“My mum was raped and making that choice to carry me for nine months was the hardest ordeal for her.
But that event in my life psychologically prepared me for certain situations, far more than other people.”īorn in a small village in Kenya’s Siaya county, in the west of the country, Ohas’s mother was just 16 when she was born. “ Kenya criminalises same-sex relationships and people use that law to act as supposed heroes who use beating as punishment, or to rectify your sexuality. I had crushes on girls but maybe I believed all girls felt the same way Ohas’s grandmother quickly made arrangements for her granddaughter to leave the village and join her mother in Nairobi where she worked. She was beaten to death, she was the same age as me.” I didn’t even have a moment to react because suddenly the teachers were there and students were hitting her black and blue. I froze, in our traditional village this was the worst thing you could do. She was a quiet person, it was the first time I’d seen her act on her emotions in this way. “She told me ‘I’ve had a huge crush on you’ and just kissed me. The 13-year-old had just completed her final exam before the summer break when she was approached by a girl from the local area. When Beryl Ohas was in her final year of primary school her life changed forever.
