Kenya Culture

Silvano M. Otieno, Kenya's pre-eminent criminal lawyer, fell ill at his home one afternoon last December and by nightfall he was dead, at the age of 55, of heart failure. Mourners awaiting word of the funeral services tuned in the Voice of Kenya the next day and learned that two separate burials had been planned--at different times, in different places. That was the first sign of trouble.

The TV ad couldn't be clearer: A young woman stares lovingly at her young man in a college cafeteria. Another pretty woman with slightly lighter skin saunters by, and the young man teasingly asks his girlfriend how he can tell the woman that she is the "most beautiful girl I have ever seen." His girlfriend is devastated. In chimes a female voice, advising her to use Fair and Lovely, a skin cream that "has special fairness vitamins" and is guaranteed to lighten the complexion in just six weeks.

A fertile oasis nestled in the highlands of western Kenya, Kisii District is a farmer's paradise. Its flourishing countryside boasts seven-foot cornstalks, trees laden with bananas and endless acres of tea plantations. But beneath the tranquil facade, a phenomenon reminiscent of the Salem witch trials in late 17th-Century Massachusetts has plunged the close-knit Gusii tribe into a murderous frenzy.

Leonard Odongo begins each morning bench-pressing 265 pounds of concrete blocks attached to the ends of an iron rod. His hand weights, chest expander and other workout equipment are crafted from metal sticks and stones. Four friends, equally trim and toned, join the muscular 22-year-old in his backyard gym. It doesn't matter what you're using to pump iron, Odongo contends, as long as you're doing it. The key is "to get in shape. People have developed the desire to be fit.

The government annulled a marriage between a 9-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, arranged because his mother needed a servant and the bride's father needed cattle. The parents were ordered jailed last week by Kuria District Commissioner John Egesa, the Kenya News Agency reported. There were no details on the terms of their incarceration. The Ministry of Education is campaigning against early marriages to quell the high dropout rate in Kuria district schools.

For hundreds of years, the Masai people ruled their East African domain as feared warriors and resourceful herdsmen. But today, the threat to their survival can't be repelled by raiding other tribes, moving their cattle to unspoiled ranges or finding abundant food in the wild. Now, the threat is the encroachment of modern civilization. The Masais' ancient territories have been partitioned into park land by the Kenyan government or parceled out to private owners.

When Mary Magdelena Akinyi's husband died, the custom of her Luo ethnic group dictated that she be "inherited" by one of her already married brothers-in-law. Akinyi refused. The 24-year-old former nursery school teacher felt the centuries-old cultural practice robs women of their dignity and independence. But what ultimately led her to reject the tradition was fear of death--either her own or that of relatives--from AIDS.

The TV ad couldn't be clearer: A young woman stares lovingly at her young man in a college cafeteria. Another pretty woman with slightly lighter skin saunters by, and the young man teasingly asks his girlfriend how he can tell the woman that she is the "most beautiful girl I have ever seen." His girlfriend is devastated. In chimes a female voice, advising her to use Fair and Lovely, a skin cream that "has special fairness vitamins" and is guaranteed to lighten the complexion in just six weeks.

Leonard Odongo begins each morning bench-pressing 265 pounds of concrete blocks attached to the ends of an iron rod. His hand weights, chest expander and other workout equipment are crafted from metal sticks and stones. Four friends, equally trim and toned, join the muscular 22-year-old in his backyard gym. It doesn't matter what you're using to pump iron, Odongo contends, as long as you're doing it. The key is "to get in shape. People have developed the desire to be fit.

Kenya's highest court has upheld tribal law over Western life styles and ordered that a prominent lawyer's body be buried by his brother and their clan over the objections of the lawyer's widow. Judge J.O. Nyarangi on Friday ended the five-month legal battle over the remains of Sylvano M. Otieno by dismissing Virginia Wambui Otieno's arguments that she and her husband, who was a member of the Luo tribe, were Christians who lived a Western life style.

U.S. soldiers in jungle fatigues and crew cuts are counseling the counselors who will attend to Kenya's mental and emotional recovery from a terrorist attack that took at least 218 lives here. The members of the Combat Stress Control Team are among the Army medical personnel deployed to Kenya in the aftermath of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy on Friday.

When Mary Magdelena Akinyi's husband died, the custom of her Luo ethnic group dictated that she be "inherited" by one of her already married brothers-in-law. Akinyi refused. The 24-year-old former nursery school teacher felt the centuries-old cultural practice robs women of their dignity and independence. But what ultimately led her to reject the tradition was fear of death--either her own or that of relatives--from AIDS.

Some years ago, I visited Kenya with a small tour group. The first night out of Nairobi, we camped on a dry plateau about 75 miles north of the equator. After dinner, we sat around a fire pestering our guides with questions. Suddenly, out of the darkness came the insistent sound of drums. "What's that?" I asked, foolish images of spears and war paint in my head. "Oh, it's just some Samburu dancing," was the reply.

The government annulled a marriage between a 9-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, arranged because his mother needed a servant and the bride's father needed cattle. The parents were ordered jailed last week by Kuria District Commissioner John Egesa, the Kenya News Agency reported. There were no details on the terms of their incarceration. The Ministry of Education is campaigning against early marriages to quell the high dropout rate in Kuria district schools.

From the broken rocks in the distance a lion roars. A dry breeze stirs across bush land and through flat-topped thorn trees. It is early, before the sun rises and the heat comes to this spectacular, forbidding African landscape. Tall figures move in the dawn light.

A fertile oasis nestled in the highlands of western Kenya, Kisii District is a farmer's paradise. Its flourishing countryside boasts seven-foot cornstalks, trees laden with bananas and endless acres of tea plantations. But beneath the tranquil facade, a phenomenon reminiscent of the Salem witch trials in late 17th-Century Massachusetts has plunged the close-knit Gusii tribe into a murderous frenzy.

From the broken rocks in the distance a lion roars. A dry breeze stirs across bush land and through flat-topped thorn trees. It is early, before the sun rises and the heat comes to this spectacular, forbidding African landscape. Tall figures move in the dawn light.

U.S. soldiers in jungle fatigues and crew cuts are counseling the counselors who will attend to Kenya's mental and emotional recovery from a terrorist attack that took at least 218 lives here. The members of the Combat Stress Control Team are among the Army medical personnel deployed to Kenya in the aftermath of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy on Friday.

For hundreds of years, the Masai people ruled their East African domain as feared warriors and resourceful herdsmen. But today, the threat to their survival can't be repelled by raiding other tribes, moving their cattle to unspoiled ranges or finding abundant food in the wild. Now, the threat is the encroachment of modern civilization. The Masais' ancient territories have been partitioned into park land by the Kenyan government or parceled out to private owners.

THE NIGHT BEFORE, TWO LONG-AWAITED FRIENDS HAD COME FROM England, and there had been no dinner ready for them. On the busy, dirt main street of Maralal, Kenya, in front of the service station where he makes his informal headquarters, Wilfred Thesiger was tormenting himself for this unforgivable breach of hospitality.