Kibera
women sigh with relief after incident-free polls
In many conflicts, women and children
usually bear the brunt of the ensuing violence. In 2007/8, Kibera was one of
the hot-spot that witnessed the worst of post-election violence. This time
around, Muslim women from the area are relieved that things were peaceful
By
Halima Lul Ali
Amina Abdallah,45, is preparing some
samosas for sale at her door in Kibera’s Kambi area. With her grandchild,
Abdulmajid Twaha, next to her it gives a feeling of someone ready to duck any
unwelcomed attention to the safety of the house.
It is easy to understand why if you have
witnessed or heard what happened to her, and many others like her, in the wake
of chaos that followed the disputed general elections of 2007.
Things happened so fast for anyone to
anticipate what would later come to be known as the post-election violence.
Different people were affected by the
violence in different ways. While others lost millions of shillings to
vandalism some lost the only little savings they had to thieves.
Mama Amina was one of those who almost lost
their little businesses in Kibera. She makes and sells snacks to children in
front of her house every day. In 2007, the post-election violence found her
flat-foot with all her belongings exposed to the outside world. That morning,
she says, she did not expect any trouble.
“A group of young rowdy men was coming
towards me shouting and I did not want to wait.” She took off leaving her house
open and her business to the mercy of the rowdy group.
In less than five minutes all her small
business was ruined and her house broken into. The money, Sh3000 hidden in her
house was also stolen. Luckily no one was hurt.
But Mama Habiba, an elderly woman who lives
not far from Mama Amina, was not so lucky.
As the police suppressed the rowdy group
from leaving Kibera, the violence had been brought close to home. Her house is
situated next to the main road and it must have been for this close vicinity
that a tear gas canister lobbed by the police to the crowd landed next to her.
“My eyes were affected and now I have to
wear glasses to see well,” she says.
Also she had been forced to participate in
the chaos at least by showing she supported the groups passing in front of
where she lives. “I would raise my hands up in jubilation to show them to show
my support.”
She has been weaving the traditional Nubian
food covers called Kuta for a living in over 45 years. No sooner had the
violence started than she lost her supply of reeds which were brought from
Ngong area in the outskirts of Nairobi.
For both women it was difficult to buy food
as shops were closed but they had to make use of their imaginations to put food
on the table.
Back to the elections of 2013 and peace
seems to have been given some room. There is this uncertain confidence in the
two women that everything will be fine.
“We are praying for peace and that there
will be no problem to bother us in our neighbourhood,” says Mama Habiba. She
adds that politicians must always take their grievances to the courts, as it is
the case now, rather than for calling people out to the streets.
Mama Amina says: “We should be protective
of whatever little we have by maintaining peace.”
One can feel the relief of mothers in
Kibera that this time the fight for the numbers after the elections will be
fought in courts. Far away from their homes and children.
SOURCE The New Dawn.
