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Charles Chanchori’s Uber story narrated the reality of suffering KDF soldiers

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 Chanchori, with his explosive story, is simply opening us up to the reality of problems afflicting demobilised soldiers

Charles Chanchori recently set the Kenyan social media ablaze with a literary firestorm, so intense that the embers are still smouldering. For once, political hatred generated by the voter registration exercise was momentarily forgotten as netizens basked in the warm afterglow of the short story, Around Nairobi in One Night.

The enthusiastic reaction to that story underscored how, despite constant assurances, the local literary landscape still remains desolate. That the author chose the social media to publish his piece illustrates how publishing opportunities remain elusive to potential writers.

Local publishers, now scrambling to get Chanchori’s signature, should be doing serious soul-searching with a view to answering why they are not the ones unveiling this new literary talent.

Still, publishers should be asking themselves whether, if they had published this story, it would have garnered the kind of attention Chanchori commanded on social media. Social media pages administered by publishing houses are among the most dormant; they are only updated sporadically by staffers who have ‘better’ things to do in the office.

The story would probably have been quietly inserted in an anthology, waiting to be hawked to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development for acceptance as a secondary school text.

A friend who “thoroughly” enjoyed the piece later asked me what message was being put forward by the story. Well, she was not alone; many people were more interested in the madcap antics of the soldier, like relieving himself in the middle of the busy Thika Superhighway, to realise that these are desperate acts of a mentally-disturbed person, who needs help.

Charles, for that is the name of the soldier, is not an action hero.

From the story, we learn that Charles has just returned from Somalia, where he saw action with the KDF brigade working with UNISOM to pacify the country that has not seen peace since Siad Barre fled in the early 1990s.

Towards the end of January, KDF’s camp in Kulbiyow Somalia was attacked by Al-Shabaab fighters, resulting in the deaths of a number of Kenyan soldiers. Authorities have refused to disclose the exact number of those who died, just like they did not say how many died in the El Adde attack that occurred a year earlier.

Ordinarily, after the news of these attacks die down and the last soldier is buried, Kenyans have no way of knowing what happens to survivors of these attacks; soldiers who witnessed these deadly attacks that took the lives of many of their colleagues, some of whom must have been physically injured.

What many people do not realise is that these soldiers leave the battleground severely traumatised; a condition known as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

PTSD manifests in many different ways; victims start behaving erratically, just like Charles in the story, and when not properly attended to, can lead to desperate acts, including murder and suicide.

Chanchori, with his explosive story, is simply opening us up to the reality of problems afflicting demobilised soldiers. There are quite a number of soldiers holed up in our barracks, returnees from Somalia, who, like Charles, are trying to cope with varying degrees of PTSD.

All Kenyans see are soldiers, awash with cash, payment for their services in Somalia, but we do not ask ourselves whether they are doing alright mentally.

Do their bosses in the barracks ensure that these soldiers receive proper medication and counselling after returning from the war-front? Remember, just as Chanchori’s story illustrates, a mentally-ill soldier is a dangerous person to have around.

We all read the story of the soldier who, according to newspaper reports, tasted the wrath of a vicious mchele artist in Umoja. That soldier had also returned from Somalia. Could it be that he was also suffering from PTSD?

We can only hope that the higher-ups at the Depart of Defence also read the story and that they are taking appropriate action.

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