My brother’s keeper: The anatomy of apathy in modern day Kenya

Akinyi Obange

“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings” ~ Helen Keller.

A friend of mine once narrated his experience with robbery in Nairobi, or “Nairoberry” as it is known. One night at home, while thugs were in the process of relieving him of his earthly possessions; his wife let out a blood curdling scream, naturally to alert neighbours of their plight. His wife was a brave one, you see, and so she kept up the screams of “Mwizi! Mwizi!” for a while even after being roughed up by one of the thugs. They were wondering what was taking the neighbours so long to come to their rescue when suddenly; they heard the creaking sound of a window opening and their neighbour shouting “Baba Dennis, patiana ile kitu wanataka ndio tulale!! (Baba Dennis, give them whatever they want so we can sleep!!)”. Shocked and without options, my friend and his wife resigned themselves to fate.