Girls and Guns;The Unexplored Underworld

They are generally known to be loving, compassionate, kind...all positive aspects of the human condition. However,this flattering proposition doesn't ring true for all members of the fair sex.Scores of them have been captured in compromising situations such as flaunting those luscious parts of their anatomy in those dark places.Such peccadiloes revealed through the unflinching eye of the journalistic camera have left those who subscribe to the tenets of Victorian prudery shocked and wondering aloud what has become of our women--some of our women as not all of womenfolk should be tarred with the same brush.

An aspect of effeminate moral buncruptcy that has been overlooked by mainstream media or achieved superficial recognition if any,is their involvement in an insidious underworld of gang culture.It is a dark world where sex,money,murder,revenge,drugs and blackmail are the in thing and reign supreme.Gang culture has since time immemorial been associated majorly with males and rarely so with females.It is thus a proposition that many may scoff at that young girls are gaining a foothold in this hideous shere of human depravity and to which they are introduced at a tender age.

I was able to gain access into this clandestine culture notorious for its ruthlessness by courageously calling on a female gang at their hideout in a Nairobi suburb. At first,I was hesitant fearing that the girls would turn on me like a pack of wolves in a fit of lethal rage, thinking that I was an informer and that my visit was a set-up. After considerable self-convincing,I set out on an unpredictable assignment;to gain an insight into a world far removed from the consciousness of society.

A maze of confusing alleyways in a squalid shanty town lead to an old and seemingly abandoned high-rise building visibly in dire need of meticulous renovation.My guide ,interestingly ,is a street urchin privy to the goings-on here. ''Are you sure of where you are taking me,'' I inquire from him in the semi-darkness. ''Of course,''he responds assuringly in Swahili, the language in which we talk to each other. He suddenly asks me to stop and wait until he shows up again whereupon he vanishes into the darkness leaving me behind struggling to keep my cool.