A locally important road beween the villages of Masisi and Bomogacho in Kisii county, Kenya.

Village of origin

by Bosibori Osusu • 25 January 2024

Everybody has somewhere they come from, no matter where they are in the world. Some people prefer to stay in their hometowns while others decide to move away. People move out of their hometowns or villages to nearby and/or faraway towns for various reasons, the most common one being in search of greener pastures. Unfortunately, I had to travel to my village to bury a loved one and while I was there, I realized it had not changed that much, despite the fact that I had not been there in a very long time.

As I had mentioned earlier, people mostly leave their villages in search of greener pastures, and I happen to be one of them. As the world evolves, human beings evolve along with it and seek to be in places that are more evolved and developed than where they come from. It is considered more ‘prestigious’ to live overseas and most Kenyans and/or Africans tend to want that since there are more opportunities there as compared to where they come from. However, some do prefer to stay back home, in a familiar environment.

The roads in most of our villages are in deplorable states, except for a few main roads that connect the shopping centers. The other roads leading to homesteads are literally muddy and with huge potholes, nearly impassable especially when it rains. Vehicles and motorbikes, the latter being the most common means of transport to the homesteads, skid dangerously as they maneuver the tough terrain. Most people prefer to walk, but in longer distances, the have no choice but to brave the circumstances. Vehicles sometimes get stuck and eventually have to be towed away.

I decided to speak to a few of the locals about the state of the roads and the villages in general. Most of the responses I got revolved around people moving away in search of a better life for themselves. “Most of our young people go to universities and colleges far away from home, and when they are done, they seek jobs and eventually settle there. A large majority never come back, only to visit or for special occasions,” said Mr. Moindi. Some however stay in their village of oirigin. One of the reasons is that due to poverty, they are unable to go to school properly, therefore they do not get the opportunities to venture out.

Except for the very few brick houses in sight, the rest of the houses are still traditional mud and grass thatched. Most of the locals here are elderly but also as I had mentioned earlier, the young men and women who have not ventured out. Except for the few tarmac roads and houses having electricity, most of the villages as still undeveloped. Most of the locals have to go to the river, some long distances away in search of clean water for their personal use and also for their farms and livestock. Fewer homesteads do have wells and even less have running water.

Unfortunately, due to the terrible state of roads leading to some of our villages, the prices of goods are surprisingly higher that the prices in the more developed towns. This is majorly attributed to the state of the roads. “It is extremely difficult to transport goods to these areas and a lot of time and fuel is used while doing that, hence to recover time and money used on fuel, and also to make a profit, the prices have to obviously be higher than areas where it is easier to transport,” said Mr. Momanyi, one of the business owners in the local shopping centers. Most of the locals here are already living in poverty and prices are already high for everyone in the country. Adding these extra price hikes due to the bad state of the roads makes life even more difficult for them.

However, I did stumble upon a very different reason as to why some of the locals leave and never come back: I realized that there is a great fear of witchcraft and black magic in these villages, especially my own village. The locals associate lack of progress and unexplained sudden deaths to witchcraft and black magic. “Most of our homesteads are near abandoned except for the ‘brave’ elderly and those that have nowhere else to go to,” disclosed one of the locals, who preferred to be kept anonymous. “People have literally sold their lands just to get away, have bought land elsewhere and built new homes for themselves. As for those who still have homes and land here, they use them purely for farming and the homes for when they do come visiting and for special occasions. They sometimes do not even spend the night, they leave the very day once they are done,” he added.

There are a number of churches and worship centers available in the villages and the locals do religiously attend the church services, but the fear of witchcraft is still very prevalent. There are some things that you are seriously advised not to do so as to protect yourself. You are advised against handing out hard cash to someone, especially if they ask you directly, unless it is an exchange of service. It is believed that these ‘witches’ use this as an opportunity to bewitch you and ‘steal your destiny/star’ as they call it. Cases of people who were once very educated and had a bright future or had already made it in life, running mad all of a sudden have been widely associated to witchcraft and black magic.

Next:
Struggles of Kenyan university students by Eric Bosire.

Notes:

About the author:
Bosibori Osusu is a Kenyan Journalist. She lives and works in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.

About the image:
Photo by Bosibori Osusu.

Suggested citation:
Bosibori Osusu: Village of origin. MissionField News (ISSN 2813-2270)
https://missionfield.news/2024/2_Village_of_origin 2024-01-25.