(Angela Wahu is the CEO and founder of ChokoraCulture, an outfit helping street families)
January 15 will always be ingrained in the minds of Kenyans as a dark moment when terrorists stormed Dusitd2 hotel complex and took away 21 innocent lives.
The 14-Riverside Drive attack is the latest following a string of violent attacks by Al-Shabaab on Kenyan soil after the gory Westgate attack in 2013 where at least 67 lives were lost.
On April 2 2015, the militants stormed Garissa University College where 148 people were killed. Scores of others were left maimed.
Sadly, the perpetrators of these heinous acts hide under the veneer of Islam which has led to the victimization of many Muslims.
In recent weeks, it has become increasingly uncomfortable to be a Muslim in Kenya.
The mindset has now trickled down to young children who have trained their guns on their colleagues who proclaim Islam.
“I remember right after the gunman’s name was released (Ali Salim Gichunge- suspected terrorist in the Dusit D2 attack) I was made fun of because my name is Ali,” narrates Jamal Ali Osman, a class six pupil who was in the company of his mother.
“Before that, my classmates often laughed at me and my other friends for having Islam names like Mohammed,” offers the boy who schools in South C Estate, Nairobi.
After the Riverside Drive attack, Jamal describes it as his most difficult moment as his classmates asked him if “the belt he was wearing had any explosives.”
His deskmate plainly said he cannot sit beside him because he suspects Jamal had “planted a bomb in his desk”.
Jamal adds that life in school is difficult because he is always the subject of ridicule while his sister is not spared the mockery either for adding a hijab or a headscarf to her uniform.
Another pupil, Nadja says she wishes that she was not a Muslim at times because of the stereotyping and cruelty she has to endure while in school.
“When the terror attack happened, I remember one of the girls looked at me then turned to her friends saying, “her kind of people kill people!”
“Not many girls wanted to play with me because I wore a hijab. They said I was a refugee and sometimes, I wished I could be a Christian just so that I could make a friend," Nadja painfully states.
Muslims have had to grapple with negative stereotypes which are perpetuated across social media platforms.
Children of Islamic origin loathe going to school or even making new friends for being trolled and they never talk about it with their parents.
However, the Family Wellness Centre-Kenya is providing counselling and therapy sessions to both children and adults.
The organization has uniquely positioned itself in hearing out children who are often overlooked in traumatic events such as terror attacks.
The clarion call; no child should be targeted because of their race or faith. We should never allow a child to feel ashamed of who they are.
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