A close shave with the roaming spirits

By George Olwalo

In the wider Nyanza Province, come July, malevolent spirits known to the locals as nyawawa travel the breadth and length of the region soon after nightfall to wreak havoc. It’s feared that if one encounters them misfortune is sure to follow; hence people are advised to stay indoors. The only way to drive them away, the locals believe, is to make noise by hitting objects.

Recently I had a frightening experience with the spirits from which I’m yet to recover.

After taking a couple of my favourite drink at a regular joint I decided it was time to go home. It was around 9pm and I called for a boda boda since I wasn’t sure of making it on my own. Somewhere along the way the fellow stopped and said that evils spirits were lurking. I thought he was joking but true enough, I could hear sounds of metals afar off.

Without any warning he quickly turned his bicycle throwing me to the ground and raced back to where we had come from.

All the while the noise was getting closer and closer. I knew I should run but my legs had developed a mind of their own, I could only crawl. I tried calling friends on my phone, but none was willing to venture out this particular night. There was no one around and I was completely overwhelmed with fear.

Safety at last

With the last of my strength I managed to crawl to a makeshift kiosk some metres away. I knocked on the door desperately shouting for help but no one opened, though I could hear feet shuffling inside. They probably thought I was a spirit.

Luckily a neighbour recognised my voice and took me in. In the house I was told to shut my trap like everyone else lest the spirit come our direction. Defeated I pursed my lips and huddled with the others in a corner. Shortly afterwards, we clearly heard fleeting, animated, confused voices by the roadside.

"Listen to the way they are arguing amongst themselves," whispered my host adding onto my fears. That night I had to content with sleeping on hard floor thanks to nyawawa.

Talk of the town

The following morning the spirits were the talk of town. I learnt that many revellers were forced to sleep in bars for fear of encountering the spirits. Taxi operators were forced to close their businesses prematurely.

To many residents of Luo Nyanza, nyawawas are real and are thought to be spirits of the dead who due to mistreatment are on a revenge mission. They also claim that these enigmatic spirits visit homes of people who acquired wealth dishonestly. A story is told of an unscrupulous businessman who had a date with these ghouls. They visited his ill-gotten posh mill in the area and operated it. The fellow heard a wheezing sound of the machine and questioned who was operating his machine. The following day when he went to operate the machine, it couldn’t work. That was the end of his business.

Despite the varying opinions and beliefs regarding the spirits, I promised never to venture into the dark in the month of July not until I’m convinced the nyawawas have done their rounds.