You must have grown in a typical Kenyan home somewhere in the rural areas. Discipline was the key to life. Literally you were a child of the society, meaning anyone who catches you on the wrong had the right to punish you upfront, report you home only for your parents to rain on you again with little considerations. Time keeping was very essential. You had to work your ass off at school and at home, maintaining a balance between the two, failure to do so would attract a thorough beating. There were lots of disciplined boys and girls all thanks to;
1.Leather belts.
This was quite common and would catch one by surprise. Your mother would send you to the shop to buy milk, you leave the house running only to come back later, your feet dirty from playing with friends on the way and no milk. Probably your father, would be in the house waiting for that tea, only for the devil to lure you into his hands. He would remove his belt whip the hell out of your little mind and leave the house too angry to even take the sturungi your mom has prepared.
2. Slippers.
You must have been told not to lose your pencil a million times and the many times you have lost them you have had flimsy excuses. So, one evening, you are about to do your homework you pray that mom stays in the kitchen cooking, so that you can use Mukami’s as soon as she’s done with her homework. But she is there watching you fumbling with your bag in search for a pencil that does not exit, she says nothing as she walks to you only for her to land on you with a slipper on your back.
3. Rough hands (pinching and slapping)
This time, there are a couple visitors around. Your mum has told you to clear the table, but you disappear into the thin air. She decides to cover for. While you are out there playing with your friends, you completely forget that you didn’t do as she told you. You ran into her and she catches you by surprise with her rough hand on your face. Before you can scream she goes for your cheeks and ears, pulls them until they turn pink. You wince in pain but she is never letting go.
4.Canes.
As long as you were caught in the wrong, you would not escape unpunished. Remember going late to school because you overslept, only to meet the teacher on duty at the school’s entrance with a thick guava cane. You can’t go back home and there is no other way in. He grabs your shorts, holding them tightly against your skin and gives you four heavy strokes that alter your sitting position for the rest of the week.
5.Whips(Nyaunyo)
The bigger the sin, the deadly the weapon. One whip with a nyaunyo and you will be as straight as a rod. If you were ever caught in a grievous fault, that is unforgivable, you parents needed not punish you for the mistake only, they would make you feel the pain of its lashes on your body such that you would never reconsider committing the crime ever again.
