Chamas. This is a foreign word that all Kenyan men are
trying to decipher. Long ago, it used to be an ensemble of women who
had common financial goals and thus had to pull their resources together to
achieve it. Chamas have now become the perfect excuse
for wives to come back home at midnight, with a foul smell of the brown bottle
and cursing like the devil's agents. What do these women really
discuss?
1. Kaplot deal: Nairobi women are literally buying
‘Kenya’. Some chamas invest in buying parcels of
land across Kenya in areas like Kitengela, Kamulu, Syokimau and recently Isiolo. Strength
of a woman.
2. Husbands drama: After winding up discussing finances and
investment, the women usually down a kingfisher or two and bass! They
start discussing the drama they have with their hubbies and their mpango
wa kando. Their complaints will rent the air but alas, they return home to
them! Mapenzi ni sumu!
3. Ben 10: I am not
talking about cartoons here! This is the updated vocabulary for a gigolo! A
man who feeds and depends on a woman (mostly rich and married) for survival.
These women have a string of gigolos whom they pump there hard earned cash in
exchange for fimbo ya musa!
4. Betting drama: Sports betting has become such a
craze that some men use their toto’s school fees to bet. Saitan! After the
losses, the women have to bear the grunt and of course vent out their
frustrations in chamas.
5. Contraceptives: Every woman has her own preference when it comes
to planning a family. The various methods are discussed and
especially the ugly side effects like gaining weight and losing appetite for bedminton
6. The nasty boss: The irritating moody boss is discussed in length
as it is usually hard to do this in an office set up. Any scandal in
his/ her personal life that has surfaced will be debated upon for three hours!
7. Mushene ya estate: No estate in Nairobi is drama free. From the
jobless corner youths who bum all day and the laz, idle housewives who cause
drama kwa ploti and post outrageous posts in Kilimani Mums all
day. Chama meetings provide an avenue for women to exchange udaku!
8. Home wrecking discussions: These women discuss dubious ways of cheating on
your husband without getting caught! They exchange contacts of exclusive
discreet apartments where no GPS (read hubby) can track them. Lungula styles
are also analysed in depth… Dunia inakwisha
9. Slim possible manenos: After drowning several brown bottles and
feasting on a young lamb somewhere in Kitengela, these women still wonder why
the utambis never reduce even after sweating off in the gym
once a month- irony! And so all detox methods will be discussed and the new plank
moves by Jillian Michaels.
10. Toy pleasure: they will debate on which one causes more thunder, the electric or non-electric and how to wrap them nicely with the folded bed sheets and voila! The man of the house will never find out!