Mnazi brewing brings power to the people

By Hans

There are many age-old customs at the Coast. One of them is drinking local palm wine brewed locally. It is famously nown as pombe ya mnazi. For Sh50, one can enjoy a bottle of the local brew.

The milky palm wine has a strong smell and is one of the 40 by-products of the coconut tree. It is usually harvested early morning or late afternoon. At this time, anyone walking around Mombasa will encounter many bicycles and motorbikes on the road as they deliver their naturally fermented drink to different villages and drinking dens. Five-litre containers are common but 20-litre and other bigger containers can be seen during bigger events like weddings, funerals and the new craze — open-air discos.

For a long time, tapping, selling and drinking mnazi was illegal except on festive days. However, with the large extended families gathering often, it became hard to control it. The Government was finally compelled to allow the brewing and drinking of mnazi. Today, the mnazi business brings in millions in revenue. Sadly, only a few locals are benefiting directly.

Even then, some women have managed to educate their children and to take care of their families by selling the brew.

Mnazi is considered milder than other alcoholic drinks and it is generally loved due to its social nature. At the Coast, groups of people will often be seen sitting together and sipping the brew while engrossed in talk on politics, the weather and other local issues.

At the same time, drunkards intoxicated by mnazi will be seen staggering home or sleeping on the roadside. Such people would have been engaging in the brew all day or all night long.

Recently, a mnazi festival was held in Malindi to celebrate a community project — Man Versus Poverty (MVP) — in line with "njere njere" meaning positive thinking and motivation.

loaning scheme

Most of the community-based projects are sponsored and financed by an organisation in The Netherlands called Stichting Mtangani.

MVP project was initiated by Dominique (Kenet-Kiplagat). It brings tourists to Mtangani village and, through their donations, builds toilet blocks for the poor villages. A Dutch woman who visited Malindi with her family was touched by the plight of the over 5,000 villagers. After one year, she returned to fund the digging of and installation of a water pump. Harnessing of solar power is already underway.

Through the donations, women have been able to get micro-credit of between Sh5,000 and Sh20,000 to start businesses like selling mitumba, rearing goats, selling milk, enlarging their huts, renting out rooms, and selling fish and vegetables among other income-generating activities.

Over 70 people have benefited from this scheme. The rate of repayments is also good, to the chagrin of many mnazi-swilling men in the village who feel left out of the rewards.