A ROSE AND A NIGHT

Two weeks ago, I was called to our upcounrty home in Kitale to intervene in one of the most diabolic conflicts I have ever handled. My younger brother Maurice had impregnated a neighbour's daughter, and to everyone's perplexity, the girl had given birth to twins, and the two twins were slated for murder by annihilation and mutilation in accordance with our Bukusu customs, which have it that if a girl gives birth to first borns and they turn out to be twins, it is an abomination and therefore the twins are to be annihilated and mutilated and their bodies thrown away in the forest or river. These particular twins were special in every way; their mother, finding them so beautiful, had gone into exile two weeks after their birth, and had remained in exile for three years. From exile she had come straight to our home with the two bouncing girls. My father, on seeing them had ordered the girl and her children to stay out of the homestead until a meeting involving the parents and village elders was held and the matter dealt with according to our customs.

That is when my brother and the girl managed to get a chance to call me, informing me that the meeting would be the following day. The poor girl and her two children were accommodated in our neighbour's house for the night. It is believed that if the twins are allowed to live, one of their grandparents would die. The bitter alternative to the this inextricable predicament is that one of the twins must be killed while the other be allowed to live. If they are both allowed to live, then one of the boy's parents dies. I found myself in the midst of this obviously diabolic puzzle. No easy way out. I looked at the two innocent kids, playing peacefully in the sunny blissful dusk. They were quite oblivious of the fact that their parents' uncouth customs had condemned them to death; the two parties sat opposite each other outside my father's house, deep in contemplation. I saw from their tightly knitted brows that it was not easy for them either. The two kids were not even permitted to mingle or eat with the rest of the family, so they were under very strict instructions to play in the vicinity of the meeting venue. For quite sometime, a heavy cloud of doom hang over our home as the verdict of the old people including the girl's parents, remained unchallenged. It was an ominous moment. The two young parents who were responsible for these 'heinous' birth were as silent as water in a pot. The youngman was my twenty-one year old brother Maurice and the lady was his former classmate Metrine. It was at this juncture that I raised my voice and requested for permission to speak. The Village Elder nodded his grey head. I was already seething with disgust at how barbaric we had become in our quest for perfection in our customs. No sooner had I opened my mouth than the words spluttered out like a volcano. "Let me ask a question: who is responsible for the birth of these innocent children?" "These two," my father replied without hestation, pointing at Maurice and Metrine. "What penalty is imposed on them? Because if the kids are being punished for being born twins then those who gave birth to them must also be punished. And may I ask you folks another question: who creates twins in the womb?" The old folks looked at each other in surprise. One of them said, "God." "That is right. Now, tell me: who is to blame for their births? And do the twins know they are an abomination and that they are supposed to be killed? And who said first born twins must be killed?And suppose you are one the twins?" A heavy cloud of suspense engulfed the meeting. At last, the Village Elder said, "You boy, you are full of foreign ideas, but they make sense. It is not the fault of these children to be born twins, neither is it the fault of their parents. It is God who created them. Folks, I think the best thing we can do in order to allow them to live is to cleanse them in a ritual using a sheep's blood and cud, which must be mixed with food and given to all the family members including the twins, and then let the entire family eat together." I also suggested that the girl should become Maurice's legal wife; my suggestion was accepted. However, I took this opportunity to warn all the young men and women in the meeting that pre-marital sex was causing so many problems including teenage pregnancy, unplanned children and the spread of Hiv/Aids. I send the entire gathering into peals of laughter when I symbolically illustrated my point using a book and a pen. I asked the young people at the meeting, "When you go to the shop to buy a pen, do you pay first before it is tested for you or it is tested before you pay for it? And who tests it for you to see if it writes?" They all said, "You pay first and the shopkeeper tests it for you." "Yes, the shopkeeper does the testing immediately you pay for the pen. Why do you people doubt what God has made for you when you readily trust the shopkeeper and the manufacturer of the pen?God who created girls and boys made them perfect and has already tested them for you. Yours is just to pay the price and collect the 'pen' Most young people indulge in pre-marital sex because they do not believe God created them perfectly well and that they will still be perfect without trying sex before marriage. They say, "Practiice makes perfect." And now, when you buy the pen, do you just write on any object with it?" Somebody said, "No." Someone else objected, "Suppose you sign a paper with the pen without actually intending to?" "Then make sure you read the terms on the paper carefully before signing it. Another thing is that some of you boys do not even know how to use your pens; you just write on rocks and dirty surfaces without knowing the pen's nib has a small ball that rolls and which can stop rolling if the nib gathers dust or is scrapped against a rough surface. Some of us do not even know how to keep our pens; we should keep them in safe poches where nothing harmful can touch them." "If you keep them in the pocket, the ink will melt and spill." Another young fellow objected. "You should be warned that pens are not supposed to be exposed on too much heat and use common sense to keep it away from sources of heat. So, young folks, one book, one pen. Okay?" "And they should even choose the brand of book; if it is Kasuku Brand, let it remain Kasuku, and if it is Kartasi Brand , let it remain Kartasi Brand!" Metrine interjected. I have never been happier in my work as a children's rights advocate. Maurice and Metrine became wife and husband that evening and the two twins, Rose and Night, became part and parcel of our ten-member family.