Kenyan Drink Habits. Do Kenyans Drink Normally?

During my drinking days, slightly over a three years ago, this was a common question for serious, contemplative discussion, a question which was not taken lightly and which warranted hours of discussion all of course - over beers.

Today as I look around, at Kenyans and their love affair with alcohol, I find myself asking this question again. Do Kenyans drink normally? But this then leads to what is the definition of normal?

I would say it is a combination of several factors. These include, not exceeding the recommended daily intake, the reason why we drink, when we drink, how often we drink and in what setting we drink.

Do Kenyans have a drinking culture or etiquette? A kind of unwritten set of do’s and don’ts concerning the use of alcohol. Points like at what time of the day is suitable to have alcohol and what type of alcohol.

Should one drink during working hours, at what age should young people be allowed to drink, what behavior while drinking alcohol which is antisocial should not only be frowned at, but roundly condemned.

For with the coming of urbanization and western civilisation, we have lost the carefully structured restrictions which controlled the brewing, and rituals or etiquette surrounding the consumption of alcohol.

Thus consumption of alcohol in Kenya as well as its manufacture has been reduced to a free-for-all with anybody brewing or distilling and anybody drinking at anytime and any amount. In fact the motto for Kenyan drinking should be yote yawezekana! (Everything is possible)

In spite of numerous studies having shown that where there is no drinking etiquette, drunkenness and alcoholism as well as many other alcohol related problems arise, Kenyans have not bothered to take a closer look at their relationship with this drug.

On the contrary, they seem to be drinking harder, almost with desperation. These same studies have shown that there are less problems with alcohol when it’s consumption is part of other activities, a by-the-way and not the main activity.

Yet here in Kenya, we go to drink, with drinking being the main activity. People set out not only to drink, but to drink long and hard. Kenyans pride themselves in having many bottles in front of them as they drink.

The more one can drink, the longer one can drink the better. They call it ‘serious drinking!’

Others drink to medicate and insulate themselves from their perceived problems. Many drink spirits or illicit brews somewhere else before coming to ‘top-up’ with beer in the bars so as to show that they were there. For it is perceived that to appear successful, one must pass the bar everyday for several pints.

Indeed during my drinking days I would meet people on a Sunday morning as early as nine walking into a bar from their homes, buying a newspaper, ordering breakfast and after eating ordering a beer as they waited to be joined by girlfriends or male friends.

I remember asking even at that time, why they did not stay home with their families or themselves on a Sunday. Why, the bar was more like your home.

And every where the all-pervasive mini-pack. Tiny sachets many selling for as little as ten shillings are sucked and chucked any where. We look with disdain at the street kids with their omnipresent glue containers constantly hovering under their noses.

But what about us sucking on mini-packs all over the place? Young people drinking openly and getting drunk even in full school uniform with adults all around and nobody seemingly finding these acts abnormal.

As for the recommnded maximum daily intake. Alcohol consumption is measured in units and this maximum is four units for men and two for women.

Translating this into a language all Kenyan’s can understand, we use the measure of a bottle of Tusker Lager. Thus when the conversion is done four units translates into two Tuskers while two units becomes one Tusker for women.

Most Kenyans you see sitting in bars even the ones in the advertisements for beer are sitting with as many as four beers in front of them while sucking on a fifth bottle.

With 24-hour bars scattered all over, we are definitely heading for a major crash. Our love affair with alcohol is definitely unhealthy, and not out of any willfulness on our part but our of sheer unmitigated ignorance.

Nobody is telling us about the dangers inherent in this kind of free-for-all alcohol consumption.

Whichever way you look at it Kenyans alcohol consumption is abnormal. We drink at any time, with no rules to the game except - drink as much as you can.

But remember, when it comes to paying the price you will pay individually. Look around you at your friends. How many are not working after having been sacked?

How many are having domestic problems? Work problems? And all if you look closely and honestly are related to drink. Look to yourself and stop taking comfort in the lame reasoning of ‘every one drinks like that.’

Kenyans drink abnormally period. Examine your drinking habits and come up with plan B. Namely bale out. The alternative is the trash heap of those alcohol has chewed and spat out. At the end of the day, nobody gives a hoot about you, except you.

David Ogot is a freelance journalist/producer based in Nairobi with personal experience with alcoholism. He can be reached at goinghomedotcom@yahoo.com , website: www.goinghomekenya.org .

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