Linnet Nyawira Mwangi, Kisumu, Kenya, SSH Blog Correspondent
Last week I had an interview with a client for my TV show and I was running out of time due to heavy traffic and as soon as I arrived in town, I decided to take the shortest route to the meeting point. I wish I just followed the route I was used to. As I passed through a bus stage, a short middle aged man who had the responsibility of ensuring the vehicles were quickly boarded said hi to me. I have always believed in responding to greetings from strangers, I mean it is only fair to say hello back to someone since they put in some effort to acknowledge your presence, and as some say, “greetings are from God.” So, as usual I said hello back and quickly walked past him. Little did I know he had every intention of following me.
He caught up with and his comments followed one after the other. “You are very beautiful. Where are you from? Where are you going? Can I escort you?” All this time I was silent praying to God that this man would just vanish and let me be. As I was about to cross the road, he grabbed my hand and told me “siste si uniwachie hata namba nikutafte kama hutaki kubonga saa hii”. This translates to “sister, give me your number so that I can look for you later if you do not want to talk right now.”
I quickly shoved him to the side and crossed the road only to find him right behind me. This was getting creepy and luckily there was a supermarket and I quickly went in and took the back exit. I looked at my watch and I was thirty minutes late. Looking at my phone, three missed calls from the client. I found my way to the meeting point and the receptionist told me that he had left. On trying his phone, he told me he would contact me when he was free again.
I sat down and wondered how this would happen, how many people had lost opportunities because somebody somewhere had delayed their destiny? I blamed myself for having responded to his greetings. If I had not, I would have met the client on time and the interview would be a success. Do people have to mistake other people’s kindness for weaknesses?
I therefore decided that I would never say hello back to anybody in town whom I have no intention of holding a conversation with. Well, that is my way of handling street harassment, stay focused on where I am going. Ignore. Ignore and ignore. This is because some remarks made by these harassers can make you lose your temper and feel the need to exchange words with them in order to justify maybe your way of dressing or in relation to any comment they make about you and we all know that this can get ugly since most of these harassers you cannot reason with and they would end up getting violent. As we have seen in some countries, they strip our women for talking back at them. Be safe.
Linnet is a student at Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sociology with IT. Follow her on Twitter @Shantel_lyn and Facebook @lynnette Shantellah.
