Why Men and Women With Gray Hair Are Endangered Species in Kenya Today

The Coastal regions of Kenya is one place where greying is becoming a recipe for instant death and interestingly, it  is normally the blood relatives that turn around and unleash brutalities on their graying fathers and mothers.

A man survived death at the hands of his own two sons when all his children at the instigation of his wife were persuaded to believe that their own 69 year old father with a heavy gray hair was indeed, a witch practicing dark arts. He was rounded up recently by his own sons who tied him with a firm sisal rope and started beating him like he was no longer a human being. He was so brutally beaten up that he lost nearly all his teeth and had several fractures around his body.  He pleaded with his sons to spare his life but they would never listen, they constantly accused him of being a gray-haired witch who must die. They completely lost cognizance of the fact that the man they were intent on killing was the very one who gave them life.

When their bloody father was convinced he was going to be killed, he just allowed them to beat him until his death. Somehow, they stopped beating and dragged him to a nearby hut with the intention of setting him ablaze in the middle of the night. He was securely tied but by some good fortune, he disentangled the rope from his limbs and escaped in good time to the local authorities who came and effected arrest of the entire family members to who were promptly charged with attempted murder.

Along the coastal districts of Kenya, men and women with gray hair are seriously endangered. About 20 have so been reported lynched by their own relatives and many more are fleeing from their families who are the very ones tormenting them. The problem has become so serious that government and other civil society organizations are beginning to set up camps for the horrified gray haired men and women being accused of witchcraft.

Gray hair used to be a sign of honor and wisdom among African societies. Today, you can only move about with your gray hair in the coastal districts of Malindi at your own peril. What is happening to our world? I think the end of the world has come close because, as I begin to gray myself, this story is sending a chill through my spine-will my two sons soon round me up and accuse me of being a witch? This is one story that has kept me thinking very pensively and the more I think about it, the more I get very confused!