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Archaic beliefs fuelling killing, abandonment of intersex children

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Baby feet. Intersex babies are often seen as a sign of looming danger and poverty in the homestead. [iStockphoto]

The birth of David (not his real name) was regarded as an evil omen. Aged barely three weeks old, his mother shoved him into a dusty sack of iron nails and dumped him at a construction site at Marereni village in Kilifi, leaving him to the elements.

The reasons for his mother's decision to shove him inside the sack are a subject of conjecture. Maybe she left him behind to suffocate or to be rescued by a well-wisher. David was born intersex in 2021.

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