Our drinks were never spiked with ‘mchele’

 Beer drinking in Nairobi in the old days    Photo: Courtesy

One of the most important rules in security is awareness. If you study law enforcement, you will learn about Cooper’s Colour Code, which is a simple system for situational awareness. Simply put, white is indicative of a relaxed environment in which one is relaxed, unaware of what’s going on around him. His guard is down and he is vulnerable to attack.

Yellow is when you remain relaxed, but aware of your surroundings. Your response to a threat should be preplanned. Orange represents a state when you have identified something of interest that may or may not be a threat and concentrate on it till you are satisfied it’s not a threat. Red is when the focus of your attention in condition orange does something you find threatening and you shift to condition red. You can choose to defend yourself or run for safety.

In Kenya today, security has become a problem due to scarcity of jobs and high cost of living. There are today so many thugs on dark alleys, lone gunmen on highways during traffic, pickpockets in public transport and women who spike men’s drinks with mchele.  When growing up in Buru, we inadvertently learned about Cooper’s Colour Code.

Buru was the first posh estate in Eastland’s those days — we were referred to as softies or mababi. So, you had to be always in colour orange mode, especially when your mother sent you to Jericho Market, a no-go-zone then, but you couldn’t refuse to run an errand for your mother.

By the grace of the Lord and awareness, we managed just fine. I attended Khalsa Primary School which is located next to the bus station in Nairobi. From Standard One, I used public transport and had to know where to hide the fare and how to avoid parking boys. This was the norm with a lot of us in the ‘Bamba 40’ category today.

But the ‘Mahewa Generation’ knows zero about awareness. You see them walking around with earphones set at the highest volume. This causes many accidents, especially when sending text messages while crossing the road. Even in a matatu, they are ‘plugged in’ and unaware of any risk of the phone being snatched, carjacking or accident. What happened to those good old days when a dude will fight for the opportunity to sit next to a beautiful girl and attempt throwing lyrics at her before reaching home?

So, it really bothers me seeing people with earphones walking around without care or awareness of their surroundings. One should learn to profile people and identify bad characters.

Today, there are a lot of victims of mchele in bars. I know it’s sad, but they should be more careful. How do you meet a stranger in the bar and take her home? Even if you do so, you must be on colour orange mode and learn to secure the house. You have to hide the key — like inside a packet of maize flour for instance — so that in case something happens, no can get in or out.

What happened to the simple rules that you don’t use your phone when driving and to be on colour orange mode when approaching your gate? In case a car is trailing you, go round a roundabout twice or thrice. I know this is not security proof, but the ‘Mahewa Generation’ should be more aware of their environment by being on colour yellow or orange modes.

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@AineaOjiambo