Eldon Shikuku a class six boy from Kimwanga village in Bungoma has “rigged” his way to honour in dramatic fashion, which has left his parents embarrassed but kinsmen proud. Eldon who is a pupil at Machwele Primary School sneaked from home under the cover of darkness in the wee hours of the morning and plunged into the cold waters of River Machwele alongside other initiates.
And before anybody knew what was happening or discovered who he was, he was standing erect in a queue with other initiates by the river and was quickly smeared with mud all over his body, as per tradition. At this point, somebody noticed he was a “stranger” who had not participated in other pre- circumcision rites, but it was too late to elbow him out.
The move would have rendered the boy an outcast and precipitated a major curse to his family and members of his clan according to Tom Barasa Namasake, the circumciser. His parents were only informed after daybreak, at about 8am, about the transformation of their 13-year-old child into a man.
His parents are embarrassed because they had arranged to have the boy undergo surgical operation in hospital, while his kinsmen are happy Shikuku defied his parents to face the “manly” traditional knife.
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Kenya