manifestations of barbarism.

I am afraid the proponents of this stand might be the first people to oppose any suggestion to "inspect men's trousers to ascertain their foreskin status." 

Ring-fenced and housed under one roof, it is evident that the forty-two plus communities calling Kenya home cannot hold together if we resort to imposing on each other what we think is better and acceptable to us.

To do this is to transform Kenya into a barbaric and intolerant enclave in a land mass that respects cultural diversity and heritage. It is akin to killing the soul of a nation and still expect its people to live in harmony with each other. It is farcical.

How easy and quick can one break up the fabric of a people if it is not by tearing into the very principles and believes they hold dear? It takes a loose-tongued, empty-headed fellow to set the nation aflame.

The quest for true Kenyanness should, in my opinion, be centered on the need to appreciate others and respect their identity, believes and customs. To achieve this, we must be ready to quarantine and permanently isolate the propagators of foreskin politics. After all, we are the ones to receive the shock of its existence and growth. The choice is ours.

Lemukol Ng’asike is an Architect. Twitter: @mlemukol. Email: lemoseh89@gmail.com

TELLINGLY, VILIFYING DOCTORS SMACKS OF RULING ELITE'S CARELESSNESS

Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

Definitely a working nation should be graded by looking at, and examining the manner in which it treats the sick, especially the poor, and those who devote their lives and expertise to take care of them. 

The Kenyan health care experiment offers us a platform to unmask the complexities in how we relate, as a nation, and respond to the needs and cries of the collectives. The lamentations of the poor can be summarized in two categories.

First, our interaction with the poor and/or those close to them has come to be associated in many Kenyan minds with that brand of cheap, demagogic and outmoded gesture which our leaders display with  total absence of any critical reflection and self-examination when they declare to us, the masses, 'that we are together and sailing in the same boat.' 

They correctly tell us that the time has come when we must assume responsibility for our problems and seek and model ways through which we can deflect the temptation to blame other people for our wrongdoings. Ironically, this is far from them. 

For them responsibility only exists ‘out there’. To subject them to this is akin to reducing their stature and sinking their careers.

Unfortunately, this has metamorphosized into a national philosophy of 'deny and pass it to the next in line. Never stand and take the bullet.'

But the message is loud and clear: our aspirations of becoming a strong, democratic and people-centric nation cannot be premised on this lopsided philosophy. We must change or else change will change us.

Secondly, it must sink in our minds that the forces of and the buildup of frustration of those we willfully and falsely think are powerless and incapable of effecting real transformation will, at the end of the day, determine the future of our nation.

For no happiness shall reign if the wider majority are frustrated and treated like objects - and not true children - of this great nation.

Nothing demonstrates this more than the manner in which we think of and deal with our health care workers. We have seen cases where government top functionaries disregard some simple logic and understanding of the dynamics of the people. Instead of responding to the legitimate demands of health practitioners, they have resorted to issuing threats and inciting the public against these noble and selfless servants of the poor.

This attitude and action fit well in Paulo Freire's (in his book ‘The Pedagogy Of Oppressed’) description of a true transformation of the people. He asserts, "Revolutionary praxis must stand opposed to the praxis of the dominant elites, for they are by nature antithetical. Revolutionary praxis cannot tolerate the absurd dichotomy in which the praxis of the people is merely that of following the decisions of the leaders - a dichotomy reflecting the prescriptive methods of dominant elites."

We may succeed, in the short-term, to set the public against doctors but it must be remembered that the collective power of the same public knows no direction. It will definitely strike back and seek answers for the underlying questions impeding its collective growth and happiness.

But the good message is rightly embodied in this collective power of the people, and especially when exercised directly. It is what we need as a nation to institutionalize the basic tenets of governance: Listening and providing solutions to challenges afflicting the public. Not running away from the people.

Surely, health-care workers have a reason to demand for better pay and working conditions. Their dedication stands tall to explain the far they have reached to offer services in a system as pervasive and life-threatening as Kenya's health system. 

How else can we reward their good work than listening to their pleas, (of course with a view to offering solutions), and improving the conditions of our hospitals?

To believe that public hospitals are only for those with 'no means' to pay for private services smacks of carelessness and poor reading of history. You can run away from public hospitals and seek refuge in privately-owned ones but you cannot hide from the cries and frustrations of those in your neighborhood frequenting to and depending on public utilities.

Reactionary moves are no more than a demonstration of how shallow we reflect and look at things.

Where on earth can one intimidate health workers? Do we really decipher what it takes to have a single well-trained doctor? 

With such attitude we risk training and investing in our doctors for other forward-thinking people to come for them. Brain-drain is first nurtured by how we treat our professionals.

We must rethink our strategies. Don’t vilify the doctors, heed their calls and save the poor.

A sick nation is that which rubbishes the calls of its workers. It is time we changed this for tangible inclusiveness to be felt by all.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. Twitter:  @mlemukol.  Email:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  

YOU SEE, THERE IS POWER IN YOUTH AND WOMEN!

In the course of my writings I have interacted with a number of folks. Different types, you see. Some blessed and talented in their own right. And still, others tormented and gobbled by their own worries.

I have repeatedly talked to - and about-  women and youth and got to know their inner feelings and what they want - as a priority - be addressed. These meetings, so to say, have left me a troubled (in its positive sense) man. 

Surely, I must state that these encounters have left me burdened with thoughts, reflections and feelings of hope. I have come to appreciate the greatness of the power of listening. Coming with a mindset that is fixated with negativity and inefficiencies, I must say witnessing the great works of our women and youth would be a recommended chore for all of us. 

Take these chaps, for instance. I am going to take you through a journey and travails of Northlink Productions (NLP). NLP is a Turkana based, youth-driven film group that seeks to bring to light the sweet stories of nomadic communities. 

The crux of their works is simple: they want to make known the 'sweet' untold stories up north through film. They want to make you part of these hitherto isolated communities and rejoice, dance and laugh with them. Theirs is a complete shift from the past.

Look at these:

VIDEOS: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hChCS-iDQTE&index=4&list=UUEvh3FXDm7g165R2F0h_Ftg 

Is there a way of reaching out to these talents and get the best out of them? Methinks yes. Answers are out there with the people. Just listen to them. 

Long live the works of our women and youth!

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. Twitter: @mlemukol. Email: lemoseh89@gmail.com