Walking down Mamlaka Road, I come across students clad in sexy and seductive attire chirping and chanting lively. Strutting stiletto heels and leaving cheap but a strong fragrance of perfume in their path, one would be mistaken to think a Uni beauty has taken the streets as the runway.
I move swiftly and engage one of the ladies in a conversation.
“What’s the plan today?” I ask naively.
“Come on, it’s a Friday, we are going to look for money. We are chilling for a taxi to take drop us in Westy,” she replies. Westlands is probably the most turntup and ratchet zone at night. ’
I am momentarily bemused by five students. The oldest is 23 years while the youngest is 21 years old. As we talk further, they tell me that they are already booked by their ‘friends’ who lavishly spend on them, some as old as 60 years.
‘’Life is money, and to survive on campus, we need this money. Old Men are willing to spend on us for sex,” Mary boldly says, without any whiff of shame.
This is just one of the character traits exuded by the Millennial Generation or Generation Y. Researchers and commentators argue that this group – people born in late 1980s and early 2000s – are the fastest ever changing generation.
William Strauss and Neil Howe, the authors of The History of America’s Future 1584-2069, argued that it’s a generation characterized by creativity, strong sense of community, both local and global. Jean Twenge, the author of Generation me, argues that Generation Y is characterized by confidence and tolerance, but with a sense of narcissism. But what is the future of Kenya’s generation Y?
On a Saturday evening, I meet Mercy*, a student studying Bachelor of Arts at the University of Nairobi. She is pregnant, she tells me.
“I don’t know the father of this baby, I slept with two men that I met at a friend’s party, I was drunk. I don’t know what to do”, she says.
Asked whether she has told her parents about it, she reveals that she is afraid, and she can’t even think of an ‘abortion’
Generation Y has been described as the ‘facebook generation’ relying heavily on social media as the main means of communication, which has led to erosion of morality. Beatrice Kanga, while writing This is Sierra Leone, says that Kenya’s Facebook generation is guilty as charged.
“While they are indulging in every form of fun, are they making sure that these things won’t haunt them?” she asks.
In Kahawa West, I meet 10 Kenyatta University students in a room, others more drunk than the others. Kamau, who looks a bit strong, offers to talk to me.
“We are having a time of our life, if we can’t enjoy life right now, we won’t be able to have such moments when we grow up,” he says.
“We are a disillusioned youth, life is hard, we can barely support ourselves on campus, indulging helps us to forget some of these things,” says Kamau.
I ask to speak with one of the ladies. Kamau walks in and talks to them. Soon a young lady in her early 20’s comes out, half staggering, half walking. She leans on a wall as I try to figure what I should ask her.
Sarah is an Economics student. She says she joined university as an innocent girl, never having tasted alcohol but she confesses she drinks regularly, “too regular” she adds
I ask her what she thinks the worst can happen. She smiles and says nothing bad can happen. I later learn from their friends that the four of them will have a threesome with the men, and no one knows if they will use protection.
These are just some of the realities the Kenya’s Generation Y is going through. University students no longer earn the respect such a status would attract in the past. Nairobi motorists and businessmen are aware of the danger that comes with students’ strikes. From looting to burning property worth millions, these are people who represent the highest epitome of intellectual capacity in the country.
“Medical students no longer behave as would be doctors, so are lawyers, economists, engineers, journalists and accountants, a dark cloud is glooming the future of these young men and women,” says Anthony, a Nairobi accountant.
Dr. Samuel Mawiyoo, a psychologist and lecturer at the University of Nairobi says Kenya’s generation Y is simply copy pasting what has been there.
“There is nothing new in the society today, prostitution and drug abuse has always been there. Even slavery was stopped but replaced by human trafficking. It is a trend that was started by our grand fathers and it is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere”, he tells me.
However, he is sad to point out that while our grandparents played their roles in the society, today’s parents have failed.
“We have most children brought up by single parents and this has led to lack of family values,” he says. “We cannot also blame our young ladies for sleeping with older men in exchange for money, it’s an addiction, and not just money for the sake of it.” .
Quoting the Theory of Individualism, Samuel says that the individual is the best judge of what is good for them and we cannot blame them for choosing the lifestyle they find as best. The best thing we should do is to respect them.
“People should learn to take care of each other and stand with one another during times of difficulties. If you make a girl pregnant, please take responsibility and if you can’t marry her, contribute towards the support of the child. With regards to parents, they should raise their children teaching them what is proper and not proper,” he adds.
From a psychological perspective, Samuel agrees that society has failed in instilling morality and we can’t blame the youths.
Perhaps Roda’s* case, a student at a collage in town is an eye opener to what extend the society has failed. I meet her on a chilly evening at a restaurant in Nairobi. A year ago, she cleared her secondary education and passed her exams, though not well enough to grant her a chance at University.
Her parents could not support her to join university under parallel programme, she opted to join a collage in town. When she registered, she was still a virgin and had no experience of being in a relationship. She was invited to a party one day and the consequences of going to the party are evident.
Pregnant, HIV+ and doesn’t know who made her pregnant. She woke up in the morning and discovered she was no more a virgin, she tells me and starts to cry. Asked what she thinks about it, she says that is yet to come to terms with what happened to her. “I wish I never went to the party”, she says.
According to the latest Kenya Indicator Aids Survey, the rate of new HIV infections have reduced across the population of 15-64 years old but increased among the youths. This has been blamed on most youths having sex without protection.
“If society has lost morality, its technology to blame”, says Mwaura Joseph, an expert who deals with youth issues in Nairobi. He says that youth are spending most of their time on mobile phones and to make matters worse, parents are buying their children expensive smart phones to keep them busy.
“This has a disastrous long term effect. From children who have an eroded culture of reading to a lack of proper understanding of their environment, we might just be bringing up zombies”, he tells me.
Others blame the 8.4.4 system. Critics say that the syllabus does not support creativity and talent exploration. It only focuses on theoretical knowledge and passing of exams, they say.
Ocheing’ Nyawallow, a computer programme developer, says that “there is need for specialized knowledge, because the more you know in a specific area the more you can succeed”.
A group of students I found praying at Nairobi’s Mamlaka Hill Chapel told me that they prefer being in church rather than out there.
“The world is rotten, we don’t want to rot,” one of the worshippers told me. Strauss reiterated in his book that generation Y is characterized by lack of religion and this can be seen across town.
“We have religious institutions that have specialized on entertainment and stealing from the masses, how do you expect them to instill morality?” asks George Makini while showing me a recent poster done by a local church. “If the church is advertising pornography to attract more youths to pay money, where do you think the society is heading to?” he asks.
Mabel Odima, a social science lecturer says that “the children born in the 1980’s came out when their parents were adjusting to the wave of technology. Women had just started to discover that they could do everything a man can do, and so it was a sense of over adjustment.
“As more parents went to school, time was taken away from family and upbringing of children. That is why we have youths of today lacking the traditional sense of morality and family values”, agrees Brenda Muchiri, a Sociologist.
An investigation done by Pulse Team at Standard Media group revealed there is an increasing level of prostitution in Kenyan Universities. A student revealed that she makes up to 7000 Shillings per night just by sleeping with men. Male students have also been attracted into the business, as they act as middle men and sell off the girls.
A student told the Pulse that he goes out with the girls drinking after which he can negotiate how much each man at the club can pay to sleep with the girls. This emerged soon after a lady in one of the universities claimed to have infected over 500 men with HIV.
Campus Divas, a group of campus women who are out to make money through prostitution, agree that “making quick money and living a comfortable lifestyle is the best thing in life”, says one of the members. This has turned many of them into the group of ‘nouveaux rich’.
Another student tells me that with sex, she gets her grades sorted out.
“It’s risky, not every lecturer would agree to sleep with me, so I have to learn them first before approaching them”, says Edith. This trend has been referred to as ‘sexually transmitted Degrees’,
As society turns its back against the youths, who will come to rescue them? If we have some going into prostitution to get rich, others for pleasure while others to fend for their families, do we still blame the society for perpetually failing to create a level playing field for everyone? How about those who turn into robbery and drug peddling to make a living? The consequences are evident in the society.
We have rising levels of unemployment with employers complaining that universities are producing half baked graduates. New infections of HIV being reported among the youths, those who are fortunate enough to get a job are fired due to inadequate skills.
As I finish my assignment, I meet Mary with her Campus boyfriend, Eric. It’s on a Thursday evening and they both look jovial, maybe perhaps they are in love. Holding hands, Mary introduces me to Eric and tells me they are lovers, and that the two of them are planning on wedding after campus.
Eric smiles back and tells me they have been together for a year now, and they are faithful to one another. I look at them with a desire to learn more but suddenly it starts to rain. They disappear into the rain looking for shelter while I move to the opposite direction. If society has failed, then it has failed totally. And it has failed to inform Eric that Mary is sleeping with older men to get more money, and just as the reports indicate, one day he might bear the consequences. Are we losing a generation?