Child's Play

American children are pampered, protected, and sheltered from all things dangerous and intrusive. American toys have become soft plastic instead of durable metal, you can probably purchase rubber bumpers to put on sharp corners of your home to protect your baby from painful collisions, and choke-warning labels are soon to be slapped on every small piece of produce in the supermarket. Children are given no responsibility, and are baby-sat by the television when mommy poops out.

Children are quite different in Kenya. If you are a baby in Kenya, you are coddled by mommy and given breast milk at the slightest whine or whimper. But as soon as you can walk, you can be beaten with a stick. Babies at the age of 2 can play with sharp objects without their mothers' objection. Children at age 4 are annoying; I hate children at age 4. Children at the age of 6 are expected to help sweep and clean. Children age 8 must help draw water from the wells and carry it home by bicycle or on their head. Children age 10 can take care of three cows or a small herd of goats. Age 12-- they drive motorcycles.

A little while ago, I walked outside my living compound and saw my favorite little child playing with something shiny. As I approached, I realized he was holding the blade of a knife that had lost its handle and he was swinging it around every so often. The mother was busy sewing not 3 feet away from her dangerously armed child, and as she looked up to greet me she must have read the look of astonishment on my face—my exaggerated large eyes and frozen demeanor. She looked down at her playing child, then looked up again at me. Then quickly she appeased my shocked expression by calling her young child and taking the knife from him. The little boy is almost 2 years old.

In all of the big cities, there is a store called “Nakumatt” which is essentially like a large Walmart, except with much higher prices relative to Kenyan money. Inside this large super-mart, you can find just about anything, from comfortable sofa sets and ping pong tables to traditional charcoal stoves and simple wooden spoons. Also, since it is a necessity for people to have machetes and other sharp tools, this store obviously carries them. And all manner of dangerous weaponry is placed on the bottom shelf. If “Nakumatt” were picked up and placed anywhere in America as it is, within the first minutes of its grand opening it would have a host of screaming mothers at the “customer care” counter as well as several lawsuits. But here in Kenya, the bottom shelf doesn't mean “for kids,” and it would be no big deal if a child picks up a machete and swings it around a bit in the store. But if you think about it, it makes sense to place sharp objects lower to the ground...in case of earthquake.

A little while ago I spotted a young boy walking toward a motorcycle. Then, to my vague curiosity, he climbed upon it and with all his weight, repeatedly pushed on the kick-start. After the motor was running, he stretched his lanky arms upward and gripped the handles, set his bare feet down on the foot-rests and motored away, a crescent of his head peeking out above the motorcycle's dashboard. I thought to myself, “Interesting that the parents of this 11-year-old child would trust them with such an expensive asset”.

Here in the rural areas, most financial assets are stored in livestock. If a villager has two cows (and one is good for milking), then that villager is wealthy. Goats and chickens also mark some degree of wealth, and the more you have the better off. There are different types of goats, chickens and cows, but for the most common of all three I would say their value ratio is: 1 cow = 6 goats = 42 chickens. And children around age 10 are tending to these herds of cattle all by themselves, with a large stick held high in the air. These children walk the cattle for miles down the road to reach watering holes and to graze on communal land. To think of the American equivalent to this: imagine allowing your 10 year old child to take care of your 401-K, or your day-to-day stock market transactions. And without your supervision.

Kenyan children..are they overworked? Is it a violation of some international child-labor laws? Or are they simply well-equipped for the difficult life ahead? If they are smart, the children will have children as soon as they can, so they wont have to work anymore.