Imagine, you are a girl in Kenya

Imagine: you are a girl; you work in a bar. The bar closes at around three at night. You live on a five minute walk from your home. You leave the place after work to go home. Police comes, asks for you ID. You have it. But then, they start making troubles. They say: “What are you doing here? Why at this time?” Yoy answer them, but they deny. “You are a prostitute!” You know it is not true. But you can’t show them your job ID. For many Kenyan Girls, this is reality. Walking along the street at night is often seen as prostitution. You will be arrested or/and you have to pay. It has to do with women rights. Months ago some members of Parliament were caught in K-Street using certain ‘services’ (the ‘non-existing’ Red Light Zone in Nairobi City Center).Imagine: the story was in the papers. People were talking about it. Guess who were arrested? The girls: they were wrong according to a lot of male people. These days are history for Kenyan women. For years Kenya has been talking about The New Constitution. The coming days, Kenyans will get their civic education on the New Constitution. After three weeks, they will speak out in a referendum. Without any doubt, for a lot of Kenyan women it will be one of the most important days in their lives. Their rights are more secured in the New Constitution.