Avaaye nusu uchi ni sharti avuliwe

Kwa mara ya kwanza ninatoa kauli yangu kuhusu lile tukio lililoshuhudiwa maeneo ya Embakasi jijini Nairobi, mnamo siku ya Jumanne.

Kanda kadhaa za video zilinasa genge la wanaume wakishirikiana katika shughuli pevu ya kumvua nguo mwanamke mmoja, kwa madai kwamba mtindo wake wa mavazi ulikosa maadili katikati mwa jiji. Kanda hizo zimekuwa zikizagaa mitandaoni hasa ile ya kijamii kama vile Facebook, Twitter, na katika hifadhi ya video ya YouTube; Hata mimi nikajipatia nakala yangu.

Mengi yamesemwa kuhusu kitendo hicho, huku wengi wakionekana kuegemea upande wa muathiriwa huyo, wakiwashtumu vikali wahusika waliomvua nguo. Swadakta. Hata mimi ningepagawa iwapo jambo hilo lingemtukia mke wangu, mchumba au mpendwa yeyote wa karibu. Aibu iliyoje? Si vyema.

Hata hivyo, upanga wangu ni mkali, upatao kuwili. Hebu tuangazie eneo la tukio. Ni Nairobi, mji mkuu wa Kenya, nchi ambayo imejikita katika mizizi ya tamaduni za kiafrika na hilo si la kupingwa.

Hebu niwaulize wale wanaoshikilia msimamo kwamba wale waliotekeleza kitendo hicho walikosea na wanapaswa kushtakiwa. Je, huyo kipusa hakukosea alipotoka nyumbani kwake akijua amevalia nguo zilizoanza kuchelewa na kuisha mapema?

Najua mabaya mawili hayazai sahihi, lakini wakati wote enyi wasichana muwe makini kimavazi. Mjue kwamba mnapotembea katikati ya wanaume, kunao wasiosumbuka na wengine wenye mioyo dhaifu. Si vyema mwenzako kumpandishia hisia na baadaye hutamsaidia.

Namalizia kwa kuwapongeza sana wale wote waliojitolea kumsaidia mwanamke huyo, aliyekuwa amejiweka nusu uchi lakini kwa ushirikiano wao wakamfanya awe uchi kikamilifu. Hiyo ndiyo adhabu mwafaka impasayo mwanamke yeyote atakayevaa mavazi yasiyomsitiri hadharani. Tafadhalini wenzangu popote mlipo, nawarai tena kwa moyo mkunjufu, mkiona mwanamke mwengine kama huyo mvueni kabisa, msisaze hata chupi!

First years top in campus pregnancies

In almost all faculties of Moi University's main campus, current first year groups seem to lead in the number of pregnancy cases compared to their senior counter-parts.

This comes as a surprise because in the recent years, those joining public universities are generally perceived as being one year younger than those who joined in 2011 and before.

Before 2012, a students would stay for over 20 months after KCSE, waiting to join campus. This, in my opinion, gave them a chance to learn one or two things about the world. By the time such students began their final phase of the 8-4-4 education system, they were already mature as well as able to think and act like adults.

Today, this is no longer the case. Candidates complete their secondary education and immediately proceed to higher education, just the following year. This, according to me, is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to them.

In Moi University for instance, there is always a clear distinction between first years and the seniors. In the funny way they behave; walking in groups as if heading to a Physics contest, laughing and getting surprised at everything, bouncing along the paths as if trying to scare form ones; one finds no difficulty in identifying them, the former form fours.

Like in most campuses, first year female students are always the main target for senior male students. Their naivety always betrays them.

As innocent as they are, one thing leads to another, ending up yelling loudly inside rooms of senior male hostels, with no one willing to show up to their rescue. A few weeks later, resultant fruits begin to mould- pregnancy! The consequence of early exposure to maximum freedom.

What then can be done to rescue the situation? Public universities should incorporate 'funny' programs like sex education, guidance and counseling that help such young girls learn how to say no. This will in turn assist them to avoid a situation where a lady acquires two degrees at ago- one in her head, the other in her stomach!

Student complains about delayed kidney treatment

Patience Kaingu, a form one student at Sokoke Victory High School – Cassava, blames her parents for her having to endure kidney pains for about four years now, without any medical attention.

She explains the problem that has, for a long time, deprived her of happiness and subsequently affected her studies. According to her, she started experiencing chest pains early 2010 when she was in primary school. Her mother took her to hospital but the treatment she received could not solve the problem.

“I was taken to Kilifi District Hospital because of the chest pains where I was given some drugs that made me get better for about one week before the pains started again. I have never gone back to the hospital since then,” narrates the 16 year old girl.

The situation changed from bad to worse in mid 2010 when her kidneys too started aching, as Patience recalls.

“I then started experiencing similar pains in the kidneys. It began with one kidney but now both of them have been affected. The pains often get serious from time to time and when it so happens, I hardly go for a short call. Sometimes I find it difficult to walk or even stand upright. I normally suffer.”

Despite her situation sounding so serious, very little has been done in terms of getting it treated, especially the kidney problem whose medical history according to her only consists of buying pain killers from a chemistry at Kakanjuni Trading Centre earlier this year.

Patience’s lamentations clearly seem to point a blaming finger to her parents for delaying her treatment. She is afraid that further delays may result into more serious complications and therefore calls for help in order to undergo treatment soon.

“I usually remind my parents about my problem and the need for treatment but they always claim that they are still in the process of looking for money,” says the aspiring surgeon.

Speaking to Ebenezer News Online through a telephone call on Thursday 9^th October, Patience’s mother Mrs. Dama Wanje confirmed her daughter’s ill situation. According to her, she has once thought about an X-ray for her daughter but due to lack of money, the plan could not be implemented.

Social media and tribal hatred

Social media provides interactive forums whose aim is to bring people together in the cloud mainly for the purpose of sharing common interests. Apart from connecting two people like a telephone call would do, the social media allows more than two individuals to exchange messages and other contents in real time.

In Facebook for instance, one can create a group in which others can join, see what is happening inside and participate in its activities. Pages also exist which, after liking, one is able to see and follow every post made by the page. Facebook therefore is a typical example of a social forum whose millions of users enjoy the privilege of ‘seeing’ each other in the cloud as if no distance exists between or amongst them.

However, not all people use social forums in a positive way. There are some users who are out there to advocate for hatred between individuals or groups. The interactive provision offered by social media, if soberly used, would promote national unity and foster cohesion among people of different backgrounds. On the other hand, the power of the same forums when carelessly used can completely divide a people.

You have probably seen a controversial news article posted on Facebook by one of the media houses in Kenya, about a certain politician from a particular tribe. The comments that usually follow afterwards are enough to tell that tribal hatred exist in our country. Insults, abusive comments and replies from heaters of another tribe will thread, either against the politician or any other person whose comment appears to support him/her.

Unlike in the websites of mainstream media, where a comment to a story is reviewed by the organization before being approved or disapproved, comments in most social media are free flowing, regardless of their nature and message they carry.

For this reason, one who claims that social media promotes tribal cohesion is right and the other person who says that media promotes tribal division is also right.

Digital manipulation of football photos

Digital manipulation of images is widely used in the field of sports, particularly football. With the advent of new media and digital technologies, people across the world use software and applications to create, modify or change images in order to suit their own needs.

In football, this concept is used to exaggerate facts relating to things that take place in the field. Being one of the most interesting sporting events, football has a diversity of fans across the world, segmented by virtue of the football teams or clubs they support. There are several famous cases where fans have manipulated images in order to communicate the original message with more emphasis.

Flying Van Persie

Actual Van Persie flying header

In the recently concluded 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Robin Van Persie, captain of the Netherlands team scored a wonder goal when he converted Wesley Sneijder’s long cross with a header past Spain goalkeeper. It was his opening goal of the tournament as the Manchester United striker helped his team thrush the defending champions 5-1.

Funny: Modified Van Persie header

Just some moments after the match, several manipulated images of the scene started circulation in social media, where the Dutch man appeared to have wings as he flies with the ball. The addition of wings was meant to exaggerate the manner in which the goal was scored, in an almost impossible way.

Funny: Van Persie in the sky

Other photos were showing Van Persie in the sky, in the middle of some angels. The fans were just trying to show how the goal scorer’s dive could only be compared with an angel.

Van Persie’s goal was listed among the top three goals of the tournament, together with James Rodriguez's volley for Colombia against Uruguay and Tim Cahill's stunning strike against the Netherlands for Australia.

Ramos penalty ball

In the 2011/2012 UEFA Champions League season, Spanish club Real Madrid met Germany side Bayern Munich in the semi finals on 25^th April, 2012. Until the end of the second leg, the aggregate score was 3-3 and so the match went into penalty shootout.

Ramos penalty miss

It is that moment when the phrase “Ramos penalty ball” originated and dominated the social media alongside some funny photos. Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid defender was among the five selected to take the penalties and due to bad luck, he lifted the ball wide above the goal post. Bayern eventually won 3-1 and proceeded to the final where they lost to England side Chelsea.

Funny: Ramos ball in space

The scene was captured and immediately manipulated into various funny images. One of the photos was showing how far the ball reached and according to the designer, the ball flew to space and was spotted among the planets, revolving around the sun.

Funny: Impact of Ramos ball return

The following day, a photo in the social media was showing the impact of the penalty ball when it returned. The ball landed on someone’s house, broke the window and dipped into a plate of food on a table, splashing the contents onto the face and clothes of the owner.

Funny: Impact of Ramos ball return

There was yet another funny one in the morning, which was accompanied with a headline, “Sergio Ramos penalty ball finally lands.” The ball landed violently onto a moving car in the streets and the car could not withstand the pressure. It broke down!

All these were trying to exaggerate on the strength of the penalty kick and the fact that the ball flew far above the goal post.

The biting Suarez

Luis Suarez is a Uruguayan striker who recently joined Barcelona from Liverpool. He has always been in the headlines for his habit of biting opponents in the field. This has earned him nick-names such as The Biting Suarez, Vampire, Cannibal, Dracula and many others. 

Actual Suarez bite on Ivanovic

On 22^nd April 2013, Suarez bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on his arm towards the end of a Premier League match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was his second bite of his career after biting Ottman Bakkal of PSV when he was still playing for Ajax in 2010.

Modified Suarez bite on Ivanovic

After the 2013 incident, several photos began to circulate, with exaggerated effect where Ivanovic appeared to bleed profusely as a result of the bite.

Actual Suarez bite on Chiellini

Again in the 2014 World Cup, Suarez appeared to bite Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder in a match where Uruguay won 1-0. This was the peak of the matter.

Modified Suarez bite on Chiellini

The image of the scene was manipulated as to show three huge marks on Chiellini’s shoulder, suggesting that Suarez had deeply sunk his teeth, causing his opponent to bleed.

Funny: Suarez biting philosophy

Several other photos followed, showing Suarez’s biting philosophy, “If you can’t beat them, just eat them!”

Funny: Suarez biting prize

Another photo appeared after the tournament, with Suarez holding a trophy of the best bite of the year!