Would you accept a gift from a stranger?

“Nine months later, I got a beautiful baby girl. A gift from a stranger.” (p.116) This is a line from Waigwa Wachira’s play “A Gift from a Stranger” which was published in 2013 by Kenya Literature Bureau. Although KLB could have done a better job with typos, especially in the preliminary pages, the play still provides a great dramatic platform for engagement with thespians. Also, the playwright could have bargained for an inclusion of the original cast that first performed the play. Although this is not necessarily crucial, it would have been a good idea. 

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I knew right from the beginning that I would read this play from a biased perspective. I cannot deny it. Yes my reading is subjective and opinionated, but theory has it that all readings of literary texts are biased in one way or the other. My review of the play is biased because I happen to have played the lead role, being cast as the lead Gentleman, when the play was crafted and staged in its first draft in 2001.

It is a satirical script. It is humorous and it makes fun of human follies ad infinitum. This is done in a simple manner. Wachira, the dramatist, draws from the fodder of human behaviour and he preys on entrenched myths about HIV/AIDS. For example, a decade ago there were unconfirmed reports that certain Kenyan communities believed that if you slept with a young virgin girl you would be cured from the virus. Unheard of, right? But, you would be amazed at the kind of abstract things Kenyans are willing to concretise during desperate times.

In other communities, there have been stories of victims of HIV/AIDS who leave behind a trail of destruction through deliberate infections once the person discovers their HIV/AIDS status. As a result, some of these people have written down names of their secret lovers thus creating a sense of anxiety upon the living once death comes knocking at the door of the victim. Such “written wills” are discovered and read with fear and heighted palpitations of the heart as potential victims of the virus fear for the worst. It is an “inheritance” riddled with utmost dread and one that nobody would wish to be a beneficiary to. 

It is at the backdrop of such instituted HIV/AIDS’ myths, practices, misinformation and misdirected energies of the late 80s and much of 90s that the play revolves. The protagonist is ironically referred to as the “Gentleman” to underscore his errant sexual behaviour at the discovery of his HIV/AIDS status. He wonders why it should be him, and not any other person, yet statistically speaking there are over seven hundred and fifty million people in Africa! Armed with anger, frustration and a strong desire not to go down alone, he decides to replicate the business acumen of his friend Kajuma: to open a clearing and forwarding company.

The protagonist’s clearing and forwarding company is unique in its own way. The Gentleman vows never to get involved in clearing mundane things like washing machines, cars or other cargo of similar nature. His interest is in the clearing of “wives, women and girlfriends, concubines and spare wheels (suggesting the contemporary mpango wa kandos – mistresses maintained for sexual favours)”. (p. 67) In his zealous approach, the Gentleman will visit all types of hotels and restaurants and even the seedy type like Karumaindo – a favourite brothel in Nairobi amongst the economically poor urbanites. The clincher is when he confesses that even the back sit of his shiny mercedes would come in handy to aid the cycle of infection.

 “A Gift from a Stranger” provides us with a chance to critique our morality and re-evaluate our sexual mannerisms and predilections. It is a blunt warning that carelessness regarding sexual behaviour is costly. The play abrogates itself the duty to educate the masses on the need for testing, counselling and living positively. Although the protagonist takes a jibe at being diagnosed positive, we are compelled to read from his action and eventual downfall the import of exercising restraint and prudence in our sexual engagements.

Sarcasm is discerned through the ignorance of the masses as symbolised in some of the characters. For example, there are those who reject condoms and compare their use to eating sweets with their wrappers on. Such incredulous comparisons underline the need for sensitisation and proper sexual education to demystify commonly peddled lies concerning matters coitus. Moreover, this depicts the underbelly of the contemporary system of education which has miserably failed to address the subject of sexuality amongst the youth through the school curriculum. Hence, this play would resonate well with young readers because it communicates to their activities and it uses language that they can easily identify with.

However, in his fervour to capture the variegated ways through which HIV/AIDS is contracted and transmitted, the playwright appears to overshoot his mandate. The script runs the risk of being susceptible to boredom. There are long passages which the dramatist has ingeniously spread out to be acted by different Gentlemen even though the character is the same. Thus, if well interpreted and directed, such weaknesses can easily be surmounted. The bedrock of the script is in the turn of events when those who think they cannot contract the virus discover the reality and come to the conclusion that “this thing has a sting in the tail” (p.133).

In addition, some of the human activities referred to in the play may have been overtaken by events but one cannot write off the script as being irrelevant. The contemporary society has perfected the art of unfaithfulness in marriage through multiple sexual partners, premarital sex, incest and even recently cases of bestiality. Whereas the play depicts a man prowling the country in search of women in different geographical locales, the modern man will have a wife and a string of mistresses housed in different parts/towns. It is a case of same script different cast.

Furthermore, the sugar-daddy trope has taken a new face with rich liberated women becoming strong contenders of the game so to speak. Thus, in an era of endless partying, binge drinking and drug abuse, it is more likely that strangers will sleep together recklessly. It is no wonder that studies have indicated a common thread of abuse of post sex pills. Does this then mean that people are more likely to have sex with strangers? Given the opportunity for more money, is it likely that a twilight girl will agree to have sex without protection? And with a stranger for that matter? My point is when we agree to engage in sex without protection it is akin to accepting a gift from a stranger.