‘Maandamano’ is the closest I have come to a conflict situation

I was caught up in one of the anti-government protests against the high cost of living. I should have ideally worked from home on that Thursday, but there was something critical I needed, so I opted to go to the office. It turned out demonstrations happened on my side of town that day and so many routes were blocked.

However, because I have not been in a demonstration or similar fracas in my life, I thought all I would have to do was let the protesters and riot police see I meant no harm and they’d let me pass. Plus, I left the office early and so there'd be nothing to worry about, right? Wrong.

I got concerned when my two older sisters started calling me incessantly. “Why didn’t you work from home today?” the harsher of the two said when she asked where I was and I said Mombasa Road, on my way home.

The other one called and described an alternative route. She said I couldn’t use my usual bus stop. Honestly? I did not understand her directions. Mostly because the gravity of what was going on had not registered in my brain. I realised things were grave when the driver stopped about a kilometre away from the actual stage and ordered everyone to alight. In the usual Kenya fashion, he shouted: “Mwisho!”

Young men

I came face to face with youth holding stones and catapults and pelting stones at the police. Tear gas rent the air, and the sound of bullets every now and then almost brought my heartbeat to a complete stop. I became cast in a show I did not like. I was vulnerable to thugs – all my valuables were at risk. As several of us huddled together and tried to find our way home, I felt so much fear. I was scared of the groups of young men, some shirtless and others with wet clothes as they chanted and threatened us on our way home.

That is the closest I have come to a conflict situation, and guys, I do not want to come any closer.

The latest war in Sudan has already claimed over 180 lives, leaving 1,800 people critically injured, according to reports by the United Nations, at the time of writing this article.

The war, which started on April 15, is said to have been caused by a clash between Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary unit, and the country’s military.

Armed conflict, civil wars, and military uprisings, unfortunately, miscolour the history of many countries in Africa. And yet, this is something we still cannot say we have put behind us. I remember sitting down with someone from Sudan a while ago.

I am always curious about how Kenya looks through the eyes of outsiders, and so I asked him a question I ask non-Kenyans I meet often. What his perception of the country and its people is. And his response included words like “peaceful” and “haven”.

Shattered economies

“In this country, there is a guarantee that children will go to school from the start to the end of a school term. But because it’s normal for you guys, you do not even notice how lucky you are. Kenya is a peaceful haven in the region – managing to maintain peace despite being surrounded by neighbours in conflict.”

This reminded me of the books I have read about civil wars and their consequences: Children being separated from their families, women being abused sexually and physically, economies being shattered, the rise of child soldiers, displacement of people and political systems and countries, and deaths and permanent disabilities. There is often no telling what the final spoils of war will look like.

Like me, many of us have not experienced war. We have grown up in sheltered environments, and the closest to a war we have seen is in an action movie or TV report.

We, therefore, take the ability to go to work, hang out with friends, and go shopping for granted. After my experience with the protests and reading about the reverberations of bullets in Khartoum, my plea is: Let us not play with fire.

The writer is the research editor at NMG ([email protected]).