Meet Regina Nyambura The Lady Who was Stripped in Kayole

My name is

Regina Nyambura. I am 21 years old and a mother of a three-year-old girl, who lives with my mother in my rural home.

I live in Matopeni, Kayole estate, with my sister Martha Wambui. On a typical day, you will find me in one of Kayole’s matatu stages hawking boiled eggs — they call it mayai gonga and kachumbari (salad) — to matatu touts, boda boda riders and other customers. I walk around with a bucket of eggs and return home to boil more when they run out.

Monday, November 17. That is slightly over a week ago when I was doing my rounds in Kayole’s Mihang’o stage. I sold two eggs to a tout known as Muiruri. I sell one egg at Sh20, and so Muiruri owed me Sh40. So, imagine my shock when he handed me Sh10.

I demanded my money. My sister, who had accompanied me that day, asked me to leave the man alone and go on with my business. I heeded her and we left.

But that tout did not let me leave without insulting me. He called me a prostitute. I told him to stop insulting me, that I am somebody’s wife and mother. I am not married though, but that doesn’t give him the permission to insult me.

I walked away, with my sister two steps behind. I was thinking how I would recover that precious Sh30, when Muiruri suddenly lifted my skirt. I thought it was a big joke. I told him “Muiruri, wacha ujinga! Unafanya nini mbele ya watu?” (Muiruri, stop being silly! What are you doing in public?)

My skirt was not short, if that is what you think. It was knee-length. I had worn it hundreds of times before and walked around the many matatu stages in Kayole.

INSULTED

Before I could scream, another man grabbed my weave from behind and pushed me down. Another lifted my blouse. I felt my skirt rip into pieces. I tried to cover my nakedness with my hands, but the men would have none of it. They insulted me. That was the last thing I remember.

I woke up in a bed at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Kayole. I woke up with a start. I thought it was a bad dream. Tubes were stuck on my left arm. A doctor told me that I was lucky to be alive. I asked to go to the toilet.

I could barely walk. My weave was dusty and smelly. I had a strange, longer, black skirt on. It was not the skirt I left home in. In the toilet, I saw marks on my body; I realised I had been stripped naked in public.

I told the doctor that I felt okay and I should be discharged. I was allowed to leave. I did not have my phone, my purse or my money. It was about 9pm.

Some boda boda riders saw me seated at the stage crying. One of them offered to take me home. I got home at 10.46pm. Because I did not have my house keys, I slept at a neighbour’s.

The next morning, my body ached all over. I felt dirty and defiled. Neighbours who knew me as Nyambura the egg seller now call me Nyambura who was stripped. The shame is too much.

I want justice. I am 21 years old, working hard to feed my daughter, but I was stripped because I stood my ground. Muiruri is still screaming his lungs out calling passengers so that he can earn his Sh20 for every matatu he fills. I still see three other bodaboda riders who attacked me. I want these men brought to justice.”